What should I do if I run out of fuel?

There’s almost no excuse for running out of fuel these days, and because we’ve all become a little complacent about filling the tank, it’s a real shock when our car does run out of fuel.

There may be all sorts of reasons for it. Perhaps you’re driving an older car without a low-fuel warning light, or you puncture the fuel tank while off-roading, as in the case of Marty McFly’s DeLorean in ‘Back to the Future III’.

In modern cars – equipped with low-fuel warning lights and distance-to-empty readouts in the trip computer – it’s unlikely that anyone but the most oblivious driver would be unaware that the fuel is running low.

Much more likely, your son or daughter has tried to bring the car home on the smell of an oily rag so as not to incur the cost of filling the fuel tank.

Most cars since the 1980s will trigger the low-fuel warning light at a conservative distance from empty. You should have at least 50km of range remaining before the fuel tank is bled dry, and 100km is more often the norm.

Symptoms of fuel starvation will include gradual deceleration and the engine ‘hiccupping’ sporadically.

Pull off the road while the car retains some momentum, rather than wait for the car to flame out at the most inconvenient spot imaginable.

Turn on the hazard flashers to signal to other motorists that your car will not proceed.

If you’re still on the road, and pushing the car yourself is an option, then consider that course of action – but never do anything that could compromise your safety or wellbeing, or that of others.

You may be able to enlist the aid of a good Samaritan on foot or a driver in one of the other cars behind you. More information is available here.

If you’re safely off the road and need to leave the car (arrange a taxi to get home or take you to the nearest service station), don’t switch off the hazard flashers, but do secure (lock) the car.

In the event you’ve punctured the tank on a long journey in a sparsely-populated regional area, you should ring for roadside assistance to send a tray truck.

If you cannot get mobile reception out in the boondocks, try a few metres away, on elevated terrain.

If that fails too – and only as the very last resort – you may have to wait for passing traffic to relay a message to civilisation that you need help. We do not recommend asking for a lift from a stranger, but if you really feel there’s no choice, you should exercise extreme caution in doing so, and know the laws in your area as hitchhiking is illegal in some Australian states.

You may be in for a long wait, but don’t attempt to walk to the nearest service station unless you know that there’s one located close by.

Don’t undertake to walk in inhospitable conditions (desert or mountainous areas) if the walk is likely to leave you hypothermic or dehydrated. Australians have died attempting to reach civilisation from an immobilised car. Don’t attempt it.

If the vehicle runs out of fuel in such a remote location that you can’t phone out and won’t likely see any passing traffic for days, stay with the vehicle. A search party has a much better chance of finding a large object like an off-road SUV than a single human being.

The vehicle will afford you protection from the elements, but without fuel you’ll have no air-conditioning or heating.

Ration food and water amongst yourself and any passengers with you.

The quickest way to get going again is to ring for roadside assistance from a state motoring association or a company providing that service. This presumes that you have a smartphone with you to make that call.

If you don’t, and assuming you are in an urban area, you face walking to the nearest service station, which is normally a convenience store as well. These premises usually stock a fuel filler and jerrycan for motorists who run out of fuel.

It may be a long walk, and doubly long walking back, of course. You might be able to flag down a taxi if one is available.

Alternatively, a good Samaritan may place a phone call to roadside assistance on your behalf. Assuming they don’t have a smartphone with them either, they may call someone for you when they reach a place to do so, or they may offer you a lift. Don’t accept the lift unless you are extremely confident of your safety in doing so. Hitchhiking is not at all recommended and is illegal in some states.

Assuming that the car is in an operational state other than the lack of fuel – that is, the fuel tank, fuel lines and fuel pump are all undamaged – pouring fuel into the tank should be sufficient to restart the car.

You’ve returned from the nearest service station with fuel, a jerrycan and funnel. Unlock the car, open the fuel filler flap and unscrew the cap inside. Place the narrow end of the funnel in the filler as far as it will go. You may need to hold the funnel upright with one hand while pouring fuel out of the jerrycan into the wide end of the funnel.

Once the jerrycan is empty, you can place it and the funnel in the boot, and resecure the car’s fuel cap and filler flap.

Restarting the car may take a few cranks of the starter motor. There will be no fuel in the lines between the tank – at the rear of the car – and the engine at the front. Most modern cars are fitted with electric fuel pumps, but older cars often make do with mechanical pumps driven by the engine.

In that case, the starter motor needs to turn the engine over for an extended period for the engine to drive the pump and draw fuel from the tank.

There will also be some delay starting a car with an electric pump. It’s recommended to switch the ignition to ‘On’ and wait up to about 20 seconds before cranking the engine.

Some cars with early fuel injection systems – the throttle body system in Ford’s EA Falcon being an example – don’t take kindly to any sort of prod of the accelerator prior to starting. It’s probably best to leave the fuel delivery system to its own devices, so to speak.

The engine won’t necessarily burst into life at the first crank, whatever sort of device pumps fuel to the engine. You may need to keep cranking the starter motor at intervals for up to 30 seconds or a minute. Don’t keep the starter motor running continuously; it could overheat and fail.

Once the engine is running, which should be fairly soon provided it’s in a proper state of tune, turn off the hazard flashers and proceed to the nearest service station to fill the tank – or at least tip in enough fuel to reach home.

Quick reference for when the car has run out of fuel