When the "reserve" light comes on
Thread Starter
Drifting
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,847
Likes: 1
From: Iowa
Cruise-In IV Veteran
Cruise-In V Veteran
When the "reserve" light comes on
While on my recent trip out West, on a few occasions I ran the fuel down to where the 'reserve' indicator came on.
When I refilled the tank, it only took 14 to 15 gallons. That means with an 18 gallon tank, I still had more than 3 gallons "on reserve"?
Does that sound about right to the rest of you out there, or is my gauge off quite a bit? Another thing I noticed, is after a fill-up it only takes about 40 miles of driving before the indicator is off the 'full' mark.
Has anyone actually ran their C5 vette until the fuel ran dry? If so, how much did it take for a complete fill? Did you get 18 gallons to go in? I recall with my '96 C4, with a supposed 20 gallon tank, I could never get more than 17 1/2 gal in it.
When I refilled the tank, it only took 14 to 15 gallons. That means with an 18 gallon tank, I still had more than 3 gallons "on reserve"?
Does that sound about right to the rest of you out there, or is my gauge off quite a bit? Another thing I noticed, is after a fill-up it only takes about 40 miles of driving before the indicator is off the 'full' mark.
Has anyone actually ran their C5 vette until the fuel ran dry? If so, how much did it take for a complete fill? Did you get 18 gallons to go in? I recall with my '96 C4, with a supposed 20 gallon tank, I could never get more than 17 1/2 gal in it.
Team Owner
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 124,467
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From: .... NJ
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St. Jude Donor '05 thru '19
When the needle approaches the red zone, RESERVE
FUEL will appear on the Driver Information Center (DIC)
display. When the needle approaches the E, LOW
FUEL will appear on the display. At this time, you still
have a little fuel left, but you should get more soon.
Press RESET to acknowledge a DIC message(s).
Pressing RESET will also turn off a DIC message but
the LOW FUEL message will come on again in
10 minutes if you have not added fuel to the vehicle.
FUEL will appear on the Driver Information Center (DIC)
display. When the needle approaches the E, LOW
FUEL will appear on the display. At this time, you still
have a little fuel left, but you should get more soon.
Press RESET to acknowledge a DIC message(s).
Pressing RESET will also turn off a DIC message but
the LOW FUEL message will come on again in
10 minutes if you have not added fuel to the vehicle.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 6,984
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From: Central Coast CA
Originally Posted by MagikDraggin
Does that sound about right to the rest of you out there, or is my gauge off quite a bit? Another thing I noticed, is after a fill-up it only takes about 40 miles of driving before the indicator is off the 'full' mark.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,116
Likes: 0
From: Alhambra Calismognazifornia, in the country everyone comes just to complain but won't go back home!
Originally Posted by MagikDraggin
While on my recent trip out West, on a few occasions I ran the fuel down to where the 'reserve' indicator came on.
When I refilled the tank, it only took 14 to 15 gallons. That means with an 18 gallon tank, I still had more than 3 gallons "on reserve"?
Does that sound about right to the rest of you out there, or is my gauge off quite a bit? Another thing I noticed, is after a fill-up it only takes about 40 miles of driving before the indicator is off the 'full' mark.
Has anyone actually ran their C5 vette until the fuel ran dry? If so, how much did it take for a complete fill? Did you get 18 gallons to go in? I recall with my '96 C4, with a supposed 20 gallon tank, I could never get more than 17 1/2 gal in it.
When I refilled the tank, it only took 14 to 15 gallons. That means with an 18 gallon tank, I still had more than 3 gallons "on reserve"?
Does that sound about right to the rest of you out there, or is my gauge off quite a bit? Another thing I noticed, is after a fill-up it only takes about 40 miles of driving before the indicator is off the 'full' mark.
Has anyone actually ran their C5 vette until the fuel ran dry? If so, how much did it take for a complete fill? Did you get 18 gallons to go in? I recall with my '96 C4, with a supposed 20 gallon tank, I could never get more than 17 1/2 gal in it.
like someone else said, the gauge is far from linear and fluctuates like crazy down at the bottom end. many times i'll get the reserve light to come on and the gauge will just be starting to get in the red and i won't gas up right away. then i'll stop somewhere (like a store or whatever) and when i fire up the car again the gauge is showing like between 1/8 and 1/4 tank, not even close to the red.
