Have you run out of gas on a trip? (Or close to it?)

[ProB]

I've generally traveled only in urban areas. But I'd like to explore more remote places; places where perhaps gas stations may be few and far between.

I'm wondering if your travels have gotten you close to running out of gas (maybe even outright running out...).

If you've suffered that situation, would having some kind of auxiliary fuel tank been useful?

If so, what sort of auxiliary fuel tanks would be best? Actual auxiliary tanks (say under the body of the van)? Or simply a jug or multiple jugs of gas (I mean jerry cans)?

For those using jerry cans, where did you store the full ones? The smell of gas bothers me. Even a tiny bit of it. Thus I don't want to keep full jerry cans inside the coach.

[rowiebowie]

It's never been a problem. But then, I fill up a couple of times a day whether needed or not and I don't try to find the cheapest gas. Not worth the hassle of maybe saving a few cents down the road only to find higher priced gas (or none) ahead. I find this practice liberating. Always try to be full going into any slightly remote area or park. Besides, it's always a good opportunity to stretch our legs and walk the dog.

Sweat a lot of things, but don't sweat that unless you only have a 20 gal. tank and only get 10 mpg.

[Doneworking]

Our Roadtrek is good for 400 miles on a tank. I never push that limit. I always top off the tank when it gets below half full and I top it off for sure when we are mostly boondocking. If you have and use a generator, they will shut down when your vehicle fuel tank hits around a quarter full.

Why in the world take a chance or carry Jerrys? We go to some pretty remote places in the west but have never had trouble finding gasoline. A few times I have carried a 7 gallon plastic Jerry full of extra water. Not a bad thing to have in a remote place.

[@Michael]

Originally Posted by rowiebowie

Sweat a lot of things, but don't sweat that unless you only have a 20 gal. tank and only get 10 mpg.

I pulled a travel trailer across the plains against a 30mph headwind on a red-flag day and got 6mpg. The Ecoboost F150 pulled fine. But I had to top off every 100 miles lest I get caught between exits. Definitely had a bit of range anxiety.

Vehicles that have the 'miles to empty' indicator are really nice. Combine that with mapping software that shows 'miles to next gas station' and it's easy to plan ahead and stay out of trouble. Even if that means filling up when you are already 3/4 full.

When I had the pickup and camper I sometimes carried an extra gallon or five. That's not easy in a campervan, and it's rare to be far from gasoline on any road that the campervan can manage, so I don't anymore. If I were overlanding on 4wd trails 50 miles from pavement, I'd carry extra gasoline.

I would not carry gasoline inside. I've done that in the past and it's hard to keep it from outgassing when the sun hits the vehicle. I had to stop and depressurize the during the day to keep it from outgassing and crack it open in the evening to keep it from collapsing.

[mkguitar]

not a concern, our hiway range is more than 400 miles, and our genny pickup is at about 1/3

I use "gas buddy" app and general awareness of areas where fuel stops are frequent, to plan fuel stops

I do have roadside who I would use instead of carrying a jerrycan

( I use roadamerica, who have been good for a couple of motorcycle rescues- their basic package comes with my harley owners membership, $50 upgrade covers my cars and RV US and Canada)


for fuel pump long term health, try to keep your fuel levels above 1/4 tank. the in-tank fuel pump uses the surrounding fuel to cool the pump







Mike

[rowiebowie]

Originally Posted by @Michael

I pulled a travel trailer across the plains against a 30mph headwind on a red-flag day and got 6mpg. The Ecoboost F150 pulled fine. But I had to top off every 100 miles lest I get caught between exits. Definitely had a bit of range anxiety.

You should have turned around and driven with the wind. Last Spring we were chased across northern Arizona & New Mexico by high winds while trying to out-run a dust storm. This was the MPG result for almost 400 miles.

[ProB]

Originally Posted by rowiebowie

It's never been a problem. But then, I fill up a couple of times a day whether needed or not and I don't try to find the cheapest gas. Not worth the hassle of maybe saving a few cents down the road only to find higher priced gas (or none) ahead. I find this practice liberating. Always try to be full going into any slightly remote area or park. Besides, it's always a good opportunity to stretch our legs and walk the dog.

