Car died on me as I was driving to get dinner at the campus.
I'm hoping it's nothing serious but I did get it towed to a Firestone where it will hopefully be repaired. I'm not a mechanic, I'm not sure what the problem is. I just hope that I didn't run completely out of gas causing it to stop.
To anyone who may know the car details: It stopped suddenly and the car DID start up twice before dying down again. However, on the third time, the car started rumbling before it turned off again. I was low on gas at the time and the fuel light had been on for a while.
If it's just me running out of gas, I'll feel like a complete moron. If something else, it'll cost a pretty penny.
If it helps, that's exactly what it will do when you do run out of gas. :P
I don't really know anything about cars. The fuel light had been on for several days and I thought I knew how many miles it could take before it could go out. It wasn't touching the E so I thought I was safe.
The more I look into it, the more I believe it's just that the gas ran out. This week sucks.
Well, now you've learned a very valuable lesson; when the fuel light comes on, go get fuel.
This is your primary mistake. You should know at least three things about your car - When and how to put fuel in it, how to change the oil, and how to change a tyre.
This is your primary mistake. You should know at least three things about your car - When and how to put fuel in it, how to change the oil, and how to change a tyre.
You're nice, I'd argue a lot more.
Something like this happened to my friend in high school, only his gas gauge had broken without him knowing and he hadn't noticed the fact that he'd gone 4 weeks without getting gas.
Knowing more "car stuff" has a very practical side effect: you'll save a lot of money on car repairs from even very basic knowledge. You don't have to do the repairs yourself, either. You just have to be able to identify where the problem lies, reasonably guess how severe it is, accurately determine whether or not repair can be deferred, and be able to articulate the problem to a mechanic.
My busted old Sunfire, for example (which currently is out of commission with a leaking brake line), also had a power steering fluid leak. Proper repair would have been too costly for where the leak was. As I plan to ditch the car in the near term, I used a combination of metal tape and stopleak power steering fluid to "fix" it for the winter. Come spring, the car's being donated to charity (or shot quietly in the woods).
Well I did get gas back into the car. I didn't ask my roommates for help to drive me down to the area where it was towed. Me walking to the place was basically a test to show that I can do things by myself and learn from them. Everything's fixed now.
I will take the time to learn those basics, but the car mistake was just another sign that tells me how I'm on my own and need to do things by myself. I'll just take the car's issues more seriously now. I just wasn't thinking this time because my brother told me (it's his old car) that the car will last 60 miles after the fuel light has been turned on...and that's sadly not the truth.
I'll learn and these comments are here to remind me.
Fuel gauge aside, you shouldn't let your car get to the point that the fuel indicator light comes on in the first place. Generally keep a full tank, especially in the winter, or you'll have trouble later. Also, while I'd think it was obvious, use the trip function on your odometer to track the mileage per tank of gas. Not only will that ensure that you never run out of gas, but it will give you a good indication of a non-obvious problem if the mileage suddenly drops off.
Letting your tank get that low usually leads to fuel pump failure. I made that mistake when I had my old car which I was glad it was about to scrap. Kind of glad that happened, it wasn't near safe to drive and the frame was about rusted through underneath. To replace a fuel pump it can run around $300 easy with labor. Just consider the red area on the gas gauge the point you run out of gas. It will save you money in the long run. You can risk water condensation also within the gas tank which can cause trouble to your engine and injectors.
You can risk water condensation also within the gas tank which can cause trouble to your engine and injectors.
Bonus points if it's cold enough to freeze the condensation in your lines... Many a Rochester newbie at RIT would let their tank run down to find their car broken the next morning.
Letting your tank get that low usually leads to fuel pump failure.
This is generally a good rule, but technically depends on the car.
For example, in a Subaru the fuel pump sits right on the bottom of the fuel tank. When you run it low the fuel pump becomes uncovered and can overheat (fuel around the pump keeps it cool). On my SAAB the pump sits in a sump setup which is a cup full of fuel. My fuel pump will be perfectly fine until I actually run out of fuel.
And I'm sure I've bored you all with my technical knowledge on cars so I'll go away now.
Yeah, 60 miles when the fuel light comes on? My light comes on when I have roughly 1.7 gallons (in a 10.6 gallon tank) remaining. At my typical combined mileage, that's enough for 50 miles, roughly. If that light comes on, I go get gas like right then. Generally, I try to fill up before I hit that point. As Rym said, use your trip meter to track your average gas mileage and get a feel for how much gas you use between fillups. My car is fancy and includes a display that tracks my average mileage, as well as giving a readout of my current efficiency (though it's an approximation).
So, start tracking that gas usage! You have to learn the gas usage based on your driving habits, because everybody drives a car a little bit differently.
I should easily have 60 miles when the light comes on. 3 gallons at 25-30 mpg. I have a huge 18.5 gallon tank though.
I think the most important lesson here is that you shouldn't trust your gas gauge. They work on a simple, variable ohm resistor and anything along the way to your dash can muck up that value, assuming it was even correct to start. For example, my car sometimes reads empty when I fill it because the wires are a bit old and funny.
You also don't want to fill your tank up to overflowing. Topping off the tank can cause the valve to break, it's not as expensive as a fuel pump, but it's good to know.
Ditto. You do want to fill your tank. You do not want to "top it off" for a number of reasons. Breaking some mythical valve is not, as far as I am aware, one of them.
Ditto. Youdowant to fill your tank. You donotwant to "top it off" for a number of reasons. Breaking some mythical valve is not, as far as I am aware, one of them.
I have heard of a valve there. It prevents gasoline from going everywhere in an accident should the filler tube be come severed. But I've never heard of overfilling breaking one. That's just not how these things work.
Ditto. Youdowant to fill your tank. You donotwant to "top it off" for a number of reasons. Breaking some mythical valve is not, as far as I am aware, one of them.
