When should the low fuel light come on? I know when it is low on gas, but my gas needle is sitting on the red line, the fuel range says low, yet no light has come on. This will be my 4 th tank of gas, but I have been stopping when I am in Louisiana (.15 per gallon cheaper) so I have yet to go below a quarter of a tank of gas. The first fill up I stopped for the gas light came on right past a quarter of a tank, now no light. So in general when does the light typically come on? Do I have a light issue I need to go check on?

 

i've never seen the gas light, and don't know if there even is one... i've had it pretty low before, and the DIC says low fuel, and the makes a beeping sound...

 

I did not have a beep. That is my concern, the Jeep I drove since 98 beeps every 5 miles till I get gas. The Cobalt has done nothing. I searched some other threads before I made this post, it seemed like the car had a light, from what I read.....

 

Exactly. Your "light", so to say, is the DIC saying "low fuel", and the car beeping at you. If you cycle through your DIC when you're getting low, and the fuel range indicator says "low", you're probably less than 10 miles away from the car beeping at you. At that point, you've got about 1.5-2 gallons left at the most.

 

I had mine start beeping at me once and it took 12 gallons to fill, the joy of forgetting to get gas before leaving with less gas than it took you to get to where you were, had to actually go the speed limit

 

Thanks. The Jeep showed a little dummy light on the dash. I was expecting the same from the Cobalt. Cool. I really appreciate it. It says low fuel, so I will stop & feed the car in the morning. I was just worried that "low fuel" ment go to the gas station tonight in the Jeep with a gas can because the car not gonna make it to the gas station.

 

Yeah, you should be good. I get between 24-25 miles per gallon, and I wait until low fuel before filling up each time. It typically starts beeping at me at about 260-275 miles on the tank, so by that math I figure I have roughly 2 gallons left at that point.

 

Hi Tomtwtw -

That is exactly what I figured -

I ran mine pretty low on fuel, and the "low fuel range" warning popped up on the DIC display.

I looked at the remaining range, and the average mpg that the DIC was reporting , and I figured that I had just over two gallons of fuel left in the tank.

It took 11.7 gallons to fill it back up by the time I got the the gas station.

I have under 2k miles on the car as yet, but the gas gage seems to be as accurate as I have had on an american car.

best regards-

mqqn

 

My Pontiac's was amazingly accurate as well, until it got up there in miles...around 130k or so miles, I ran out of gas without ever getting a low fuel light. It was middle of summer and a mile from a gas station...oh man that was sucky. Needless to say I didn't let it get that low again.

 

when your fuel range gets below 40 miles, it says "Fuel range low." i'm not sure what it gets to when it says "low fuel". the beep is not that loud, so if you have the radio on or the window open, that's probably why you don't hear it

 

Mystery light. In the first comment I said a light came on right below a quarter of a tank. I was not driving so I did not pay it any attention. My husband pulled into a gas station, filled up, and when he started the car the dummy light was gone. My husband just arrived home, I asked him what light came on, he does not remember. The car had less than 300 miles on it, there are not any lights currently on in the dummy light display. He saw a light & assumed it was the low fuel light.

 

It most probably says "Fuel range low" not "low fuel." I do play the radio very loud with sunroof open & windows down. I am probably just paranoid. It is a new car that I am not used too. Many thanks for your assistance though, it is greatly appreciated.

 

you're welcome... and i was saying that it says BOTH. at 40 miles remaining, it will say "Fuel Range Low." When it gets to a certain point beyod that, it will just say "Low Fuel."

 

Just for reference, how large is our gas tank? ive filled up 1 1/2 times (roughly) have 500 miles on my car and according to the range meter, 150 left

 

I have know idea.... Let me go find the husband he may know. He is getting his truck ready to body drop & air bag it, so he is in the shop.

 

My cobalt has a 13 gallon tank. Owners manuel easier to get to than the husband... lol

 

you can take the needle 3/4 way into the circle before it runs completly out of gas. thats where mine was when I sputtered into a gas station. So I usually don't put gas in it until its about 1/2 way into the circle, which is like 40 miles after the needle hits the line.

 

wow...you like to cut it close i guess....me personally, i wait until the "Fuel Range Low" thingy comes on, that, or until gas is super cheap!

 

that makes me feel better. cuz i live 25 miles out of town and the low fuel warning came on when i was 9 miles away from my house. on the way back in, i was panicking a bit and reeeealllllly coasting at every chance i had. the car took 12 gallons tho (if i remember correctly)

 

lol, yah. I do the same thing... Downhill in Neutral, 5th gear at 40mph on straights... lol

 

I usually try not to let it get below 1/4 of tank

 

This is just heresay, so I don't know how accurate it is, but I've heard that letting your fuel get *too* low can cause your fuel pump to wear out sooner due to overheating. Fuel acts as a cooler by removing heat from the pump, but when the level gets low, the pump is no longer submerged. Don't know if that's really the case or not, but it's something to think about.

 

That actually is true in most instances, fuel in tanks are only usable to so much. It is not that you cant use it(emergency). It also in the lower state can mess with your fuel pressure which would affect flow

 

That'd be true.

 

I'm going to be thinking about that next time I decide to run low