Have you ever run out of gas? (Out of gas calls on the rise)

[Liberal_in_LA]

I ran out once in my life. I still 'push it' sometimes, if I'm near home and don't feel like stopping

'Out of gas' calls for help rise with fuel prices

An increase this year in stranded motorists calling the Automobile Club of Southern California to request gasoline coincides with a jump in average fuel prices statewide. California's average Friday was $4.191 a gallon.

April 15, 2011, 7:00 p.m.
Soaring fuel prices have drivers running on empty.

The Automobile Club of Southern California said nearly 16,000 members a month are making one of those mildly embarrassing "stranded, need gasoline" emergency calls. That's up 13% from the year-earlier pace and represents the biggest jump since California motorists were paying a record average of $4.61 for a gallon of regular gasoline in July 2008.

"It's happening again to a lot of people," Automobile Club spokesman Jeff Spring said. "Our presumption is that these current high gasoline prices have a lot to do with it."

"When prices go up, people like to push it," said Jason Toews, co-founder of GasBuddy.com, a system of price-tracking websites. "If it is costing $50 or $75 or $100 to fill up, that is real money they don't want to part with."

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-gas-empty-20110416,0,2277495.story

[Bluzmann57]

1. I have

But I was fairly drunk. Many years ago. I no longer run out of gas. I will always have enough to get to work and back if nothing else.

[Liberal_in_LA]

3. ..and hopefully you no longer drink and drive?

[Bluzmann57]

9. No

[taterguy]

2. I've called AAA when I was too tired to ride my bike any further

They told me to STFU

[Silent3]

4. Twice, close together, nearly 30 years ago

It took running out twice over the span of a few weeks for me to properly learn the lesson that an old used VW my parents bought me extra cheap had (1) a very small gas tank, and (2) it really, really meant empty, no tiny reserve left at all, the moment the need pointed to "E".

[Liberal_in_LA]

6. ahhhh.... I have about 2 gallons when mine hits E.

[Silent3]

17. Most cars have a gallon or two left at E.

That's why that old VW caught me by surprise back then.

[dixiegrrrrl]

21. I "ran out" in my first old VW, not knowing there was a lever to the emerg. tank.

that held 2 gallons.
This was a 1958 beetle, really old.

From that day to this, I fill up when the tank gets to 1/4. Most times I even fill up at half way mark.

[SheilaT]

29. Same here. My first car was a 59 VW Bug.

A convertable no less. My sons were actually quite impressed when I told them that was my first car.

One time I'd forgotten to throw back the reserve tank lever when filling up the tank, and if you don't close it then, you can't close it when the tank is full. Because I'd forgotten to do that, and I'd forgotten to check the mileage on a fill-up (I'd drive 200 miles then get gas usually) I was surprised when the engine started the out of gas sputter, and then realized the reserve tank had also been used up.

Once and only once.

[Taverner]

5. I have. In a Prius. That was awesome.

No, running out of gas wasn't, but watching this was:

The Prius sends a message saying it has run out of gas. Then the electric motor kicks in, and the warning ("!") light goes on and it tells me how many more miles I have left on the electric motor. It runs out of energy quickly, but I get at least 2 miles of electric power, where it never goes over 40 mph, and I make it to the gas station.

[Liberal_in_LA]

8. cool!

[spanone]

7. when i was a teenager in the sixties, we'd put a dollars worth in the tank..regularly

we ran out of gas, regularly.....but a dollar bought 3 gallons back then

[Sherman A1]

10. No, I fill up on the same day each week

trying to beat the price increases as best I can. The car can really go 2 weeks between fill ups, but I don't want to push it.

[Sisaruus]

11. Once. I didn't realize the gas gauge wasn't working.

[WCIL]

12. Is spent my cash on an A&W root beer when I was a teenager.

Ran out of gas on the way home. I coasted up to a gas station and the attendant helped me push it to the pump. By scrounging around the back seat of the car I found about 60cents, which got me enough gas to get home and get the money for a fill-up. That experience was so humiliating that I always get gas when I'm at a quarter tank.

[Maine-ah]

dupe

[Maine-ah]

13. once, in 1995

the first car I purchased, and I was being stupid looking at the heat gauge the whole time, thinking holy shit, this car is awesome on gas!

I was really young. lol, and where I sat (I'm very, very short) the gas gauge was kind of hidden from me in a little blind spot behind the steering wheel. :blush:

[Liberal_in_LA]

14. hee!

:rofl:

[MiddleFingerMom]

28. HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! My car-doofus moment...

.
.
.
...was when I returned from Germany in the mid-70's and bought a used car.
.
.
.
Didn't need the high beams until I was on a long trip and couldn't find the
button on the floor to go from low to high. Pulled over and looked and
figured that damn dealer had even gone to the trouble to re-carpet the
floor to cover up the broken high-beam button.
.
.
.
Discovered that all cars NOW (then's "now") had the high-beam lever on
the steering column. Accidentally. About two weeks AFTER I had bought
the car.
.
.
.
:rofl:
.
.
.

