Right thing to do after running out of fuel

benmarks

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 14, 2003
Location
Portland, OR
TDI
2004 Jetta GLS Sedan Platinum Gray
I ran out of fuel yesterday. I guess the normal procedure is (after putting fuel in the tank) to pop off the fuel filter, fill it up and then crank the engine. But what if you are stuck on the side of the road with no tools? First, how much fuel should you put into the tank before attempting to get it started? Then, can you just crank the engine until it starts, and if so do you do this in short bursts or continuously? I know this isn't recommended, of course.

Thanks in advance for any help.
 

J_TDI

New member
Joined
May 7, 2004
Location
Porto, Portugal
TDI
Passat SW, 1999, 110 bHP, Metalic Silver
Maybe not the most proper procedure...
But I've run out of fuel twice, on a European Passat Variant
110 bhp (1999 built), and after refuelling, following the instructions on the owner's manual, crank the engine until it "sucks" the fuel from the tank, and start.

Regard's

J_TD<font color="red">I</font>
 

Vectorer

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 10, 2001
Location
Southwestern Lower Michigan
TDI
2015 Passat SEL Premo
First...DON'T run out of fuel. Cranking it dry is absolutely not good for your injection pump which is lubed by fuel. No fuel...no lubrication...

You should not need any tools to top-off the fuel filter. You do not need to remove the filter. If you keep a full quart bottle of Power Service or clean fuel in the back it can be used for this purpose.

Pull the retaining clip on the top of the fuel filter and pull out the o-ringed insert attached to the 2 lines. Carefully and slowly, pour in as much PS as the filter can take, replace the insert and clip, then crank.

Make sure to have a rag/paper towel handy for this job. Clean any spillage immediately.
 

Platinum_PD

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 15, 2002
Location
Central Wisconsin
TDI
2004 Jetta GLS TDI PD sedan, Platinum Grey
Vectorer-

Just to clarify, if one runs out of fuel, to prime the fuel filter as you describe, I can expect it to take 1 quart of fuel to fill?
 

deltafox

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 12, 2001
Location
Yelm, WA
TDI
Golf 2000 black
If you run totally dry, I wouldn't count on a filled fuel filter to start the engine. Having some experience in this area, here's what I did. (This was a planned event--I wanted to know how many miles between fuel light and flameout there were.)
Put a couple of gallons of diesel in the tank from the emergency container in your trunk, something that we all carry.

Put a vaccuum pump on the return hose from the fuel pump (the one that runs from pump to filter and is not see through plastic) and pump until you see fuel travel through the plastic tube running from filter to pump. This takes a while.
Crank the engine for a few seconds. Even after flameout, there will be enough oily diesel in the pump to keep it lubricated for some amount of time. Don't know what it is, but I believe it is longer than you think. (Mine did not start.)
Reattach pump and do some more pumping until you can get a drop of fuel out of the return line of the pump. This takes some pumping because now you're trying to pull fuel through the pump and not just air.
Crank again. Mine started.

If it hadn't, I probably would have cracked a fuel connector pipe nut, but I didn't have to.
Good luck
 

Karmann-diesel

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2002
Location
Maine, A'yuh
TDI
Jetta, 2000, Canyon Red
You can fill up the fuel filter through the "T" valve with diesel or powerservice. You have to add a little & wait for it to settle, then add a little & wait until its full. Then take off the engine cover & loosen the 4 injection line union nuts where the steel fuel lines connect to the fuel injectors. You need a 17mm wrench for this. Crank the engine over a little until you can see fuel spraying out. Tighten down all four nuts & then crank it over again. This should get you restarted.
 

scooperhsd

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 19, 2003
Location
Kansas City KS
TDI
NB, 2000, RED(5 Speed conversion) 2015 Golf SE
What I'd like to know is HOW do people ever run out of gas / fuel in their vehicles ? (Excepting those of you deliberately doing this, of course). In 30 years of driving, I have NEVER run out, even on my motorcycles.
 

benmarks

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 14, 2003
Location
Portland, OR
TDI
2004 Jetta GLS Sedan Platinum Gray
I ran out because I recently moved. Before, I drove primarily on highways and could go about 75 miles after my fuel light came on. Now, I have a 3 mile commute through suburban streets and didn't take this into account, thus I ran out at 45 miles. I hadn't filled up my tank for the entire month of May, so I just sort of zoned out
 

Karmann-diesel

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2002
Location
Maine, A'yuh
TDI
Jetta, 2000, Canyon Red
I have never run out of fuel but I did have a number of fuel sender check valve freeze-ups in the winter time. This causes fuel starvation & the engine stalls, just like running out of fuel would.
 

tdibigd

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 8, 2003
Location
Dallas, TX
TDI
2013 Passat TDI SE w/DSG, black on black
Deltafox - so how many miles between low fuel light and no-go? I'm curious about this also. I've had some tense moments after fuel light as a result of pure laziness (maybe even 75-100 miles). Of course, just when I suspect I'm close to running out, I get in a traffic jam. I haven't run out yet...but I bet I've been close.
 

TDItech

Veteran Member
Joined
May 9, 2003
Location
Lynnwood, WA
TDI
2002 TDI GLS Galactic Blue, 2000 Eurovan with ALH fromthe 02 Jetta
tdibigd, I can most generally run about 150 miles after the light comes on. You really start sweating it about the time when there is about 50 miles left.
 

tdibigd

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 8, 2003
Location
Dallas, TX
TDI
2013 Passat TDI SE w/DSG, black on black
Wow...150 miles. The times I've been clinchin' in stop and go traffic I've turned the engine off to see if the fuel gauge goes towards the empty side any more. The times it hasn't moved a bit have been the scary ones!
 

deltafox

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 12, 2001
Location
Yelm, WA
TDI
Golf 2000 black
My test gave me about 94 miles between warning and flameout. 150 miles is great, so I guess it varies some between cars. The important thing is to know what the range is on your own machine. If you want to find out and don't want to run out totally, I can tell you that a couple of miles prior to completely out, the engine lost some response, and it would idle high when I put the clutch in. I'm figuring I was starting to get air. If I had stopped right then and added fuel, I'm sure it would have been OK. But you have to be sensitive to what the car is telling you or you might miss the reduced response.
 

Platinum_PD

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 15, 2002
Location
Central Wisconsin
TDI
2004 Jetta GLS TDI PD sedan, Platinum Grey
I did my own run-it-dry test today (intentionally): 119 miles after the low fuel light. However I didn't get much of a warning when the test was about to end! I was sitting at a stop sign, waiting for cross traffic to clear. There was a car in front of me. With the noise from traffic I never heard my car stall but while I was waiting I noticed my tach was at zero. Immediately I realized wow, my car had stalled but I didn't hear or feel it. This was probably stupid but I cranked the engine for a few seconds just to make sure it was out of fuel (why did I do that?). We were still waiting for traffic so I had a chance to roll my car into a driveway so I could add fuel. I didn't notice the car run any different prior to the moment it died.

As far as this thread topic goes... I filled the fuel filter with about 12 oz of Power Service (white bottle) I had yet from this past winter. I then added 2 gallons of Amoco Premier to the fuel tank from the can I had in the trunk. I cranked the car for about 5 seconds but it did not fire. I waited 20 seconds until the second attempt. About five seconds of cranking and all of the sudden it fired right up. 853 miles on a tank is pretty awesome!
 
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