Sweat a lot of things, but don't sweat that unless you only have a 20 gal. tank and only get 10 mpg.

Thanks! This is the right sentiment. And one that I practice when traveling.

It's just that I haven't done much traveling into more remote areas and am not familiar with how (if) gas stations are everywhere.

[ProB]

Originally Posted by @Michael

I pulled a travel trailer across the plains against a 30mph headwind on a red-flag day and got 6mpg. The Ecoboost F150 pulled fine. But I had to top off every 100 miles lest I get caught between exits. Definitely had a bit of range anxiety.

Vehicles that have the 'miles to empty' indicator are really nice. Combine that with mapping software that shows 'miles to next gas station' and it's easy to plan ahead and stay out of trouble. Even if that means filling up when you are already 3/4 full.

When I had the pickup and camper I sometimes carried an extra gallon or five. That's not easy in a campervan, and it's rare to be far from gasoline on any road that the campervan can manage, so I don't anymore. If I were overlanding on 4wd trails 50 miles from pavement, I'd carry extra gasoline.

I would not carry gasoline inside. I've done that in the past and it's hard to keep it from outgassing when the sun hits the vehicle. I had to stop and depressurize the during the day to keep it from outgassing and crack it open in the evening to keep it from collapsing.

It's good to know that on our continent gas should be available everywhere even in fairly remote places.

Not that I'd travel in deep winter, but getting stuck in freezing temps without gas to run an engine to get heat might worry me also.

Re: 6 mpg. Yes, I remember 40+ mph headwinds in Oregon. I think my vehicle computer said something like I was only getting 9 mpg...

[rowiebowie]

Originally Posted by ProB

It's good to know that on our continent gas should be available everywhere even in fairly remote places.

Not that I'd travel in deep winter, but getting stuck in freezing temps without gas to run an engine to get heat might worry me also.

Re: 6 mpg. Yes, I remember 40+ mph headwinds in Oregon. I think my vehicle computer said something like I was only getting 9 mpg...

In cold weather, your worry should be avoiding road closures due to ice or white-out snow conditions.

My brother once pulled over and spent a very cold night along the roadside of an Interstate in either N. Texas or Northern New Mexico due to unsafe conditions. When he got up the next morning, conditions had greatly improved. As he drove into the next town, Highway Patrol was surprised to see anyone since that stretch was closed the previous evening. He must have been the last one before the closure. He claimed to have minor frostbite from the incident.

[Boxster1971]

When I made a trip to Alaska many years ago I got the general advice to start looking to refuel when the gauge is at 1/2. That was very good advice and I still follow it today as I have often had to go to more then one stop to find diesel.

[rowiebowie]

Ok, raise your hand if your father was like mine (and my father-in-law, according to my wife) who never stopped until he absolutely had to. Who drove through hell and high-water to get where he was going. That included rarely stopping for gas, lunch, and potty breaks. And turn around to go back to the Dairy Queen you just passed? Never! There'll be another one an hour or two up the road. (as you squeeze your knees together and try and hold it that long).

It made an impression on me and I vowed to never repeat it. Even before my bladder got weaker, I was happy to stop often (or even turn around and go back a few miles when other restaurants didn't pan out). So stopping for gas and keeping plenty of fuel on board is no problem for me.

[RossWilliams]

I have not run out of gas in the wilds. But there still are a (very) few places where gas is not available within 50-100 miles pretty much 24/7. Some desert areas out west for instance "you can walk for miles just to find a telephone" (cell signal). But even there you will be fine if you top your tank off whenever you get the chance.

[<<B-Guy>>]

Usually not a problem. Our last trailer tow vehicle was a GMC diesel truck and our present B is based on a 3500 Sprinter - also diesel of course.

I generally feel more comfortable if I start looking to fill up when the gauge is around the half mark, it always seem to me that fuel gauges are not very linear and when it says half, you usually have something less than that!

