Hi ALL!!
outta curiousity...i was wondering how much gas is left and how many miles can i run after the gas light comes on? THANKS!

 

enough to get you to the nearest gas station and fill it up. you really cant be certain if your guage is dead on accurate, so there really isnt a solid answer. running out of gas on the side of the road isnt fun, just fill it up.

 

i drove about 12 miles with mine on the other day, nothing happened but i filled it up as soon as got to a gas station.

 

o yea im sorry...i forgot to mention that i drive a 1990 NA coupe. yea just last night i was worried driving with the gas light on...but i filled up as soon as i saw a gas station

oh on a side note...does the fuel injector cleaners really work? i mean the ones you pour into the gas tank

 

Those cleaner do some good, but not much... Too much of it can do more harm than good, so be careful.

On a side note about the gas gauge thing... That is one of my few gripes about the Z32 VS. my 280ZX, they don't have the little secondary gauge for the last 1/4 tank. In my 280ZX, I know EXACTLY how much gas I have all the time . I also really miss the center gauges that face toward the driver. The Z32 is the only generation of Z car that doesn't have them. My friends and I refer to them as the F.U. Guages... Why? you may ask... Because they basically say to the passenger "F*&^ You, you don't need to know!

Rod.

 

i made it from south of portland to a few miles into washingon with the light on. when i filled up, it took a little over 15.5 gallons. 19.5 gallon tank=about 3 gallons left. it'll go for a little while with the light on, but i wouldnt trust it.

 

wow cool!! thanks guys...that's what i needed to know. Rod i'll take your advice and chill out with the fuel injector cleaners. thanks

 

Thats funny, thats what my wife says about them If she catches someone leaning over to read the speedometer or something too she'll say theres a reason only the driver can read the gauges, Cause YOU dont need to know what they say She gets touchy with backseat drivers

 

DO NOT RUN INJECTOR CLEANER...oop sorry all excited there. The injectors on these cars are pretty sensitive to various chemicals and you can actually damage them more than you think. I would suggest Techron as a cleaner but if you are having injector issues ohm test them or replace them but if you run unknown cleaners it will likely do more harm than good. This is one of the times you should contact the dealer and ask what chemical they suggest.

 

yep!

If anyone feels like being enlightened as to why, read on.

Fuel injector cleaners often have alcohol in them (much like gasoline with ethanol content). On the earlier style 300ZX injectors (before the injector style change in 94), there is a CONSTANT current running through the injectors (even when the car is off - yes, trust me, there is always current going through them). When you turn the car off and let it sit with fuel injector cleaner (or gasoline containing ethanol) in the system, the alcohol in the gasoline starts to oxidize because of the current. This causes the inside of your injectors to actually rust, therefore causing dead injectors. (Ever wonder why your early-style injectors die all the time when you're running 10% ethanol content gasoline? Same thing.) So, unless you have the revised injectors, fuel injector cleaners and ethanol content gasolines are very bad. (I'll try to find the picture of the inside of an injector with this damage.)

 

it;s nto good for your fuel pump either.

 

its true about that current i experienced it first hand...when i thought my injector was out i pulled off all the connecters and scrapped them with an all metal exacto knife and after a few scrapes definalty started to feel some current. i was like.... what the f^ck, definatly not expected but i found out why the injector wasnt working.

 

I still have about 5 gallons left from the point my gas light comes on. An easy way to test it is to fill up completely and start driving. As soon as it comes on go and fill up again. Subtract however many gallons it takes to fill up from the total volume of the gas tank. That is how many you had left.

 

Or just fill up and clock the miles until the light comes on and do some math.

 

That's an inaccurate way to do it though. MPG varies depending on many different factors. There's no way to trick volume. It'll give a definite number that will never change.

 

Too true. Too true.

 

Ok, so you may be wondering why I am quoting my own thread? Funny you should ask...
Yesterday afternoon, I took my 280ZX out to go meet a friend. Now, I knew i had roughly 1/8 tank of gas because my way cool little secondary gauge told me so... I figured that I would get gas on the way however.
So I made it to the top of the very steep hill near my home before the MotherFu&*er ran out of gas!!!!!

Moral of the story... Don't trust the gauge once it gets low.
I thoroughly enjoyed coasting back down the hill to my house, stopping with almost no brakes (no engine power = no brake booster), Getting my gas can out, going to the gas station, filling it up, bringing it home and putting gas in my BLACK car from a leaky gas can in my driveway!

Rod.