[dixiegrrrrl]

37. I bought a car with air conditioning and had no idea what those levers were for.

Drove it for 2 years, in rainy climate, never had heard of A/C in a car,
then moved to Fla. and was SO happy to learn what those levers were for!

[hlthe2b]

15. Nope.. but coasted to the pump on fumes several times...

When I was traveling for business and forced to drive lots of American rental cars in the late 80s early 90s, I found they had notoriously bad gas gauges--accurate until it approached the 1/4 tank and then voila--reads 1/4 or and 1/8 and EMPTY.

I'm careful now and always fill up when I see a decent gas price...though I use a lot less gas anymore.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

16. Yes, but only after getting siphoned

[OhioDoink]

18. Had a friend who ran out everyday on purpose...

while he was unemployed and looking for work.He kept a gallon in his trunk,so he knew that he had to stop putting applications in when his car died and had enough to get home.The next day he would put 5 gallons in his tank and 1 in the can in his trunk and repeat.Being broke sucks,but he was never stranded.

[aikoaiko]

19. Just once -- hoofing it to a gas station and back was a learning lesson.

Although there have been some close calls in GA highways late at night when almost every gas station was closed.

[Sonoman]

20. Twice this year already, on a scooter that gets 100mpg.

I have a '66 Vespa w/sidecar that is really difficult to fill and I am really lazy.

I must have run out of gas 4 or 5 times last year

Sonoman

[ddeclue]

22. Jackson Browne's "Running on Empty"...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJYRtOPUonA

Thought this was apropos..

[ddeclue]

23. and Kramer test drives car on "E" with the salesman..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuEdU_lrtZk

:rofl:

I've been below the slash many times.. this is nothing.. you'll get used to it.

[OhioDoink]

24. Don't remember the episode

:rofl: But I just knew Kramer would pass the exit.

[ddeclue]

26. For a variety of reasons I don't want to be the one responsible for purchasing costly gasoline..

:rofl:

[quaker bill]

25. Yes, several times

but is was a restored antique, and it took some time to find a working gas guage. (1956 Sunbeam Rapier)

[TheKentuckian]

27. Yeah, three times. Twice in an old car that the gage didn't work and I had to go by mileage

so, I had a couple of occasions where I must have driven extra city or was a leadfoot above the usual.

I ran out in my previous car once about 3 blocks from the gas station thinking I was early into my reserve since the money light had just came on a mile or so back.

Have also been flirting with running out a few times in the past few months but made it.

[FreeJoe]

30. No

All of my cars have had a gauge that tells me roughly how much gas I have left. I really haven't found it that hard to fill up when I start getting low. Maybe its because I've pretty much always lived in the suburbs and don't spend too much time more than a few miles from the nearest station.

[justabob]

31. lots of times

but AAA wasn't who I called to help me. :) I hate buying gas. I hate pumping gas. I push it most times. It has been a while since the last time I actually ran out though, many years.

[JVS]

32. No. I was raised to believe that going empty would be bad for the fuel pump and injection system.

My parents also gave me a gas card when I was in the "young and short on cash at any particular moment" stage, so my gas bill was always to be settled up with them and timing of the purchase didn't change things much.

[Little Star]

33. Nope. Being a female I am way to scared to run out of gas. I...

always make sure to have enough no matter what.

[femmocrat]

34. Sure, when I was a teenager. Who hasn't? n/t

[Bombero1956]

35. I never allow the car to go below 1/2 a tank

This is a habit I learned on the fire department. It was a standing policy to not allow an apparatus to go below 3/4 of fuel at any time. This was to ensure ample fuel was on hand in case we had a working fire and had to run the pump for an extended time period. I just transferred that practice to my personal vehicle.

[Liberal_in_LA]

42. That policy would leave me with 6 gallons to work with, I use about a gallon a day

So I'd be filling up more than I want to. but having grown up on army bases, I've heard of the practice.

[Magron]

36. Once in my life, but the gas gage had gone broken.

[dixiegrrrrl]

38. Oil, now,.....that's another story.....

:blush:

[Fuzz]

39. Yes, once. I was at a drive in porn movie with two women. When pushing my car out of the

lot with one of them and the other one steering, I was a hero to all those who saw me, for some unknown reason. They carried a gas can to my car over their heads while singing a song I did not not recognize, but I do remember having a necklace of flowers put around my neck by what appeared to be the elder of the movie complex and receiving kisses on both cheeks by all those young men in attendance who backed away slowly while bent at the waste.

They pushed fragrant flowers and condoms into my hands as I thanked them for the 3 gallons of gas and I backed slowly back to my car thinking wtf had I just witnessed?

After driving to the nearest motel, I forgot about it completely until I saw this thread.

Thank you, and may God bless your soul.

[Zephie]

40. Husband did it just last night!

[Rincewind]

41. I have never run out of gas

in my car (lawn mower is a different story), but many years ago I had a car with a 22.1 gallon gas tank. I really push it one time, hoping to find cheaper gas, and when I finally filled the tank, it took 21.9 gallons.