Ok, I did a really dumb thing, but it was exciting :-)

I've been curious how much the gas tank holds on my 2003 GS 430. I've been doing a lot of commuting each week, racking up the miles. Every time I filled up with gas, I would drive progressively more miles on that tank of gas, until today...

As I was driving home through driving rain (courtesy of the leftovers of hurricane Jeanne) the engine began to stumble about 1 mile away from the gas station. I shutdown all accessories (AC, radio, etc.) and coaxed it towards the gas station. As I was driving through a parking lot to get to the gas station, I had to "goose" the accelerator a couple of times with little engine response. Then, as I was approaching the gas station driveway/apron, the engine stalled, and I was able to roll up to the gas pump after the engine stalled!

I filled the tank up until it would take no more without spilling out. It took exactly 20.427 gallons of fuel. I even "rocked" the car to try to get any air bubbles out of the tank to get more gas in.

So, that's it. 20.427 gallons. I was surprised the check engine light did not come on, due to lean conditions, or engine misfire due to running out of gas, but it did not come on at all. Nevertheless, I never plan to do this again, as I presume it could result in catalytic converter damage, or fuel pump overheating.

Has anyone else out there filled up from completely empty? Has anyone been able to get more than 20.427 gallons in their GS430?

 

Wow, that's impressive, so, how many miles did you get out of it?

 

my 2000 gs400 only takes like 16 gallons (about 35 dollars worth) and i get pretty close to 400 miles to the tank, with normal drivin'... but since i've been drivin' a lil aggressively, right now it's at around 340

usually i can get 22 miles in the city and now i'm gettin' like 19.6 or some shiet... anyways.. yea i've filled up from empty and my tank still only gets like 16-17 gallons.

 

458.3 miles, which was mixed city (stop and go traffic) and highway driving....

 

458.3 miles, which was mixed city (stop and go traffic) and highway driving....

 

Interesting. Funny that the owners manual would list it at 19.8.

I know the other night I ran to 0 miles left (per the computer). Car took 17.2 gallons of gas - so I had 2.5 left with the car showing 0.

I can only assume they do this for two reasons
1. Keep the fuel pump cool.
2. Keep the car from stalling on hills and tight turns (in spite of baffles)

 

So, how did you guys get such high mpg? I can only get about 16-17 mpg around the city (w/o AC) and 25-26 on the freeway, and I drive like a old man, most of the time. (not that i am old, just drive like one, unless someone really **** me off on the road, then I will show them what's GS400 is all about )

 

Different weather, Elevations, etc.

Lots of things can affect gas mileage. Also if you have performance mods that could adversly affect mileage.

 

omg, ok i think im getting ripped off or something lol. i'm getting like 280 mpg. u guys running your ac? im thinking i should change the plugs and stuff lol. dang! gas down here costs a grip too. i pay about $2.50/gal for the 92 here. gahh! sheesh, im running a gs300 too! 400mpg, maybe i should just get a gs400 already lol. peace

-tyler

 

yeah lateley for me the MPG has been sucking ***. Earliest Ive had the light come on was around 260 ... no no no, this just wont do. I avegerage about 350-360 per tank though. Thats usually around 16-17 gallons. I might need to look around and see what might be causing the engine to burn so much fuel... oh yeah, i forgot, i have a lead foot.

 

factory stated that the factory gas tank is 19 gallons

and all i can say is, don't do that again.... you were lucky you didn't damage anything..... last time i went out of gas on my gs4, i damaged the fuel pump.... no good

 

Romini,

Ok, I gotta ask....How did you know your fuel pump was damaged? Did symptoms of the damage show up right away, or did it take some additional time for it to fail? What were the symptoms?

Had I known fuel pump damage could occur, I wouldn't have let this happen. But so far, since I filled up with gas, the car runs just as it did before....

 

I've heard from other experts that you should never let the car run for long with 1/4 or less fuel left in it. When this is done on a regular basis, it's going to degrade life of the evaporative components (i.e. fuel pump, charcoal canister, etc.) One of my friends does this habit on his Civic (he's always saying how he has never run empty on the road), and I just want to him every time

 

Don't worry I have an '02 GS430 that is slightly modded (exhaust and intake) and because I drive in 3rd and 4th around town, not 5th, with the A/C running I get around 14 miles to the gallon (or around 230 to the tank). But I also drive it hard too. When I take long trips and drive in 5th I get close to 400 miles to the tank. The price of gas hasn't really impacted me yet and I prefer to have the car operating in the best rpm range for driving around town.

Also I usually run it to under a 1/4 before refiling and a few times I've gone to the low fuel light (28 miles left per the navi system). At one point where I had 8 miles left i was able to put in just over 16 gallons.

 

couple days afterwards, the CEL came on, no idea why. no intake, no nothing. went to dealership, car running lean.... ended up running through a lot of diagnosis and finally found out that the fuel pump was damaged, and it's leaking pressure.