GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

I am about to take my first long trip with my vibe and was wondering if anyone else new how to read the gas gauge better than I do. It seems to not be broken down into equal quarters with the top and last going much faster than the middle two. I also get a light to warn me when I am low at about an 1/8th of a tank, but it goes way lower than the e sometimes. Any idea how many gallons I actually have when the warning light appears?

While I would recomend filling as soon as possible after the light comes on.I did travel around 75 miles (All HWY I-70 between St. louis and Columbia, MO) with it on.I would never seek to do this again though.Typically in most vehicles there is 2-3 gallons left when the light comes on.An yes, as in most guages the first half of the guage is slower than the second half.

There was an old thread floating around here on how far a person can go on a tank. I think someone actually attempted , but they carried a can of gas in their vehicle too.

Take a small gas can with you, and then run your Vibe until it starts to sputter out. Shut it down immediately, but look where your gage is pointing. That's where it's really empty. Don't ever do it again! When you run your tank out of gas, you can fry your fuel pump and/or suck up a bunch of debris into the fuel filter, clogging it up. If the fuel pump can't prime itself, your Vibe won't start. You may want to seek a few more opinions on the method I described above. I would never do this to my Vibe, or any fuel injected vehicle. If the low fuel light comes on, just put some gas in it. Usually, when I see it down a bit below the last quarter, I consider that as empty. Beats a long walk.

I agree with you vibolista. I've replaced a fuel pump on a safari van and looked up fuel pump failure causes and the speculation is that the increased heat of the pump not being fully submerged in gas may shorten the pumps life. I try to not let my gas tank on any vehicle go below 1/4 to hopefully keep my submerged pump cooler and live longer.

Thanks I am just curious as we are going on a long cdrive for the honeymoon soon and thought I should have a better read on the gauge since I have never been where we are going before and am not sure where the gas stations are. We went out to Wyoming a few years ago and there were all these towns and gas then for nearly an hour there was nothing. We were in trouble and that was with someone other me driving who doesn't like to be that risky with the gauge

yep, Gas buddy, msn auto, and other sites have gas station locations on routes if needed.

Quote, originally posted by zionzr2 »An yes, as in most guages the first half of the guage is slower than the second half.Fuel gauges are not trimmed to read from absolutely full to absolutely empty, hence why the first half takes longer to use than the last half.Modern fuel tanks are digital and thus peak at full when the fuel is added to or higher than that corresponding level. Typically, you can still add a gallon or two after the "Full" level would be indicated.This means you have to burn off the extra gallon or two until it registers full, then you'll see it start to drop.

So I should really being getting gas when it shows I am a 1/4 full becuase that quarter goes much faster than the quarter from half to a quarter. maybe they just make it digital instead of a gauge. Like a full tank is 10 and then it decreases by.05 until it gets down to 0

Quote, originally posted by engineertwin2 »Fuel gauges are not trimmed to read from absolutely full to absolutely empty, hence why the first half takes longer to use than the last half.Modern fuel tanks are digital and thus peak at full when the fuel is added to or higher than that corresponding level. Typically, you can still add a gallon or two after the "Full" level would be indicated.This means you have to burn off the extra gallon or two until it registers full, then you'll see it start to drop.Tread Lightly Folks on this information here as to adding "extra fuel" when the pump stops can cause problems with the EVAP/Charcoal Canister. If fuel gets into it, you will throw a CEL and have a costly repair.

Quote, originally posted by Pujon »Thanks I am just curious as we are going on a long drive for the honeymoon soon so how did the Vibe do on the long honeymoon drive?