SalzundPfeffer

I should probably take this to the grave with me, but I ran my car out of gas yesterday on the interstate. My odometer doesn’t work, and apparently, my gas gauge as well. Or its not as accurate as I thought. The odometer is on the “to-do” list, but I have been fixing other priority items since I purchased the car last summer.

I was on the throttle pretty good on the off-ramp trying to keep the car from stalling. It was sputtering the whole way until I beached it in a parking lot and got some extra gas. Kind of humiliating at rush hour.

Put a couple of gallons in with a can and started it back up. It had to turn more than usual to purge the air out of the fuel lines. The car is running fine now.

I am just curious if I damaged any components when I was riding the throttle into the parking lot, burning every ounce of fuel left in the fuel lines. I guess I am concerned about the fuel pump and injectors pumping air as opposed to fluid. Would anything else have been damaged?

On a normal car, I wouldn’t be as concerned, but with a 25 year old 944, I worry. Just looking for some piece of mind I guess.

Thanks,
-bp

Ben951S

The only way to be sure is to fill it up again and drive it, check for hunting idle, anything weird in the power band, etc.


If you want to punish yourself, replace the fuel filter if it's been a while, you got all the 'dregs' of the tank sucked into it now...

But at least you handled it well. =)

FRporscheman

Pumping air does put more wear on a fuel pump, it spins freely and thus too quickly. And like Phoenix said the filter might have more junk in it now. Running lean can raise engine temps but if it didn't overheat then it's OK.

marky522

ACtually yes it can put more wear on the pump, believe it or not the fuel actually cools the pump, i doubt it actually hurt it though. If you do decide to change the fuel filter i reccomend checking the plastic screen that screws into the tank. Mine had deteriorated and fell apart. I strongly reccomend using the factory replacement from the dealer, the ones that your FLAPS store has are cheap plastic and fall apart quick.

Mark

roman944

just don't make it a habbit!

the odometer on mine doesn't work (anymore) and I don't really care about it

and my fuel gauge works really weird, I'm going to try and figure out what's wrong with it and get it fixed. sometimes it reads 1/4 higher then there really is

El Commandante

Mine was doing the opposite thing, reading a quarter lower than what it was, and would frequently only read 3/4 when i filled up. I cleaned the grounds on the fuel level sender, but to no avail... then i discovered this article.... I actually have a completely functional gas gauge!!!!!!!!!!!! http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarti...e_problems.htm

roman944

mine is early, and I actually read that yesterday! lol

just waiting for the weekend (if its not raining) so I can open it up and take a look

Will Feather

+1 on fuel filter.

Its a must after you run out of gas, all the crap in the filter gets sucked up.

barelyrunshalfthetime

I did the same thing in my 83'. Fuel gauge said half full and my odo was busted. Ran out on the hill leading to the gas station. Needed several of the staff to push my car the rest of the way cuz they wouldn't let me borrow a damn gas can lol. I was gonna fix the gauge but then I spun a rod bearing a few weeks later, and the party was over. There was no damage from running out of gas though, everything worked fine afterwards.

SalzundPfeffer

Thanks for the replys. I fortunately have the luxury of working with my PO . He said he recently did the fuel pump and filter before I bought the car (less than two years old). I might do the filter anyway.

One other question. Can any of you have the gas pump automatically stop on your 944. The pump never stops when its getting near the top. And, I have to keep my hand on the pump, otherwise the damn thing will fall out. I have learned to listen for the pitch of the filling noise to increase, so then I know the tank is almost full. Otherwise the interlock on the gas pump won't tigger and I shower my car with gas.

Even when I am careful not to overfill, there is always a gas smell in my car for a couple of days. Is their a leak in my filler somewhere? It doesn't seem to drip gas otherwise.

-bp