Its nice that modern vehicles do now give you updated fuel range readings, but I don't know how far I can trust them either, so "half tank" on the gauge is my guideline.

I once screwed up and didn't watch the gauge close enough and by the time I found a seedy looking gas station in teh hills of Pa., the gauge was quite low.

I had often heard that with diesel - which can grow algae if stored too long - you should always try to fill up at places with high turnover, and we generally do - mostly use Flying J's on interstates.

So it was with some trepidation that I filled up this time as the little place n the hills sure didn't look as though they saw many customers in a day!

Sure enough, some hours later on a busy interstate our truck suddenly went in "limp mode." when I was towing our trailer in the fast lane at about 70mph! Scary!

Limped into a town five miles down the road that luckily had GM dealership.

New fuel filter installed, but they couldn't comply with my request to drain the rest of the tank. Furtuntely there was not a lot left in it. Topped up with fresh fuel and made it home.

So now I try even harder to stick to my half tank rule!

With limited space in our B, I don't think I'd really want to be carrying extra fuel.

Also, if you do run out, I believe you then have to go through a fuel pump priming procedure. Maybe not that big a deal but I have not had to do that so I'm not sure. Another good reason to avoid being close to running out though!

[themexicandoctor]

Originally Posted by rowiebowie

Ok, raise your hand if your father was like mine (and my father-in-law, according to my wife) who never stopped until he absolutely had to. Who drove through hell and high-water to get where he was going. That included rarely stopping for gas, lunch, and potty breaks. And turn around to go back to the Dairy Queen you just passed? Never! There'll be another one an hour or two up the road. (as you squeeze your knees together and try and hold it that long).

Relished the memories, unfortunately until a few years ago, I too liked to "circle the drain ..." - its all about the challenge!

Until I owned a 1999 GMC1500 which was notorious for bad fuel pumps which are inside the tanks themselves meaning if you got one of the bad OEM Batches & then the Chimese replacements authorized as OEM by GMC, every time the pump went bad, it was $500 to $1000 job to pull the tank, install the pump & reinstall the tank.

The solution GMC advocated for 2 years until they isolated the bad batches, never let your tanks get past 1/4.

[themexicandoctor]

I have 05 Roadtrek 190 Versatile with a 31 gallon tank, about 9400 lbs, 100,010 miles,major tune up at 90,000 miles & recently had the fuel system flushed & now get up to 350 miles on the open road. I usually buy gad within 25 miles of the Reserve Tank light coming on

What is the average mpg for you guys?

[Davydd]

I've never ran out of gas or diesel in 60 years of driving.

However, I probably was down to fumes once in my 2005 Pleasure-way Plateau Sprinter when I stretched it to 505 miles on a tank.

Boxter's comment about look for fuel when the tank is half full on the Alaskan Highway was the popular advice I followed but was never in danger had I not and followed the low light coming on. The highway had come a long way since that lore was popularized. One couple we knew left ahead of us by about a month and got trapped between two flooding rivers in the Yukon for about 3 days I believe. I never learned whether it was a stretch without a service station.

[themexicandoctor]

Originally Posted by Davydd

I've never ran out of gas or diesel in 60 years of driving.

However, I probably was down to fumes once in my 2005 Pleasure-way Plateau Sprinter when I stretched it to 505 miles on a tank.

Boxter's comment about look for fuel when the tank is half full on the Alaskan Highway was the popular advice I followed but was never in danger had I not and followed the low light coming on. The highway had come a long way since that lore was popularized. One couple we knew left ahead of us by about a month and got trapped between two flooding rivers in the Yukon for about 3 days I believe. I never learned whether it was a stretch without a service station.

Filing Alaska under;

PAY EXTREME ATTENTION

[Peder_y2k]

I carry a 5 gallon steel jerry can on the exterior. These tough containers were designed for military abuse. They can sit outside in direct sun for days with no issues, and fall off trucks, be low level aidropped, and still be serviceable. Good enough for me. To minimize heat expansion, I put a simple shade cover over it.

[themexicandoctor]

Great idea!

[Want a B]

I'll second the use of the APP Gas Buddy