On 03/03/2024 at 05:55, naster said:

As pointed out, that could be a costly trial for a diesel engine. Not only running out and priming trouble, risk of air bubble damage. Also, low fuel level, despite presence of a return fuel cooler matrix, can cause condensation of water vapour from cold air in a nearly empty tank, or, reduce fuel viscosity and lead to incorrect combustion. The minimum quantity acts as a cooling buffer too. Yes, there can be one-offs but I would rarely let remaining range drop below 100km. I can plan a 1300km drive with a single top-up without getting down to the red line.

 

All somewhat theoretical and complete misses the Elephant in the room that if you run out of diesel on a common rail engine you are more likely than not going to destroy the scavenge pump and the resultant swarf will take out the high pressure pump and injectors requiring the entire injection system including fuel lines to be replaced if its a garage and even a DIY'er would be taking a chance re-using any components that appear OK.

 

I dont push my luck anywhere near as much with this vehicle compared to its predecessors, on them I would run dry the first tank (carrying a jerrycan) to see what the maximum range was, I dont intend finding that out on this vehicle.

Last time I ran out of petrol, my car told me there was 15 KM range left.

I even saw someone said his car stopped when there was 30km range left in the FB group.  

7 hours ago, J.R. said:

All somewhat theoretical and complete misses the Elephant in the room

The damage to diesels from air into fuel system is more than self-explanatory, or so I thought… The warning though for fuel level is for keeping diesel temp below 45’c. Hence the fuel line radiator.

Like my car, this thread has gone way further than I expected 🤣

Can anyone provide any concrete examples of injection system damage due to running out of diesel?

1 hour ago, D402 said:

Like my car, this thread has gone way further than I expected 🤣

Can anyone provide any concrete examples of injection system damage due to running out of diesel?

Think of the damage they must do everytime they change a fuel filter 🫣

4 hours ago, naster said:

The warning though for fuel level is for keeping diesel temp below 45’c. Hence the fuel line radiator.

 

I see the AI is on the blink again.

9 hours ago, elfensin said:

 there was 30km range left in the FB group.  

Wonderful thing FB, always adding new features.

9 hours ago, xman said:

Think of the damage they must do everytime they change a fuel filter

OMG I heard they literally clamp fuel lines when changing the fuel filter.

9 hours ago, xman said:

the AI is on the blink again

The level of disrespect in this forum is too damn high.

28 minutes ago, naster said:

OMG I heard they literally clamp fuel lines when changing the fuel filter.

[...]

Oh... I think I probably missed this episode... 🤔

 

 

😁

 

Back to the initial question of this thread: 69,54l tonight for a full tank. Autonomy had just reached 5km after 958km since previous refueling.  

Edited 5 March, 20242 yr by Bap33

Autonomy?

Edited 5 March, 20242 yr by xman

45 minutes ago, Bap33 said:

Autonomy had just reached 5km after 958km since previous refueling.  

AI translation chatbots are useless

I meant only remaining range was only 5km with my empty tank, after 958km.

Sorry it's 'false friend' and I've made a bad translation . But it's only a human mistake, not a chatbot issue. I use them as less as possible to keep improving my English skills.

 

Edited 6 March, 20242 yr by Bap33

Does autonomy really mean nothing to a native English speaker?

 

I unwittingly use it all the time and nobody has yet asked me what I meant to say unlike a lot of my Franglais.

 

After my 1040 km autoroute journey (further than I had thought) and the 10 litre splash and dash I refilled yesterday after driving probably another 40 miles with the autonomy display showing zero miles remaining, I squeezed in every last CC as always and got in 57.3 litres meaning there was half a gallon or so remaining, about what I expected.

 

What wasn't expected was the range showing as 700 miles when the last 2 tankfulls used on the autoroutes took the vehicle 525 and 510 miles respectively and that was with driving an additional 50 miles or more with the guage indicating empty and zero miles remaining displayed.

 

The only thing that can be trusted is the trip meter, my knowledge of the vehicles consumption under different conditions and mental calculations, but that relies on the engine always running at the same efficiency, some faults can use more fuel without affecting the drive but the modern electronics are more likely to show a fault code than my 95 Galaxy that caught me out when it reverted to a default non lambda controlled map when the oxygen sensor wire became cut through, it drove no different other than having less autonomy per tank of fuel right up to the day the catastrophic convertor blocked

@Bap33

 

I don't think it was a faux ami, I believe the meaning is the same in English but others will confirm, its been 20 years since I have been in an English speaking environment, I probably did not use the word autonomy then but am pretty sure I would have understood it when spoken to me.

 

Update, - Google (UK) says I am wrong!

31 minutes ago, J.R. said:

Does autonomy really mean nothing to a native English speaker?

 

https://www.dictionary.com/browse/autonomy

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomy

 

Initially, I thought Autonomy was a pet name for Bap33's car.

 

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/cui-bono/202006/what-is-autonomy-and-why-is-it-so-difficult-achieve

 

Edited 6 March, 20242 yr by xman

1 hour ago, J.R. said:

Update, - Google (UK) says I am wrong!

 

22 minutes ago, J.R. said:

  1 hour ago, J.R. said:

Update, - Google (UK) says I am wrong!

 

Just rubbing it in @J.R.

 

😈🤣

You got me!

 

It's got worse recently because having moved to Dordogneshire I do get to speak and hear English now but with other Franglais speakers.

Edited 6 March, 20242 yr by J.R.

No pet name for my car. 😂

Autonomie (french word) has actually 2 meanings for us : Autonomy and Range.

Range is the one I should have used.  

11 hours ago, J.R. said:

You got me!

 

It's got worse recently because having moved to Dordogneshire I do get to speak and hear English now but with other Franglais speakers.

We are very good at it !😁

 

Just to give an idea of the average level of our English skills... Though it has improved a bit over the last 10-15 years...

 

A German, an Italian and a French are attending to an English course.

The teacher asks to each of them to make a sentence using the 3 words 'pink', 'green' and 'yellow'.

The Italian starts and makes a long sentence, using correctly the 3 words. The teacher congratulates him.

The German continues with another correct use of the 3 words in his sentence. The teacher congratulates him too.

Finally, it's the French turn... He starts having cold sweat drops along his forehead, feels very stressed... And after a loooong hesitation says...

Green ! Green !... I pink up 'ze' phone and say... Yellow ?

 

Sorry... 😁

I need to find a way to turn off that nagging “time to get fuel” audible warning whenever I get too half a tank. 
 

only happens when the GF is a passenger. 

Ejector seat!

From experience, the main problem running a diesel out of fuel if not so much damaging the pump but rather the system is designed to be closed and always filled with fuel.

 

If air gets into the system, it can be impossible to pass enough fuel back to the pump to generate enough pressure to start.

 

Ford engines which I had many of in the past didn't have a low fuel pressure pump and rely on the suction of the high pressure pump to pull fuel through the system.

They had a system that would simulate running out of fuel (creating a simulated miss fire) which would then stop the engine before it ran out of fuel to ensure it would start immediately once additional fuel was added.

 

A couple of years ago with the Volvo XC90, I was driving home with 20km left on the range when suddenly the range showed ---km and the engine began to splutter.

I managed to roll into a filling station and add 70l of fuel but I couldn't start the engine again. It just dead cranked until they battery was almost flat.

The RAC guy connected an electric pump to prime the system and it started after 2s.

 

The last Mercedes we had in 2022 stopped displaying distance to empty or range after you reached the low fuel level so with around 80km still available. This was quite annoying as on the Skoda I always like drive to the end of the tank to give a consistent mpg calculation.

Edited 7 March, 20242 yr by Gabbo