GM must have adjusted the display parameters related to "reserve" and "low fuel" with the last update (many months ago) because i know before then, i used to get reserve at 2-3 gallons remaining and low at 1-1.5 gals remaining.
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Le Mans Master
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 6,213
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From: South Alabama
Originally Posted by MagikDraggin
Has anyone actually ran their C5 vette until the fuel ran dry?
I very rarely let it get lower than half full...plus I like keeping my fuel sender submerged as much as possible. Never have problems with my fuel gauge.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,116
Likes: 0
From: Alhambra Calismognazifornia, in the country everyone comes just to complain but won't go back home!
hehe, i actually must admit i did run it dry once when it was about a year old. was on my way home, late one night, i was just about 1 mile from home when all of a sudden my motor cuts out. 
that wasn't my fault though, turned out i had a bad sender and the gauge was showing about 1/2 tank when it was literally running on fumes.
that wasn't my fault though, turned out i had a bad sender and the gauge was showing about 1/2 tank when it was literally running on fumes.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 1,083
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From: I'm not quite middle aged and I only own one gold chain! San Jose CA
I've had both the reserve message and the low fuel message before in situations where I was looking for, but could not find a gas station.
With the complicated two tank set up in the Vette and the proclivity for guage and sender problems I don't ever go below 1/4 tank in my car. It can be complicated and expensive if you run the car dry...and it is not always easy to get fuel back into the system.
It isn't worth finding out how low you can go IMO!
With the complicated two tank set up in the Vette and the proclivity for guage and sender problems I don't ever go below 1/4 tank in my car. It can be complicated and expensive if you run the car dry...and it is not always easy to get fuel back into the system.
It isn't worth finding out how low you can go IMO!
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On a couple of occasions I have hit both the reserve and low fuel warnings. I'd say your's is about right when it hits reserve - usually around 2.5-3 gallons remaining.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jul 2004
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From: Central NJ
St. Jude Donor '05-'06-'08-'10
Originally Posted by Scott04Z
I've had both the reserve message and the low fuel message before in situations where I was looking for, but could not find a gas station.
With the complicated two tank set up in the Vette and the proclivity for guage and sender problems I don't ever go below 1/4 tank in my car. It can be complicated and expensive if you run the car dry...and it is not always easy to get fuel back into the system.
It isn't worth finding out how low you can go IMO!
With the complicated two tank set up in the Vette and the proclivity for guage and sender problems I don't ever go below 1/4 tank in my car. It can be complicated and expensive if you run the car dry...and it is not always easy to get fuel back into the system.
It isn't worth finding out how low you can go IMO!
With all the documented fuel gauge issues on the C5, I think you're really gambling by running the tank down. I get nervous at 1/4 tank. 
Team Owner
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From: Knoxville, TN
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Originally Posted by cmeflyby
hehe, i actually must admit i did run it dry once when it was about a year old. was on my way home, late one night, i was just about 1 mile from home when all of a sudden my motor cuts out.
that wasn't my fault though, turned out i had a bad sender and the gauge was showing about 1/2 tank when it was literally running on fumes.
that wasn't my fault though, turned out i had a bad sender and the gauge was showing about 1/2 tank when it was literally running on fumes.
At the time I THOUGHT I had gas. Turns out I didn't. Now I use the tripometer just to make sure....
Thread Starter
Drifting
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,847
Likes: 1
From: Iowa
Cruise-In IV Veteran
Cruise-In V Veteran
Originally Posted by JDs00PewterCoupe
On a couple of occasions I have hit both the reserve and low fuel warnings. I'd say your's is about right when it hits reserve - usually around 2.5-3 gallons remaining.
Thanks guys for all the comments.
No, I wasn't planning on purposely running the fuel tank dry....but there were a couple occasions on the road where premium was simply not available and I opted to keep on going until I found some.
On one occasion in particular, the fuel gauge got into the red and the "reserve" came up on the DIC.....however the 'miles remaining' indicated that I could still travel 90 more miles.
I was understandably, shall I say, "cornfused", (being from Iowa). And you're right, the fuel gauge in the C5 is FAR from being linear.
Actually, it functions just the opposite of the wife's Camry, where in it, I can go 150 or more miles before the indicator goes below the "full" mark....where on the C5, I'm lucky if I can go 40 miles. And in the Camry, at 1/4 tank, I doubt I can get an additional 50 miles out of it....but in the C5, the computer tells me I can still travel nearly 200 miles on a quarter tank.
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