RX400h Petrol Help!!

[Rutlandlex]

Good people of LOC I hope you can help me.

I am currently at work 24 miles from home and I was going to fill up with petrol on the way home except that my childminder has just texted me saying "Are you aware that your wallet was in your daughter's rucksack?"  My petrol gauge is currently half way onto the white line at the very bottom of the gauge and it is predominantly uphill going back although nothing seriously steep.

I have never managed to get more than about 56 litres into it even running it right down to the bottom of the white of the gauge and the book states that it has a 65 litre tank so does anyone know if this is true?  I have done 375 miles on this tank.  Has anyone on here managed to get more than 60 litres into one of these?  I once had a Volvo V70 that stated in the owner's handbook that it had an 80 litre tank but after running out once I only got 70 litres into it so suffice to say that I don't always trust the handbooks!

Many thanks.

[SLACKBLADDER]

Don't trust fuel gauges especially in hot weather  get a taxi home and get your wallet or borrow a tenner 

[sorcerer]

You could drag up all sorts of crud from the dregs of the tank. Do as Les suggested and either borrow a tenner from someone at work, leave your watch as security at the petrol station, ring the wife to pay with her card as a 'Customer Not Present' payment or something else, but I wouldn't risk it.

I would never have let it get so low in the first place - I never let it get below 1/4 full.

[Texas]

Devil's Avocate and all that...Here is a fuel log for last year on my Mondeo which Handbook states has a 58 Litre Tank!!! and yes I never usually fill up until about 20-30 miles after the fuel light comes on!!!

Whoa Check out them prices!!!

Paul M.

[sorcerer]

It's not so much about how many miles you can run after the light is on, more about risk vs cost.

Most modern fuel pumps are actually inside the tank and the petrol itself acts as both a lubricant and a coolant. Imagine most of the pump being dry, the small amount of fluid left only covering the bottom of it - no lubrication and the possibility of damaging the pump by overheating, or by drawing up crud.

Just not worth the risk of doing expensive damage in my opinion.

[SLACKBLADDER]

10 minutes ago, sorcerer said:

It's not so much about how many miles you can run after the light is on, more about risk vs cost.

Most modern fuel pumps are actually inside the tank and the petrol itself acts as both a lubricant and a coolant. Imagine most of the pump being dry, the small amount of fluid left only covering the bottom of it - no lubrication and the possibility of damaging the pump by overheating, or by drawing up crud.

Just not worth the risk of doing expensive damage in my opinion.

Absolutely  make sure you leave quarter tank of fuel then your safe  quite logical really  lol

[Texas]

Agree totally with above comments but as original poster is not in the habit ( I guess by the fact he has posted this dilemma ) of running his tank this low on a regular basis ( unlike me! ) then I would be very surprised and he would have to be very unlucky if any damage was caused on this one occasion.

paul m.

[Mr Vlad]

Yes fuel pumps are in the petrol tank but they are at the top of the tank with pipes going to very near the bottom so as far as running a pump dry/cold is nonsense. 

Every car I expect had I've run the fuel to beyond the warning light with no issues what so ever. 

However nowt wrong with being cautious so borrow a tenner.

[Rutlandlex]

Thanks for the replies folks.  Actually I do routinely run it right down and always have and have never had a problem.  A taxi home will cost about £40, there is no-one else at work who lives near me so I think I will just have to ask my manager for a tenner which I can pay back tomorrow.

Paul - I think your Mondeo either had a hole in the tank or the tank had been upgraded!

[acer54]

I run mine till the light comes on and then brim the tank (about 55 litres) - it's the best way to get the most accurate mpg figures.

I have done this will all my cars since the mid 1980's and never had a problem.

[Odysseus]

Another alternative is to set up the Shell app on your Iphone.

This lets you pay for your fuel from a Shell station using the app and ApplePay.

I use it all the time.




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[Rutlandlex]

OK so I borrowed £20 from my manager to get me home.  Thanks for the suggestion Andrew but I haven't got apple Pay set up on my phone and I'm not even sure I would have been able to given that I don't know if the credit card on my apple account is still current.  Cash was just simpler on this occasion but I will set up apple Pay on my Iphone once I start using it properly (long story won't bore you with it.)

I decided to fill up at a Shell station on the A1 about 7 miles from work so I pulled in only to find that the bloody thing was closed due to refurbishment!!  There was a sign on the carriageway saying "No HGV's" but nothing indicating that they were closed and the pricing sign was still lit up too.  Is it seriously too much effort for someone to turn the prices off and to put a sign on the grass verge saying "Petrol station closed" or words to that effect?  Anyway, I then had to waste fuel getting back up to speed and then I had to think about where the next petrol station was.  I didn't fancy driving into Stamford so I carried on to the next service station which was another 7 miles up the road.  I was hoping to slip stream a lorry on the A1 but could I find one?

There was one in the distance but I couldn't catch it as I was only doing 60 MPH.  I made it to the next service station and the car was still running even uphill and the needle was going off the end of the gauge as illustrated below.  In total I did 15 miles starting with the needle at the very bottom marker so it's good to know that there is still some range left.

 

[rich1068]

Goodness me. You were living on the edge weren't you!

