post gas light mileage.
 

how long do our cars last with the gas light on, never had my light even come on but it will very soon haha... also around how many miles do you make it between fill ups

not something you should even try. Fuel pumps, like all the other over-priced Porsche parts, are expensive. That's a $1,000 job you don't need to speed up by running your fuel that low.

Right up to the point the fuel pump burns up for lack of cooling from the lack or surrounding fuel; bad idea.............

Never been there

I run my down to fumes routinely, to the point where the OBC stops displaying the range and the needle is below zero - most tanks for the last 50,000 miles (now on over 120,000) and I rarely even put half a tank in, so it happens a lot. Needless to say, haven't had any problems.

Not saying it couldn't cause a problem. But based on doing it over and over and over and not having a problem, I would suggest occasionally running it down is a total non issue.

and how many miles can you make it once the light is on? i usually fill up at a quarter tank but curious for future reference.

Well, the capacities section of your owners manual probably says like mine that your reserve fuel is approx. 2.4 gallons. Multiply that by your city or highway consumption figure as you choose.

thank you for the info

If you need to borrow $10...........

haha dont need 10 bucks now.... some day though.... haha

Needless to say, we see our share of dead and dying fuel pumps; one common denominator ones that have gone bad is people running the fuel level low repeatedly. Either Excellence or Panorama has mentioned the same observation; the pumps do not like being overheated.

I don't know about these cars, but every time I had to replace an electric fuel pump for a friend, they tended to run their fuel tanks between empty and 1/2 full. It is a well understood theory (fact) that when you run low on gas on a regular basis in the hotter months you tend to run the fuel pump hotter and as a result the vanes swell and eventually you cause the pump to fail prematurely. It cost no more money to run it between 1/2 tank and full tank. :)

I always reset the tripometer when the light comes on. I can get about 30 miles without running out. Once I hit 33, still didn't run out.

That's odd.......

I typically find a gas station if the light comes on. Does resetting the trip odometer help?

Your fuel guage may not be calibrated as precisely as you think. When the light comes on you may have 2.4 gallons more or less. If there's a long distance to you favorite gas station, it's not worth the risk.

I tend to drive till the light comes on frequently...
 

I had a 300zx I did this for 8 years with (never have run out of gas but I stretch a tank of gas for what it is worth) and never had any problems (160k miles)...same with two other nissan vehicles I own. I do not push the boxster as far as the 300zx but the light does come on almost always before I refill it with gas. I have heard all the stories of the fuel pump cooling issues...I guess it is just a matter of being lucky or knowing how much you can get away with.

Not worth the gamble to me. In the hot Texas summers, I could imagine the fuel pump being strained especially with no fuel.

Reminds me of an old Seinfeld with the Kramer test driving a car and seeing how far they could go below the E.

My wife does this with her car. Everytime I get in its out of gas. She dislikes filling up the car. I've told her of the potential harm you can do by running the car so low on gas. The arguement falls on deaf ears.

Dead on with that quote. Coming from someone who had to replace a fuel pump. Car shuts down while on the freeway doing 65 in the left lane with 3/4 tank of gas. :eek: Do not speed up that the expectancy of that part. Besides, do you know how silly it would look if you ran out of gas in that car? :ah::ah::ah: I'm just saying

No, but you're dragging around 50kg+ of fuel with a full tank which is fine if you're going a long way but dead weight otherwise.

My pump is 120k miles old and the last 50k miles have been run predominantly between empty and a quarter, much less empty and half a tank. It's lucky to see half a tank!

Whatever the theory suggests, my personal experience over nearly four years is that it's a total non issue running the fuel low.