What happens when you run out of diesel?

[californiadreaming]

Hi all,

Long time members/rare posters here. We thought we should probably share our experience of running out of diesel on the French Autoroute last week, as it may help someone else out who finds themselves in the same position and there doesn't seem to be a massive amount of info out there......

Long story short, we were driving from Annecy on the Autoroute in our '62 reg 180DSG Cali last week, the van ran out of diesel (despite the trip computer showing an estimated "Range" of 30 miles). Obviously the engine management light (the coil) came on, the steering became very heavy and the brakes became "spongy".

We were fortunate enough to be on the exit slip road and were able to coast into the filling station and fill up, with great relief. However - and I guess this is the major learning point for us - post 2009 T5's do not self prime. The vehicle will not start no matter how much you crank it, without the use of a laptop and VCDS software. This was something we did not know, and half an hour of Googling revealed almost nothing other than where to plug the laptop in and how to boot up the software to force the fuel pump to run for an extended period (handy information if you happen to have a VW engineer and his laptop with you, otherwise not so much). Anyway, as is the system on the Autoroute in France, we had to call the French police to arrange recovery from the motorway service area to a "non motorway" location where we could then call our own recovery service.

The very nice French recovery driver arrived about 15 minutes after, and following a quick chat went to his truck and pulled out a can of "Easy Start" (for diesels I imagine) or "Start You B**tard" (I kid you not) and removed the air intake hose after the air filter. He sprayed a very small amount into the air hose and the van started straight away and has run flawlessly since.

The main learning points for us were:

1) Don't trust the "Range" estimate - even on relatively young/low mileage vans
2) Don't run your battery down trying to start the van if you've inadvertently run it dry
3) The van may start (do this at your own risk, I am in know way implying this is sympathetic to
your engine) with the help of an "Easy Start" type product sprayed conservatively into the
engine air inlet

Other than this we had a great trip and we couldn't be happier with the last 5 yrs of ownership!

 

[Jabberwocky]

Thanks for your story. Glad it all ended well.
I have used an easy start type product when canal boating in the winter - seems to be normal in that fraternity but I have to say I would be reluctant to use it very often. When the engine did ‘fire’ up it made some horrible noises for a short while but then settled down to normal behaviour until the next time......usually next morning!

 

[Loz]

On our Touareg the fuel lift pump started up as you open the drivers door to prime the HP fuel pump, on the LR Discovery there was a trick of turning on the ignition and depressing the throttle 5 times without starting and this runs the pump for 30 seconds.
@Vw guru is there anything like this we could do?

 

[Walrus]

I had a similar experience in Northern France. Hitched a lift, bought a can and filled it up, hitched back, poured it in and it started first time.2015 van. I agree about the range indicator. It went from 30 to 0 in a few miles and I stuttered to a stop soon after. Maybe I was just lucky.

 

[jts46]

I always refuel ASAP after the refuel light comes on, Why leave it to 30miles to go?

 

[T6 CFO]

I always refuel ASAP after the refuel light comes on, Why leave it to 30miles to go?

I suspect the OP regrets not having done that but was just passing on the miscalculation to assist the forum.

Mike

 

[Walrus]

I always refuel ASAP after the refuel light comes on, Why leave it to 30miles to go?

Well good for you. Have a merit mark. Sometimes stuff happens. In my case a motorway services closed for repair which scuppered my calculations.

 

[MickyTwoPints]

Just got back from a two week tour around Europe. On our drive from Lake Constance to Luxembourg, I was determined to get to Luxembourg before filling up and arrived at the petrol station with 20 miles showing. If I'd read this thread beforehand I might have done the sensible thing and filled up with a tenners worth of diesel on the way. Guess I got lucky.

 

[Mark Garrett]

Odd that it showed 30 miles still and ran out... We traveled some 4 miles on a range of '0' last weekend, luckily it still had fuel... I assumed that after zero, there was still a litre or so..

 

[Walrus]

Odd that it showed 30 miles still and ran out... We traveled some 4 miles on a range of '0' last weekend, luckily it still had fuel... I assumed that after zero, there was still a litre or so..

So did I. That has been my general experience of range measurement in motorcycles and cars. They tend to be conservative. My Cali wasn't!

 

[sidepod]

Crack open the fuel feed hose to the pump, length of wire from battery to pump, prime it. Start it.

 

[Eber123]

Thank you for the information.

