My fuel gauge lied to me and I ran out of fuel (fortunately just as I arrived on my street).

Have put 1.5 gallons back in the tank, but can’t get the bloody thing started now.

Any ideas why/what to do?

Thanks.

Stu.

It’s sucked in all the shite from the bottom of the fuel tank.

ironically, I was due to scrap it tomorrow and just need to drive it to the scrap yard, is there any way that if I keep trying, that it will eventually start?

The scrap yard will collect, but I’ll get less for it.

petrol or diesel?

Petrol

Deleted for being not funny..

Are you sure you ran out of fuel ?? If the gauge lied perhaps that wasn’t the problem…

Have a look at the fuel filter, as hels says you might not have run out, it could be a blockage somewhere else.
Is it the first time you’ve let the level drop so low? If so, it could be crap somewhere.

petrol should reblead without problem, carb or injection and how much of a banger is it

it’s an old r reg car with an injection engine. If I keep trying, will it eventually clean through any crap that may have pulled through. First time I’ve ever ran out of fuel in my life!!

, is there any way that if I keep trying, that it will eventually start?

That or the battery will go flat.

depends if you have gotten air in the lines or blocked the filter

As a poor student, I often ran out of petrol. Failed to start on the key every time, and every time a bump-start (not a jump-start) got it going again.

If I keep trying, will it eventually clean through any crap that may have pulled through

Maybe yes, maybe no, but I doubt it.

It’s sucked in all the shite from the bottom of the fuel tank.

No it hasn’t. The take-off point is always at the bottom. What it’s done is sucked in all the shite that was floating on the top.

(does the fuel pump run and stop when you turn the ign on and leave it for a bit?#)

Try it now

Just throuhg experience, I once had an old Alfa, which I was mollycoddling along to get to a fuel stop. I reckoned it was about due to come to a halt, when lo, it did.

I walked a couple of miles to the station, filled a can, and walked back. When I tried to start, the car wouldn’t fire.

I called the AA. They agreed it sounded fuel related, but after over an hour, cound’t get it going. He rang HO, and after a tecnical discussion, (they have a database of breakdowns) one Alfa like mine, had broken down once before, with a failed balance resistor in the fuel injection – nothing to do with the fuel situation. The guy “shorted” it out or whatever, to get me going, and hey presto…

So the 4m walk was entirely wasted….

Don’t always assume the source of a breakdown is obvious.

Just blag a tow from a mate for a couple of pints. Save all the phaffing around.

if you’re going to scrap it anyway, does it need to be running when you get to the scrappers? get a tow as CountZero said

Just drive it in on the starter motor.*

*This will probably end badly…

If it’s an injection fuel system, whether diesel or petrol, and you have run it out of fuel, it will need bleeding…..unless you are lucky.

You could try cracking a pipe on one of the injectors and cranking it over, but with it being petrol that could be dodgy.

SB

My car, a diesel has a fuel priming pump. After changing the fuel filer it needed pumping to saturate the filer. However not sure if this applies to petrol cars.

I once had an old Alfa…
…
When I tried to start, the car wouldn’t fire.

Yeah, that’s my experiences with Alfa’s summed up too.

just keep trying, it’ll probably start, just got to drag the fuel past some shite first. Try checking the fuel filter etc, failing that, tow it to the scrappy and tell them its a runner but wont start due to lack of fuel. they wont care.

If you look at fuel pumps from the past 10 years or so.. they wont let a lot of crap in there at all.Its a bit of a myth that bits of this and that will be dragged through the system.Ive ran out more than a few times in one of my cars and the fuel pump after 100k hardly had a mark on it.

Tow it to a metal recyclers it was 145 quid a tonne Saturday morning