How Far Can You Drive Once Your Fuel Light Comes On?

Of course everyone knows it is a really bad idea to ever run out of fuel completely.  We know that because its really inconvenient BUT did you know exactly what can happen to your car if you do?

We had a car in this week with exactly this problem.  With today's technology under the bonnet, running out of fuel is a very expensive mistake to make. The lady ran out of diesel (hadn't even noticed the fuel light had come on) and we recovered the car for her.  The problem was that the ECU (computer brain) was still telling the fuel injectors to fire and this resulted in 4 fuel injectors needing replacing - way more £££ than a tank of diesel!  If we just say it was in excess of £500.... now we have your attention!

So the short message is - DON'T LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU!!  As you can imagine, being mechanical the team here at Hillclimb Garage often drive our personal cars with the fuel light on- for almost too long - but the distance you can get away with can vary a great deal.  We found this interesting infographic below that will show you roughly how long you can go before the car will finally stop.  Our advice is definitely don't risk it with a diesel car - It's way too expensive to get wrong.

If you ever need advice about your car, we just love the opportunity to show off how much we know...... give us a call 01494 444481