alexb76

I got stuck in terrible traffic on a HWY and literally ran out of gas one block off a gas station...

Car suddently shut off, and I coasted it until I hit the gas station and then asked folks to help me push it to the pump.

There was a pretty strong smell of burnt oil coming from the engine. After fill-up, the car runs normal with no issues.

I don't believe I should be worried about anything... but just checking if I should take any pre-cautions?

Thanks

JW911

I don't think your smell has anything to do with running out of gas. That just wouldn't cause such an odor. Probably associated with the heat of bumper to bumper traffic and then you getting up close and personal with pushing, filling the tank etc. immediately thereafter. These cars are known for smelling their unique burnt smell, often from the cosmoline coating on the bottom getting hot from the engine, road tar getting thrown up on the exhause system, or both.

Mike in CA

Does the 911 have an in-tank electric fuel pump? They are quite common on modern cars. I've read that since in-tank electric pumps are designed to be cooled by the fuel, that running out of gas can cause them to overheat and be damaged.

gpjli2

Better than running out of oil and smelling burnt gas. I'd just drive it and keep an eye on things. I do believe the gauge is in the tank as per Mike's post by not sure how that would cause odor. Could have been a spike in engine temp due to loss of cooling. Did fan kick on to blow heat out?

Edgy01

I don't believe you did any damage. I suspect you were ultra sensitive to things after you ran out of fuel. It would be foolish for Porsche to design a system that would be damaged for something as simple as running out of fuel.

Mike in CA

You may be right that no damage was done but the issue of running out of fuel and damaging fuel pumps isn't without precedent. I've included one explanation I found below; a google search turns up many others. Unless Porsche has adopted a design different than almost all other manufacturers, I suspect our cars aren't immune, and smelling a burnt smell after running out of gas would, at the least, cause some concern. But that's probably just me being ****......

http://www.nicoclub.com/archives/fuel-pumps.html

fast1

The only concern is that you may have pumped some of the gunk which resides at the bottome of your fuel tank into your injectors. Other than that I can't think of anything else to be concerned about. The smell of oil has nothing to do with running out of gas.

Mike in CA

Read the link in my post above. Gunk isn't the only issue. You're right, smelling oil wouldn't be related, assuming one was 100% sure it was actually the smell of oil and not something else that was overheating. Just saying....