[SLACKBLADDER]

Just a few thoughts came to mind after reading a lot about fuel economy and driving a lexus. If people are spending tens of thousands of pounds on these cars and then worry about miles per gallon buy a smart car if you haven't already.  I can't afford tens of thousands  but I'm sure I'm not going to sit and worry about what my V8 sc is consuming  I'm just going to drive it and enjoy it 

[acer54]

3 hours ago, SLACKBLADDER said:

Just a few thoughts came to mind after reading a lot about fuel economy and driving a lexus. If people are spending tens of thousands of pounds on these cars and then worry about miles per gallon buy a smart car if you haven't already.  I can't afford tens of thousands  but I'm sure I'm not going to sit and worry about what my V8 sc is consuming  I'm just going to drive it and enjoy it 

With all my daily driver cars I have worked out the mpg! My Summer toy is a BMW Z4 3.0i and I'm not bothered what mpg I get out of it but I still check it after every fill up, it can also sometimes warn you of an issue with the car.

[welland]

Has anybody here actually run out of fuel in their rx400h? I just wonder what happens? Does the car keep going until the hybrid Battery is flat? Or does it refuse to move under Battery power, even when the hybrid Battery is well charged?

How much fuel did it take to fill up after running out?

Did it start easily and then drive without issues after refilling?

[welland]

On 6/22/2018 at 12:11 AM, welland said:

Has anybody here actually run out of fuel in their rx400h? I just wonder what happens? Does the car keep going until the hybrid battery is flat? Or does it refuse to move under battery power, even when the hybrid battery is well charged?

How much fuel did it take to fill up after running out?

Did it start easily and then drive without issues after refilling?

Looks like nobody is going to own up to this one!   🤣

[BROUWERS]

Here's your answer: LINK TO YOUTUBE

I don't expect this to be any different on a Lexus hybrid.

[welland]

On 7/15/2018 at 1:11 PM, BROUWERS said:

Here's your answer: LINK TO YOUTUBE

I don't expect this to be any different on a Lexus hybrid.

Good find: interesting (if drawn-out) video.  I'd have expected it to go a little further on Battery, though.

I wonder if long term Battery health is affected by running them low? Probably not, as it seemed to stop before the batteries were dead flat.  On my rx,  the Battery charge fluctuates in normal useage between 90% and , erm, well I'm not sure how low I've seen it go - maybe 20 to 30%?

[rich1068]

This thread and that rather annoying man on YouTube were very much on my mind last week during the family trip from Sheffield to Cornwall. Somewhere on the A30 and I realised we were running on fumes. The needle was below the red and I hadn't even noticed that or the little light. This is what happens when you're spoiled by years of range displays in Volvos etc.

[BROUWERS]

I am planning on doing a hypermile run in my 2006 RX400h and reach 1000km on a tank just for fun. I'll keep a 5 liter petrol canister in the back in case I run out before. I'll report my findings here.

[Britprius]

What the tube video did not tell is that if the Prius runs out of fuel a 1 gallon refill is not enough to register on the fuel gauge, and the computer uses this information to allow the car to start "or not" depending on the level of charge in the HV Battery.  With the Prius you need to put in at leased 2 gallons for the computer to recognise that fuel has been added.

It is also possible to run the HV Battery low to a point where the Prius computer will not allow any starting attempts to protect the HV Battery from damage. The car having to be lifted to a dealer to be put on a special charger to recharge the HV Battery before the car can be made ready. It is possible or even probable that this applies to all Toyota/Lexus hybrids.

John.

[Malc]

On 6/12/2018 at 12:53 PM, acer54 said:

I can't afford tens of thousands  but I'm sure I'm not going to sit and worry about what my V8 sc is consuming  I'm just going to drive it and enjoy it 

me too BUT I do know that when my gauge starts to go in to the orange then there's about 100 miles left in her. How I know is that the tank is said to hold 85.1 ltrs and the difference between that and filling to the brim is always, without fail, about 100 miles.

I remember a Jeremy Clarkson running a car somewhere until it pulled into the petrol station on fumes that had meant to have already been used up. So there's probably more in the tank than you realise tbh

BUT your boss lending you £20 ......  is he a Sunny lender charging 1291% pa  ?  you now owe him about £30 

Motto, always have some cash in the car ( maybe a tenner ) and never let the juice run out

Malc

[olliesgrandad]

I once owned a new Audi A4 2.8 tiptronic avant which broke down with 1/4 tank of fuel showing on the gauge and that was a faulty fuel gauge....... 

[Clive-D]

Just a few thoughts came to mind after reading a lot about fuel economy and driving a lexus. If people are spending tens of thousands of pounds on these cars and then worry about miles per gallon buy a smart car if you haven't already.  I can't afford tens of thousands  but I'm sure I'm not going to sit and worry about what my V8 sc is consuming  I'm just going to drive it and enjoy it 

I’ve had a Smart Car. Not only was it not smart, it only got mid 30’s to the gallon and that was with I light right foot. It was like driving a thirsty brick!
I get between 33-34 mpg from my RX400. I hear what you say about paying thousands by my 10yr old 120k with history cost me £6500 rather than £46k new. I recon that’s a bargain! Everything works bar the self levelling lights but that’s not a difficult fix. I’ve always bought high spec older cars - previous owners take the depreciation hit and you get heaps of car for very little cost. The gamble is reliability but if you have good history not just stamps in the book you can usually get a good-un.
I’d never let a car get too low on fuel, what’s the point, you’re gonna have to fill up anyway! The book advises not to go below 1/4 tank. I’m happy with that.
Sometimes I turn the radio right down and listen to - well - nothing, even with the engine. Love the RX!


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