When Does the Low Fuel Light turn on?

[Timeless240]

Wassup s13 brothers!

My White 1993 SE Fastback odometer is broken! It was working when I bought it! It worked from then at around 85,000 miles and is now almost completely stuck at at 87xxx miles! I've driven about 3,000 since getting stuck there and it's maybe budged about a dozen miles or so. I know that it is a common problem with S13's and from what i've read around the various 240 forums is that the only fix for this is to completely replace the faulty motor, i.e. the entire stock gauge panel. That'll run me about $150 and a lot of digging into my dash, right? I'm cheap. I have performance and audio mods in my future. (Hey I think it'll be cool to show people my "low" mileage 1993 FB 10 years from now.)

Anyway, I want to keep track of my miles myself. The 93' gas tank holds 15-7/8 gallons. If I routinely allow my fuel to run down to sayyy, when the Low Fuel dashlight turns on, and then fill up completely, I can roughly estimate how many miles I've traveled inbetween fillups by subtracting the amount of fuel I always leave in my tank from the 15-7/8 gallons and multiply that by my avg fuel economy (~22mpg...city+h.way miles). I can easily look at my credit card statements since I always use my Chase Perfectcard Mastercard for gas (3% cashback on gas! Got a better card to recommend?) and always have a record of when I filled up. So what if I'm off on my mileage by 100 or even 1,000 miles in the long run...I intend to drive my baby into the ground. I'm not selling it, ever,....period. I just need to know when to service my car, change oil, fluids, sensors, etc. Oh yea, my emissions guy will put down whatever I tell him to put on the sticker.

So fellas, the low fuel idiot light on the 1993 S13 dash turns on when there are _ _ gallons of fuel left?

[im two techno]

NEVER!

[whiterps13]

never is my guess also. whatever it is, its very minimal..

[elbles]

Yeah, I've never seen it come on either, as a matter of fact . . .

[yashin]

when you are low on fuel

[Toahk]

I get that light to turn on all the time, and it seems like I can get at most 14 gallons in the tank. So id' guestimate it has over a gallon left when the light turns on.

[Zydeco]

yea, Its around a gallond or two.

[Timeless240]

Jeez am i dumb. All those simple calculations by myself earlier and I was too confused to figure out that

A. I know the tank holds 15-7/8 gal.....B. (next time) I know that I put in X amount of gas to fill it up.

So if I get gas as soon as the light comes on,

15-7/8 gal. minus X = gas left after light comes on.

[PhaneSoul]

durr, but as far as the light goes, mine stuck w/ blown clutch, my light came on when i blew it, i could start it up like 2/3 times a week and rev it to keep fuel ingectors wet, and when the light came on it lasted me about 3 weeks

[UTWarrenG]

i never saw the light on my last S13, and it bit me in the *** once...so i don't let it get close anymore

[fuzion]

I had never seen mine come on until a few weeks ago..

Usually when i'm on E i've got about 2 gallons left.. well I was a little above E and I was totally broke.. was going to downtown Sac to get some $$$ from the parental unit.. Traffic was horrible and there are no gas stations on the way out of the downtown (not the way I go).. I was about 10 mins from the Costco gas station when my light flashed for just a second.. I thought I was f'ked... it ended up taking 14 - 15 gallons of gas.. I was so afraid I would run out of gas. The thing that would have bugged me the most would be the people laughing at me

[fuzion]

Ack! I had 666 posts..! Evil number; must fix it.... done..

[Ajax]

Usually when i'm on E i've got about 2 gallons left

Correct. I think its in the manual. Light should go on when you reach two gallons left. Of course it may turn on prior to this point due to going uphill or downhill. but it should be solid on at 2 gallons left.I once topped off at 15 1/2 gallons- I was sputtering all along the hilly highways of 55 through SE Missouri. talk about close 420 miles though- 27mpg with construction crap, not bad.

[StreetDreamin]

My fuel light turns on for a lil while when reaching low, but turns off for like a quarter tank before turning back on. But I think it's 2 gallons when it turns on the first time.

[ricebike]

is it me or i'm just paranoid?

i don't ever wanna see less than a 1/4 tank since I've heard/read that fuel in the tank is the pump's cooling system. U guys ever noticed that the pump runs smoover when it's topped off w/ fuel?

testing your fuel light would seriously decrease the life of the pump/ + strainer has to filter out all the rust/sediment settled in the bottom of the tank...

[anou]

alright im not gonna to you guys ever since i've had my 240 the gas light has never turned on...whats the problem?

[Zyphar]

ya my light has NEVER come on and i once had it below the E line.Could it be a broken LED or something ?

Plus (since we are on the topic..) my clock light doesnt work either what kind of light is it an LED or actualy bulb ? (haven't opened the dash yet so i dunno.

[Timeless240]

OT: Zyphar you've got your 91' up to almost 200,000 miles!? Awesome! Whats the longest you've known or heard a KA go on for?

Maybe I should start a poll...:pface

[Zyphar]

well i heard some people hear having milage up to around 250,000 ( i think someone had up to 280,000 not sure tho). But ya my cars runs as if it was 100k miles younger! i bought the car just recently 192k. its has some clutch and PS leaks but its all fixed and running good. I have that horrible timing chain rattle that i hopefully will fix in the next few months but other than that the engine runs fine.

[Phax]

is it me or i'm just paranoid?...

testing your fuel light would seriously decrease the life of the pump/ + strainer has to filter out all the rust/sediment settled in the bottom of the tank...

About 10 years ago I was told that keeping your tank perpetually full and/or never letting it run close to empty is what causes it to rust and form sediment in the bottom of the tank in the first place.

This is good info about the fuel light. I always wondered how many gallons the tank can hold. Once I put ~30-40 miles on the car with the fuel light on, then filled it up with 14 and some gallons. I've never put 15 gallons in the car.

[bryanmenard]

My 1993 S13 comes on when I have one gallon left or less, approximately. And, that puts the needle WELL below E.

It's been my experience that when I am precisely on the E-line, I have 3 gallons left....at 30 mpg, that's 90 miles!

My Jetta comes on at 1/8 tank. I personally like the S13 setup.

And I run my tank until it's the E-line. I don't like mixing tanks of fuel.

[574-240sx]

My 1993 S13 comes on when I have one gallon left or less, approximately. And, that puts the needle WELL below E.

It's been my experience that when I am precisely on the E-line, I have 3 gallons left....at 30 mpg, that's 90 miles!

My Jetta comes on at 1/8 tank. I personally like the S13 setup.

And I run my tank until it's the E-line. I don't like mixing tanks of fuel.

This tread is only a year old now, good job

[91SE]

I have never seen my light come on either, is it supposed to flash when the ign. is turned on like the low oil press. and such.

[Timeless240]

My odometer is still at 87K miles, and my trip odom has been stuck at 99 miles, for the past 5,000 miles driven. Cool.

previous poster: My low fuel light doesnt come on when I start my car. I guess your sensor or led is broken.

[naed240sx]

I have no idea how much fuel is left when the light comes on. Usually, the needle dips a good bit down below E before it does illuminate. I usually drive it till its just about empty(I dont like having a full tank cause the car feels sluggish. I once refilled it 14.9 gallons, damn. Thats good for like 3 more miles haha.

[Luke]

LOL a year old post. People need to pay attention when they're searching! :-)