how low can you go before you are out of fuel
this range indicator is goofy , one minute is shows 23 miles than il park it, go to work , come out and after start up is shows 16 miles??? what the heck?
if the range indicator reaches 0, how much more do i really have??

 

I would never go that low. The bottom of the fuel tank could be dirty, which could hurt your fuel injectors and your fuel pump.
It also varies with your speed and the way you drive, a gallon could give you 17 to 26 mpgs. (Or less). The motion of the car could move the fuel and affect your reading. And yes there probably is a safety factor in there to squeeze a few extra miles, but this is NOT worth it. Be thankful knowing that you have a way to guesstimate (+\- 30 miles), but don't rely on those numbers.

 

Exactly what Envymynissan said. Depending on different factors (particularly how much more often you're pressing down on your gas pedal and what speed you're currently traveling) the range would of course vary.

Use it as a guideline, never an absolute, and do be careful about letting your fuel drop too low.

 

I've dropped into the 20's and I can't be certain, but it seemed like I hit the teen also in miles left.

When I filled the car up, it was difficult to get more than 17.5-18 gallons in.

I tend to fill up at a half tank, or quarter tank. Those readings are fairly accurate...as with a half tank, I can pretty much get 10 gallons in, and with a quarter tank (or just below) I can easily fit 15 gallons in.

I tend to fill up in incriments of 5 gallons as I use TCW3 additive and the ratios work out better if I fill up in 5 gallon incriments. I do have half incriment hash marks as well, so 12.5 and 17.5 are also fairly accurate fill up denominations.

I'd rather put 10 gallons in and get to 3/4 full than to try and squeeze 17.5 in, and fail because it wasn't empty enough.

 

Keep in mind that your fuel pump is submeged in the fuel tank. The fuel keeps it cool. If you run with low fuel levels your fuel pump will heat up.

 

best advice so far on not constantly going to completely empty.

 

yeah don't go close to empty, sediment collects at the bottom of your gas tank and if you get down to the last bit of gas you suck that crap into your engine...

 

You won't run out of fuel if the indicator shows 0, actually it won't show 0 it shows ---- meaning there isn't enough fuel left for the computer to give a reading.

One time coming home late at night i "ran out of fuel" according the fuel gauge showing E and the range just showing the dashes and blinking that I'm out of fuel, i drove about another 10 miles to get home. I drove to the gas station the next morning and filled the tank. Took 16.6 gallons to fill the 20 gallon tank. Now i don't advise anyone to try this (i fill the tank before i get to the 1/4 mark, this was me being tired after a long *** day.) but my point is that you are not out of fuel when your car says you are. In my case i can say i had about 4 gallons left.

 

The fuel pump intake is AT THE BOTTOM of the fuel tank all the time. There is a sock(filter) over the intake to prevent the crap going into the engine, but the pump always get the fuel from the bottom or as close to it as the intake allows.

The good point that was made in the thread is that the fuel acts as a coolant for the pump itself. Though technically speaking, I don't know how much of a REAL issue that is.

I would say there are good 20miles left after the trip computer shows 3 dashes for the remaining mileage.

 

I have run my car out of gas, semi-intentionally.
At that point, the car would only take 19 gallons till full. This tells me that the pump isn't all the way at the bottom, and isn't actually able to use all of the fuel capacity.

I can go 500 miles if I drive very nicely, but 425-440 is more common.

There is about 4 gallons when the light comes on, 2 gallons when it shows ---, and about 1 gallon of that is usable.

 

good info to have in case of an emergency where destroying your fuel pump does not matter ie if your getting shot at or are bleeding close to death

 

Agreed. Those playing with fire also should keep in mind that running our of gas in the 7th gen has the possibility of damaging the catalytic converter to the point it will no longer pass an emmissions test. Of course a new converter only costs between $400 and $900, depending on where the work is done, so no big deal.

I guess it is just my eternal penny-pinching frugality that makes me want to avoid paying for parts and labor when it is so easy to avoid the problem - just fill up as soon as the fuel warning pops up. Of course there are those that love the excitement involved with running on the edge and taking chances, and those type folks would be totally bored with doing things the smart way.

For too many reasons to list here, I would NOT let the fuel level drop below a quarter of a tank. I was once stranded in the wastelands of western Texas for 24 hours because I counted on reaching one more town before filling up, and a storm had knocked out all power (hence, all gas pumps) in that town.

It was over 60 miles to the next town, and I did not have the gas to make it that far. Of course that also meant the motel I was forced to use was frigid, with no hot water. And I was late getting to the Army Electronics Testing Ground (Ft Huachuca AZ) where they were waiting on me to begin testing a military doppler radar. All because I very foolishly tried to stretch a tank of gas.

I could list several more (mostly embarrassing) reasons I found it is not smart to try to squeeze more miles out of a tank of gas, when all that does is require us to pay more and take on more gas when we finally do fill up. But youngsters below age 60 tend to be like I was back when I was young, and have to learn by personal experience.

 

How exactly does running out of gas damage a catalytic converter?
Sounds like bs to me.

 

Lightonthe hill once explained how many gallons are excluded from the trip computer for that purpose of keeping the fuel pump submerged, but I forget what the numbers are.

I do hate the computer though. I can see I have an eight of a tank on the gauge, but the warnings show 18-38 miles remaining, depending on the weight of my foot. It is too sensitive for my taste.

 

That was told to me by a Nissan engineer I was chatting with at the Smyrna assembly plant while I was there in spring of 2008 to see the 7th gen before it's release. I am not an automotive scientist, so cannot vouch for the veracity of his statement.

In a later email exchange with that engineer, I was asking about my fuel warning with 4 1/2 gallons left. That seemed overly-cautious to me. I remember he was insistent that it was important that the tank not be run dry on the 7th gen, and that was why Nissan INTENTIONALLY set the fuel warnings to be displayed with four or five gallons left in the tank.

I see absolutely no point in going against the express intentions of Nissan engineers. They are the ones who designed the car and its fuel system. Especially since waiting to fill up when there are only a gallon or so left in the tank does absolutely nothing to change MPG, and in some situations, can leave us in a tough situation that was easily preventable.

Keep in mind that, should there be an area-wide power outage (and there will be more of these with our increasingly violent weather), fuel pumps will not operate, and we will be stuck with what we have (or don't have) in our tank.

But then there are those who will risk climbing Mt Everest simply because it is there.

 

Precisely.