Okay, I need some opinions here:

I've put in about 10 full tanks of gas since I bought my car, and everytime I filled it up, I was down to either 1 bar or no bars on the guage. I know there's meant to be a window, which Honda meant for so that once the light came on you would have apx. 1-1.5 gallons of gas left, but the last 3 times I've filled up, I drove for about 10-15 minutes with a solid low-fuel light, both on highway and city, before tanking up. All times, the pump only registered about 12.5-13(max) gallons of gas going in ... am I mistaken or doesn't the 4th gen have a tank capacity of 15.9? Is this a common thing, or do I maybe have a bad float. Not dire, i'm just curious.

 

i know some luder say they can go about 50-60 miles after the gas light goes on. i have gone about that too. i thought the fuel tank capacity was 13.2 gallons

 

what gen?

 

read the article, then post dude ... to make your life easier though, 4th gen. My Honda Service Manual (1st edition) says the tank capacity is 15.9 US Gallons/13.2 imperial gallons. I was hoping that more people would've added to this thread and just given their input on how much gas the pump registers when they pull into a station on "empty".

 

Dam...I read through it and then re-scanned it to check to see if you had the Gen in it before I posted...I just missed it...my bad. But you can't blame me...I see it far to often that people don't specify what gen. If you want I am sure I can give you a bunch of links...

Anyways...I can't help, I have a 5th, that and apparently I am blind and/or retarded too, so...

 

tank cap is 15.9
but "supposedly" only 15.0 usable

i have tested the fuel light to the limit, driving from long island NY to deep in west virginia to visit my friend.
driving thru the night the gas light eventually came on, with 1-0 bars left
i drove an additional 65 miles with NO BARS and the light on, checking 3 exits with gas signs but all were closed

rolled up to an open citgo in cumberland maryland and the engine stalled as i hit the parking lot, pushed it to the pump, filled it up and was on my way.

misc details:
-it was winter
-it was a blizzard
-i was alone
-i did not see a SINGLE vehicle in either direction on the interstate during this ordeal
-i maintained exactly 3300 rpms in 5th gear (60-65mph) (optimal rpm for gas mileage vs. speed...for optimum distance per fuel usage)
-tryed to idle-coast for several miles down mountains
-i have it videotaped so if i froze to death in the mountains it would be like blair witch or something

~boomer

 

The Prelude's tank is 15.9 gallons. The tank will never completely drain unless you really tried to drain it, so you'll have a couple gallons or so still in there before you fill it back up. The gauge doesn't necessarily show how much gas is left, it just shows how much gas is availible to the engine. If you're parked upwards on a hill and the gauge says E, you might not be able to start the car even though you still have gas in it.

 

lol ludeboom, blair witch eh? Hehe, anyway, you remember how much gas you put in the tank when you finally pushed your lude up to the pump? Oldskool, it makes sense, but 2 extra gallons unavailable to engine? That seems a bit extreme.

 

No I mean you might have ~2 gallons or so when you're gassing your car up. Its usable gas. I mean, you don't run your car until it's dry right? That was my point.

 

I get it, so basically that means that the 4th gen has a guauge that gives a helluva lot more leeway than most other honda guages (my mom's 99 civic has a 13 gallon tank, and usually after driving on 'E' with the light on for a while, and then flling up, it'd be about .5-1 gallon short of 13 on the pump meter). Ludeboom's gas-light experience supports that, about 65 miles on no bars, so I know how far to push it Thanks, this thread actually went somewhere.