I still can remember from my parents car 40 years ago, a Mercedes 180D (wonderful car, would love to have one now). They managed to run out of diesel several times. In the engine compartment was a little pump that had to be used (pumped) 20 - 30x times before the car started again. I assumed that was to get the diesel through the empty pipes to the engine.

With this memory in mind I try to do my best not to run out of fuel. The remaining km on the dashboard is only an estimate and I don't take it too seriously. That means I try to fill up latest reaching the last quarter on the gauge. If I know there is a long journey with potential problems to get fuel even earlier.

Also I expected that modern cars just won't start if they run dry. Meaning some mechanical help is needed. That in the wrong place at the wrong time can be very frustrating.

Thinking about it, I believe in Germany there is a chance to pay a fine if somebody runs out of fuel and gets stranded on the motorway or a dangerous place.

Regards,
Eberhard

 

[westfalia]

Thinking about it, I believe in Germany there is a chance to pay a fine if somebody runs out of fuel and gets stranded on the motorway or a dangerous place.

Yeah. that´s right Eberhard, They fine you for being stupid.
Quite right too.

 

[WelshGas]

Over time more than a little in the way of contaminants collects in any fuel tank. Although there is a sump volume, and the fuel take off is above that, it is really not good practise to run that low as the contaminants do not do Injectors, high pressure fuel pumps in particular, any good. Yes you have a fuel filter but sometimes these can have a bypass etc:.

 

[VW Guru]

On our Touareg the fuel lift pump started up as you open the drivers door to prime the HP fuel pump, on the LR Discovery there was a trick of turning on the ignition and depressing the throttle 5 times without starting and this runs the pump for 30 seconds.
@Vw guru is there anything like this we could do?

Hi sorry I’ve only just seen this post as already said post 2010 transporters do not prime when the ignition is turned on it will prime once when the door is first opened then only on crank. If you crank any common rail engine vw or not without diesel in the system it is highly likely the high pressure fuel pump will be serverly damaged causing later the system to fail later in the vehicles life due to swarf contamination throughout the fuel system circa 5k to repair. Anyway back to the problem if this problem ever happens and you are confident enough to bridge a power feed there is a red multi plug conector under the passengers seat (rhd) it has a blue wire with a yellow tracer going to it bridge 12 volts to that wire and it will run the priming pump to circulate the fuel around a the system

 

[californiadreaming]

I always refuel ASAP after the refuel light comes on, Why leave it to 30miles to go?

Thanks for taking the time to comment John, although I find I could take your comments in one of two ways. Obviously - not knowing you from Adam - I can only assume that you mean well since you're on a forum meant to facilitate like minded people in meeting and helping others, and exchanging ideas and experiences (both good and bad). No matter how many times I read your post I just don't see a "helpful" side to it. Thanks anyway though.

 

[californiadreaming]

I suspect the OP regrets not having done that but was just passing on the miscalculation to assist the forum.

Mike

Thanks Mike, you got my point where some didn't.

 

[californiadreaming]

Thank you for the information.

I still can remember from my parents car 40 years ago, a Mercedes 180D (wonderful car, would love to have one now). They managed to run out of diesel several times. In the engine compartment was a little pump that had to be used (pumped) 20 - 30x times before the car started again. I assumed that was to get the diesel through the empty pipes to the engine.

With this memory in mind I try to do my best not to run out of fuel. The remaining km on the dashboard is only an estimate and I don't take it too seriously. That means I try to fill up latest reaching the last quarter on the gauge. If I know there is a long journey with potential problems to get fuel even earlier.

Also I expected that modern cars just won't start if they run dry. Meaning some mechanical help is needed. That in the wrong place at the wrong time can be very frustrating.

Thinking about it, I believe in Germany there is a chance to pay a fine if somebody runs out of fuel and gets stranded on the motorway or a dangerous place.

Regards,
Eberhard

Thanks Eberhart, you're quite right, and ordinarily we would never run that low, unfortunately in this case circumstances just dictated it.

 

[californiadreaming]

Well good for you. Have a merit mark. Sometimes stuff happens. In my case a motorway services closed for repair which scuppered my calculations.

Totally agree with you Walrus, sometimes these things are hard to avoid!

 

[Zebedee]

It nearly happened to us last weekend in a remote bit of France on a Sunday, normally supermarkets in small towns are available but NO DIESEL to be had. Squeeked to the next available but we were down to 10 miles or less not an experience I’d like again. PS Annecy and Samoens were on our trip too...lovely!

 

[jts46]

Wednesday 15th August is a bank holiday in France, lots of shops and fuel stations closed