In my experience, I once had a gas pump not shut off properly, so it just kept pumping even though my tank was full and spilling out onto the side of my car. Unless something has happened to cars in the last 20 years, they are designed to handle things like that. Nothing bad happened to my car at all.
Okay...my fail wagon continues. Nearly had a fight with my roommate.
He had been giving me shit all week over pointless stuff like making tea, bugging me about the kitchen fire which has been a while now, eating McDonalds, ONE clean dish and some plastic cooking tools that have been washed, but he's complaining they aren't in the dishwasher. And while I come home in a good mood, he just jumps up behind me and screams at the top of his lungs.
I think it's an attack, so I grab his shirt and push him out of my room, and he rages saying that he will kick my ass outside. My other roommate comes out of his room and mediates the situation. And while I explain my reason for over-reacting, which is bad week + constant grievances, he just responds "I'm in an asshole-mood."
We immediately talked it over though and we understand each other a bit more and we made up...but that kind of experience leaves you somewhat shaking.
the car will last 60 miles after the fuel light has been turned on...
Wow, that's a weird thing to say. I've always been told that 50 kilometers (31 miles) is a high estimate for when the light turns on.
My fail of the day, I played too much DF. When I stared at my wall a dozen minutes ago, thinking, I suddenly saw dorfs, running about, frantically, through a booze stockpile, probably the result of me staring lovingly at my awesome food cellar... where everything's brown. Walls, doors, floors, barrels, prepared food. OH GOD, THERE THEY ARE AGAIN!
EDIT: I can make them appear at will! MOVING TO THINGS OF THE DAY THREAD!
I had a similar experience when I first got the second Oendan game.. after a day and night of straight play, all I saw when I closed my eyes was little balloons appearing and then exploding in patterns.
I had a similar experience when I first got the second Oendan game.. after a day and night of straight play, all I saw when I closed my eyes was little balloons appearing and then exploding in patterns.
Do you play on Expert? Because I remember sometimes spending HOURS to get an S Rank on a song. Samurai Blue ftl.
My fail of the day, I played too much DF. When I stared at my wall a dozen minutes ago, thinking, I suddenly saw dorfs, running about, frantically, through a booze stockpile, probably the result of me staring lovingly at my awesome food cellar... where everything's brown. Walls, doors, floors, barrels, prepared food. OH GOD, THERE THEY ARE AGAIN!
That sort of thing happens to me every once in a while when I play video games for an extended period of time. After Brawl came out I would periodically see characters running around in front of my face.
Comments
Something like this happened to my friend in high school, only his gas gauge had broken without him knowing and he hadn't noticed the fact that he'd gone 4 weeks without getting gas.
My busted old Sunfire, for example (which currently is out of commission with a leaking brake line), also had a power steering fluid leak. Proper repair would have been too costly for where the leak was. As I plan to ditch the car in the near term, I used a combination of metal tape and stopleak power steering fluid to "fix" it for the winter. Come spring, the car's being donated to charity (or shot quietly in the woods).
I will take the time to learn those basics, but the car mistake was just another sign that tells me how I'm on my own and need to do things by myself. I'll just take the car's issues more seriously now. I just wasn't thinking this time because my brother told me (it's his old car) that the car will last 60 miles after the fuel light has been turned on...and that's sadly not the truth.
I'll learn and these comments are here to remind me.
Fuel gauge aside, you shouldn't let your car get to the point that the fuel indicator light comes on in the first place. Generally keep a full tank, especially in the winter, or you'll have trouble later. Also, while I'd think it was obvious, use the trip function on your odometer to track the mileage per tank of gas. Not only will that ensure that you never run out of gas, but it will give you a good indication of a non-obvious problem if the mileage suddenly drops off.
For example, in a Subaru the fuel pump sits right on the bottom of the fuel tank. When you run it low the fuel pump becomes uncovered and can overheat (fuel around the pump keeps it cool). On my SAAB the pump sits in a sump setup which is a cup full of fuel. My fuel pump will be perfectly fine until I actually run out of fuel.
And I'm sure I've bored you all with my technical knowledge on cars so I'll go away now.
So, start tracking that gas usage! You have to learn the gas usage based on your driving habits, because everybody drives a car a little bit differently.
I think the most important lesson here is that you shouldn't trust your gas gauge. They work on a simple, variable ohm resistor and anything along the way to your dash can muck up that value, assuming it was even correct to start. For example, my car sometimes reads empty when I fill it because the wires are a bit old and funny.
He had been giving me shit all week over pointless stuff like making tea, bugging me about the kitchen fire which has been a while now, eating McDonalds, ONE clean dish and some plastic cooking tools that have been washed, but he's complaining they aren't in the dishwasher. And while I come home in a good mood, he just jumps up behind me and screams at the top of his lungs.
I think it's an attack, so I grab his shirt and push him out of my room, and he rages saying that he will kick my ass outside. My other roommate comes out of his room and mediates the situation. And while I explain my reason for over-reacting, which is bad week + constant grievances, he just responds "I'm in an asshole-mood."
We immediately talked it over though and we understand each other a bit more and we made up...but that kind of experience leaves you somewhat shaking.
My fail of the day, I played too much DF. When I stared at my wall a dozen minutes ago, thinking, I suddenly saw dorfs, running about, frantically, through a booze stockpile, probably the result of me staring lovingly at my awesome food cellar... where everything's brown. Walls, doors, floors, barrels, prepared food. OH GOD, THERE THEY ARE AGAIN!
EDIT: I can make them appear at will! MOVING TO THINGS OF THE DAY THREAD!
I was lead on a wild goose chase today. I was pretty sure it was going to be a wild goose chase, but there wasn't much I could do about it.