E46 runs out of gas

My daughter has run her '00 3 Series out of gas a couple of times, but the
Range button displays upwards of 30 miles remaining. she fills the tank
everytime she gets gas, so the car knows where/how much a full tank is.

Does the Range button work by figuring how far the car can go based on prior
operation of the gas pedal? If this were true, and my kid uses a heavier
foot that the previous owner, then the car might expect to go further than
she can get it to go.

On MY 3 Series, I've ventured into the 30 or less miles remaining several
times and survived to tell the story, and managed to drive up to the pump
too. My daughter called from a parking lot driveway to say her car was dead.
She said the car reported that it still had 30 miles in the tank, but I
figured the tank was really as close to empty as it could be, so I told her
to get the Auto Club to come out with some gas. The car is fine now.

She has gotten to the end of her fuel load 3 times when the Range display
insists she has enough gas to make it to the next gas station. What's up
with this?

"Jeff Strickland" wrote
> My daughter has run her '00 3 Series out of gas a couple of times, but the
> Range button displays upwards of 30 miles remaining.

Just curious, what does the analog fuel gauge show when there's 30 miles
remaining? Is it already rested against the left limit or not quite?

Pete

"Pete" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Jeff Strickland" wrote
>> My daughter has run her '00 3 Series out of gas a couple of times, but
>> the Range button displays upwards of 30 miles remaining.
>
> Just curious, what does the analog fuel gauge show when there's 30 miles
> remaining? Is it already rested against the left limit or not quite?
>
> Pete
>
>

And at what point does the fuel reserve icon come on? On my '99 E46,
reserve comes on with almost exactly 2 gallons remaining, so I have 40~60
miles, depending on traffic & road conditions to find a station. I've also
noticed that the range to empty on every BMW car (and motorcycle) I've owned
is non-linear below 100 and can drop from 80 to 50 in only 3 or 4 miles.
Sounds like your daughter should fill up at no less than 1/4 tank to be on
the safe side.

Tom K.

Good question, I don't know. I'm not sure how that helps though.

She is driving along and the car reports via the gas guage that she needs to
make a pit stop soon. She hits the Range button, which reports that she has
50 or so miles to go. Eventually it reports 30 miles to go, but shuts down
because there is no fuel remaining.

We get the whole idea that she needs to buy gas about 15 driving minutes or
so earlier than her current schedule, but if the car is telling her that she
has n-miles to go, and the motor dies in a few yards, it seems that the
Range feature is a bit out of calibration and is pretty much useless. Our
other car seems to do a much better job of reporting how far the car can be
driven before one lace up the shoes and hit the bricks.





"Pete" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Jeff Strickland" wrote
>> My daughter has run her '00 3 Series out of gas a couple of times, but
>> the Range button displays upwards of 30 miles remaining.
>
> Just curious, what does the analog fuel gauge show when there's 30 miles
> remaining? Is it already rested against the left limit or not quite?
>
> Pete
>
>

"Jeff Strickland" > wrote in message
...
> My daughter has run her '00 3 Series out of gas a couple of times, but the
> Range button displays upwards of 30 miles remaining. she fills the tank
> everytime she gets gas, so the car knows where/how much a full tank is.

It is possible there is about 1 gallon of water or other non-combustable
in the tank. I would let her run it out of gas and then be sure the tank
is, in fact, empty of everything.

"Bob Smitter" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Jeff Strickland" > wrote in message
> ...
>> My daughter has run her '00 3 Series out of gas a couple of times, but
>> the Range button displays upwards of 30 miles remaining. she fills the
>> tank everytime she gets gas, so the car knows where/how much a full tank
>> is.
>
> It is possible there is about 1 gallon of water or other non-combustable
> in the tank. I would let her run it out of gas and then be sure the tank
> is, in fact, empty of everything.
>

It would be a b****r to start if water got in the fuel line...

"Jeff Strickland" > wrote
> Good question, I don't know. I'm not sure how that helps though.

It helps you diagnose whether just the on-board computer is wrong, or
whether the gauge gets the same faulty reading and shows that some gas
is still remaining in the tank while it isn't. If both are wrong, it
may be a faulty sensor/fuel sender unit.

If it's just the on-board computer, then AFAIK, the way it reports
"miles to empty" can be adjusted.

Cheers,
Pete

Nicholas Andrade wrote:

>
> The function used to determine remaining mileage is almost certainly at
> least partially based on (and weighs heavily) the current rate of
> consumption.

I think the other part of the equation that folks are missing is the
range is determined based on the fuel gauge sensor. If that is off by a
little, so will the range.


--
-Fred W

Jeff Strickland wrote:
> My daughter has run her '00 3 Series out of gas a couple of times, but the
> Range button displays upwards of 30 miles remaining. she fills the tank
> everytime she gets gas, so the car knows where/how much a full tank is.
>
> Does the Range button work by figuring how far the car can go based on prior
> operation of the gas pedal? If this were true, and my kid uses a heavier
> foot that the previous owner, then the car might expect to go further than
> she can get it to go.
>
> On MY 3 Series, I've ventured into the 30 or less miles remaining several
> times and survived to tell the story, and managed to drive up to the pump
> too. My daughter called from a parking lot driveway to say her car was dead.
> She said the car reported that it still had 30 miles in the tank, but I
> figured the tank was really as close to empty as it could be, so I told her
> to get the Auto Club to come out with some gas. The car is fine now.
>
> She has gotten to the end of her fuel load 3 times when the Range display
> insists she has enough gas to make it to the next gas station. What's up
> with this?


This is from the Owner's Handbook from my new 335d coupe.

"The (range) display indicates how far the car can probably be driven
on the fuel remaining in the tank. The range is calculated on the basis
of the way the car has been driven over the past 20 miles, and the
amount of fuel currently in the tank."

There then follows this warning:

"If the remaining operating range is below 30 miles, it is imperative
to add fuel, otherwise the engine's functions are not assured and
damage may occur"

Hope it helps,

Vijay

"Bob Smitter" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Jeff Strickland" > wrote in message
> ...
>> My daughter has run her '00 3 Series out of gas a couple of times, but
>> the Range button displays upwards of 30 miles remaining. she fills the
>> tank everytime she gets gas, so the car knows where/how much a full tank
>> is.
>
> It is possible there is about 1 gallon of water or other non-combustable
> in the tank. I would let her run it out of gas and then be sure the tank
> is, in fact, empty of everything.
>

I suspect there is no water in the tank.

The water would be at the bottom, where the fuel pick-up is located, so the
water would be present regardless of the tank being full or empty, AND the
water would be evacuated over time (assuming the motor would run as it
sucked the water from the tank). Since the car has no driveability problems
at any other time, I sleep easy knowing there is no water in the tank.