M Coupe just died

[mhughett]

Not that it's going to make you feel any smarter but I'm sure this isn't the first time your dealer has seen this. If I'm not mistaken, these cars have a 14 gallon tank. You must get much better mileage than the average Z4 M owner. My light comes on when I have about 3 gallons left and usually at that point, I've barely gone over 200 miles. If I go 230 miles I feel like I'm pushing it. Granted this is city/hwy mix but in order to get 320 miles on a tank you have to get 23mpg and by that point you are running on fumes. You can do a lot of damage to your car by running it out of gas. I suggest you adjust your fill-up habits. Glad it worked out for you.

Just out of curiosity, did you get charged by the dealer for any of this or did the warranty pick up the cost?

[dekaliber]

Originally Posted by gatorfast

Wait you get 320 miles to the tank in your m coupe? How???????

That's gotta be like all highway driving at < 70 MPH on a full tank. The reserve light on my car usually comes on with about 2 gallons left, and the tank is only something like 13.6 gallons.

[Pheonix]

Trust me! I am more than smiling at myself as well i felt like a fucking idiot. By the way, i did not ran out of gas! They said i was running low on gas. I guess the lesson learn here is that do not drive your car low on fuel. Even the Service advisor told me DO NOT trust the computer (they said take the Range divide by 2 then substract 10 miles and that what yoi might have in the tank)
Seriously, how many times and how many people you know keep driving with the empty warning light.
Btw, see my previous post on how i got 320 miles to the tank!

[ebruder]

Originally Posted by Pheonix

Trust me! I am more than smiling at myself as well i felt like a fucking idiot. By the way, i did not ran out of gas! They said i was running low on gas. ...

Now you have me laughing, in a good natured way.

Cruising on the highway... car stops... add gas and car runs. Sorry, but yes, you ran out of gas.

[Pheonix]

Straight out of the Owner Manual "approx. 14.5 gal with 2.6gal reserve"
Yes, i am strictly talking about highway driving with light traffic!
By the way, my buddy got a ticket going 120 mph that morning so we were driving very slowly after that and we took the trip from 5am-8am so there were no traffic.
Seriously, i think there might be nothing wrong with the car or its instrumentation! Most likely the pump got shut off prematually when i filled up the tank.
Again, the lesson here (at least for me) is not to take any chances running low on fuel!
By the way, the dealer was nice enough not charging me for it (they used warranty service since there was error codes showed up)

[Pheonix]

Originally Posted by ebruder

Now you have me laughing, in a good natured way.

Cruising on the highway... car stops... add gas and car runs. Sorry, but yes, you ran out of gas.

Man,you are brutal but i am glad i could make your day
Did you bother to read my first post about the error codes that we scanned on the spot? Fyi, the dealer had to reset the codes and all.

[mhughett]

Originally Posted by Pheonix

Man,you are brutal but i am glad i could make your day
Did you bother to read my first post about the error codes that we scanned on the spot? Fyi, the dealer had to reset the codes and all.

Yes, running out of gas will cause components to malfunction and generate error codes. And your point?

[Pheonix]

Originally Posted by mhughett

Yes, running out of gas will cause components to malfunction and generate error codes. And your point?

My fucking point is Do Not take your chance and keep driving when the warning light comes ON. Also Do Not trust the computer on the Range to Empty.
I learned it the hard way and man enough to admit it that i am an idiot for doing so.

[MinneapolisJeff]

Makes me think of the Seinfeld episode where Kramer says

"Listen to me. When that car rolls into that dealership, and that tank is bone dry, I want you to be there with me when everyone says, 'Kramer and that other guy, oh, they went further to the left of the slash than anyone ever dreamed!'"

[SCHMOUPE]

i have actually driven my car where the range was at 0 for a couple of blocks...I know i know...it's just I was in a rush all day and finally realized I was running ultra low driving home at 4 AM. Talk about pushing my luck. The last mile I was in 6th gear just coastingkeeping my RPM around 1200. LOL. But seriously I get 17.9 at the moment from my M. I didnt get the car to be efficient and my driving habits are not helping the efficiency either. oh well

[ebruder]

Originally Posted by Pheonix

Man,you are brutal but i am glad i could make your day
Did you bother to read my first post about the error codes that we scanned on the spot? Fyi, the dealer had to reset the codes and all.

