So i ran out of gas.

RePLAY said:

Yesterday, I saw I had 27 miles left on the electronic dash when I arrived at work....went to a place 4 miles away for lunch...went back to work. Started my car after work that evening saw "---". Didn't make it to the gas station about 1 mile away. Fortunately, AAA got to me in about 10 mins.


Anyways...wth...ive seen my gauge go from 25 to "---" in less than a mile before. How reliable is it? I'm thinking I should just get gas when I hit 300 miles. :crying:

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This reminds of a coworker of mine who ran out of gas driving a client in her Chevy something (older model). I remember her response was, "I really thought I had AT LEAST a gallon of gas left."

I personally wouldn't drive around with that little gas in the tank (I fill between a quarter and a third), but I think others have complained of the distance to empty meter being off. Mine is off too, but not in the same way as yours. Mine will say 120 miles when I have half a tank. I'll drive for 100 miles and it will say that I have 60 miles left. Never bothered to bring it in for this.

I set my tripometer every time I fill up. That way I know exactly how many miles I've driven after my fill up. I saw mine go to "----" once on my monitor and I panicked, but the number of miles left showing on the dash screen said I had 20 miles left. Somewhere in this forum I read that the gas guage needs to be recallibrated, and after this was done the person had no more problems. I've owned two other Infiniti vehicles and did not have this problem. Also, I can turn the ignition off, and it will say I have 189 miles left till empty. When I restart it, it might show that I only have 100 miles left. There is definitely a problem when it gets below a half tank of gas left in the tank, but not all the time. I just haven't taken it back to the dealership for this problem. Does anyone know what it takes to recallibrate the gas guage, and does this mean they have to drop the gas tank, or tear into the dash?

The miles until empty will also fluctuate depending on how you are driving. If you are getting off the freeway after driving for a long time, your miles will obviously be more than if you were cruising in the city. I have never had any clients complain about this, but who knows exactly what it did. I hope everything gets resolved, and I'm glad you had AAA! You can also try your roadside assistance if you have the premium plus package.

Recommend you look at that gas gauge needle thingy that they put on the instrument cluster. If it is below the 1/4 tick, get gas!

Rooster said:

Recommend you look at that gas gauge needle thingy that they put on the instrument cluster. If it is below the 1/4 tick, get gas!

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Yep, best advice. When it's time to get gas, just get gas. Instead of going for lunch the OP should have went for gas.

I have noticed my QX60 is pretty bad below 1/3 tank left in terms of how fast the needle drops and how fast the miles to go drops.

E.g. This morning it said 240km to go with about 1/2 tank gone (I got 380km on the first half of the tank). I'm pretty sure after I get home today (which will be a round trip of 100km), instead of saying 140km to go it will be somewhere around 60km. Its not reliable below 1/2 tank - I will ask my dealer about this but I just fill up when the light goes on.

On my '06 M35 however, I can predict to the last km how much gas I have left. It never lets me down.

I get around 35 miles when the light comes on. I get another ~10 when the DTE goes to 0, then "??"...

I was in the middle of New Mexico not paying attention....

As I mentioned earlier, mine is not reliable on the bottom half of the tank. And like Rooster said, I fill up just when it gets below half a tank. However, it should be more accurate than this.

About 2 months or so after I picked up my new JX, there was a recall on the fuel line which needed to be re-routed. I did notice the distance to empty was very inaccurate. At the same time they re-calibrated the sensor for the fuel gage and I now find the distance to empty is pretty accurate. When I hit the lowest reading before it the reading goes to ---, it usually means I have a gallon left in the tank. You could ask your service department if its possible to re-calibrate your fuel gage sensor (or whatever provides the distance to empty).

Do you have any idea if they have to tear into the dash or the gas tank to re-calibrate the fuel gauge sensor, or this a software issue?

They had the car for a day. From what I recall, the calibration is something very simple like a plug in device. They don't have to tear into the dash, and if I recall, they had to remove the second row seat for the sensor. My guess is that you have a newer model and the issue with the fuel line has been addressed during manufacturing. The problem was with the first models off the line.

I would check with the service department and ask them if they can check your vehicle out and see if there they can recalibrate the gage sensor.

I purchased my 2014 QX on 12/28/13, and the door sticker said it was manufactured 09/13. Thank you for the info, I'll ask the next time I take it in for service.

Paradox said:

Yep, best advice. When it's time to get gas, just get gas. Instead of going for lunch the OP should have went for gas.

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psssh..if my $45,000 car told me I have 25 miles left and the gas station is only 1 mile away by the fwy....im gonna get lunch during my lunch time. Not my fault it lied to me. lol

I gotta tell my wife to fill up whenever it goes below 1/4. She tends to wait until the it's empty for me to fill up the gas.
I also noticed that when you start the car the gas needle is at last level and once you start driving for few minutes, it drops down to current level.

I never feel comfortable when the gas gage goes below 1/4 tank. Good advice for your wife.