Nice F series

[franklin2]

All tanks have a reserve, you never run them dry. If you run it till the engine quits, there is still a couple gallons in the bottom of the tank, the pickup is not sitting right on the bottom. The fuel gauge will tell you it's empty when you have around 3 or 4 gallons left. You do have a 19 gallon tank, but for the reasons above you will never get 19 gallons in it at the station. If you get 16 gallons in it at the station and it's a 19 gallon tank, you were very close to running out.

 

[sgtsandman]

All tanks have a reserve, you never run them dry. If you run it till the engine quits, there is still a couple gallons in the bottom of the tank, the pickup is not sitting right on the bottom. The fuel gauge will tell you it's empty when you have around 3 or 4 gallons left. You do have a 19 gallon tank, but for the reasons above you will never get 19 gallons in it at the station. If you get 16 gallons in it at the station and it's a 19 gallon tank, you were very close to running out.

Yep. All fuel tanks have a certain amount of unusable fuel. The KC-135s that I work on hold about 32,000 gallons but not all of that can be used by the engines or fed to another aircraft.

 

[Chapap]

Iono... I've come within a half gallon of stated capacity on all the cars I've owned (filled 17.5 on an 18 tank). It's always somewhat of a challenge I give myself on a new vehicle. Yes, I've had a few impromptu hikes.

 

[sgtsandman]

I’ll run them until the light comes on just to see how much is left when it does. That also gives me an idea how far I can theoretically go before the engine shuts off.

I’ve only fuel starved one vehicle. Thankfully I was able to drift off the highway and a good way of the exit. Something I have never pushed my luck on again.

 

[97RangerXLT]

I agree with Chapap on the half gallon theory. I have actually run a car out of gas 3 times in my life. 2 were from my own stupidity and lack of preparation and one was from a fuel line breaking in the engine compartment (God was watching over me that day because the leak sprayed the fuel within about an inch or so of the drivers side exhaust manifold) fill ups were within half a gallon of tank capacity

AJ

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

I’ve made a point of trying to figure out fuel economy and making sure I look for a gas station when I’m down to a quarter tank. I have run vehicles empty before, but not typically on purpose. My F-150 has a nasty habit of the rear pump randomly flaking out. My one Bronco II I had in college I ran home for a weekend once and ran out on the way back on the highway. Gas gauge didn’t work, the electrical bits of the A4LD weren’t working (didn’t know at the time, wires had come up against the exhaust and melted), and I had only used it around campus up to that point and would just throw a few gallons in. I assumed it was getting at least 15 mpg and I was wrong.

 

[scotts90ranger]

Apparently on the OBS there's a few different size tanks, there's a big and small rear tank as well, the smaller one which is what I have is used with a spare tire mount (don't have one anymore...) and is only like 6" deep tops, it's even less capacity when the pickup funnel deal is broken...

I can run the front tank till it sputters and it only takes 16.5 gallons, I've had it out before, should have measured if the pickup was actually at the bottom, I should pull it again and bend the tube to get it there... was fairly annoying when there was a hole in the float and it was sunk... soldered that closed and it floats now, should have put the plastic float I have in there...

 

[scotts90ranger]

On the 7.3L I haven't figured out a downside to running the tanks dry (as long as you don't do it to both at the same time ), defueling a diesel is safe, it's a mechanical pump with a reservoir in the valley and I have a manual transmission, if I think I might be low I switch tanks for pulling a hill as sometimes it takes 1/4 mile of coasting to pick fuel up again... I don't make a habit of it but when I'm on a 300 mile drive and it's a long distance between stations I'll push it...

 

[rusty ol ranger]

All tanks have a reserve, you never run them dry. If you run it till the engine quits, there is still a couple gallons in the bottom of the tank, the pickup is not sitting right on the bottom. The fuel gauge will tell you it's empty when you have around 3 or 4 gallons left. You do have a 19 gallon tank, but for the reasons above you will never get 19 gallons in it at the station. If you get 16 gallons in it at the station and it's a 19 gallon tank, you were very close to running out.

If i run my 19 till it quits it takes 17.6 or so.

 

[scotts90ranger]

That sounds about right... I only go on long trips a couple times a year, still need to renew the tags before next weekend... I still need to modify the pickup to make sure it's within 1/4" of the bottom of the tank, the rear tank is a pain in the rear to deal with since the fuel hose goes over the front tank crossmember, and I put some hitch junk in the way under the tank...