You are a hell of a good sport. I was on a group drive 2 years ago and all the M drivers, including me, were running on fumes. When we finally found a gas station the wife of one of the other drivers announced she had begun looking for a farmer to trade a BJ for a gallon of gas. You have to know this woman. She might have even been serious.

We had all been short shifting, running very low rpm's, and praying for a gas station. So I am not innocent.

Enjoy your (gassed up) car!

EB

[esqu1re]

LoL. The fuel light doesn't play around in this car. It comes on at 1/4 and drains hella fast! I read somewhere in a magazine that their test car ran out of fuel even though the gauge showed 1/4. I haven't had that happen, but when that light comes on, I go to a gas station!

[ManoSpeed]

My reserve light comes on religiously at 1/4 tank full and I will immediately go find a gas station to fill it up. The manual clearly states that you should not let the vehicle run out of fuel as this may result in mechanical damage to the engine or other systems, so I'm anal about keeping the tank full.

My current range is about 300 miles on a full tank, which is pretty low compared to my MazdaSpeed3 which could do around 410 miles per tank.

The M will go through fuel like water though and it is not cheap either. I'm spending around $40 dollars every 2-2.5 days depending on my driving style. Lately, I have been trying to increase mileage by short shifting and driving more smoothly during my work commute.

[Swashplate]

LOL Priceless. Oh I used to run out of gas with the Mustang every so often. But talk about "Highway to the Danger Zone" I would say don't run it so close...come on this isn't an economy car and you won't pay economy car prices when you bugger something up. You weren't cheap to buy the car so don't be cheap when it comes to operations.

Glad to hear it wasn't anything worse than damaged pride.

[r4gs]

interestingly enough, i've also noticed when the fuel low light comes on and the range remaining read through by the computer. i've gone as close as 16 miles remaining as indicated and the needle still had a good width or two before being fully empty. i'd say it's fairly accurate although i was also using my odometer to keep track of how accurate the range countdown is. the computer relates the range remaining based on the average fuel consumption indication, which is usually not particularly accurate especially if u do not reset it after every fill up.

i get on average about 260-270 miles per full tank and fill up at about 50 miles remaining on the computer.

[pokeybritches]

Originally Posted by ebruder

she had begun looking for a farmer to trade a BJ for a gallon of gas. You have to know this woman. She might have even been serious.

Where can I meet this woman?

[vachss]

I don't know if this comes down to the difference between S54's and N52's, but I run my non-M coupe down to fumes all the time without apparent ill effect. Invariably I'll run the tank until it's been reading ---- for 10 or 20 miles. I've only actually run out of gas once in 3 years / 60K miles. In the first year I had the car I went about 30 miles past the ---- no error codes, car just died, poured in some more gas and went on my way with no other problems.

[jumpthewire]

I've read on some forum (possibly this one) that BMW recommends not running the fuel down due to contaminates being in the tank, and thus possibly messing something up.

Any validation to this?

[pokeybritches]

I'd be lying if I said I hadn't ever pushed it before, although I didn't actually run out of gas. Never again. In honor of our ridiculed OP:

[Swashplate]

Yes you can potentially plug up the filter with crud if you don't drive it often.

[Finnegan]

Just when I thought I was being silly digging around for 3.20 in change to add a single gallon to my DD to get me the 7 miles home from work the other night....now I don't feel so silly....

Left my wallet at home accidentally, and the gauge was on empty and the "reserve" light had just come on. Good thing I have a lot of loose change floating around in the car. Let's see, there's a quarter in the ashtray, one in the glovebox, 3 under the seat....

[Hawkeye]

Wow, I thought I was bad filling up with 6 miles left on the computer the other night! There was no other station close so I had to go to one I usually do not go to, I should have been more of a chance taker I guess!

320 miles is crazy, that is about what I get on a tank with my 3.0si!