WOW... That's amazing, never heard of that

Every pump im Maine has to be licensed and tested by the weight and measure department. Ill snap a pic of the sticker next time i get gas

Wow this is funny I was just Driving around yesterday with the --- lines haha I wanted to see how far I could go. I probably went another ten miles after I got the --- lines. Adrenaline was kickin In! :)

I usally fill up when I hit 4 dots.
Just filled up yesterday on 4 dots/231 miles, and took 14.5 gallons (calculated 15.9mpg).
The trip computer said I only had 40 miles left on the tank (4.5gal), that would mean only 8.8mpg! Just shows how wacky the gas guage is!

u sir have to tell us what kind of voodoo magic spell you've got to be getting those numbers

i just got the gas cubby app after i saw your post. i've avg 16.7mpg over the 28k miles i've driven the car. 16.6mpg, as you can see, over the last 3 fill-ups recently.

http://mail-attachment.googleusercon...E08Uc&sadssc=1

Ya I've seen that here in Cali too

:iagree: Same here. My gauge says 16.7mpg. I think i see 13/14mpg city and 19 highway.:eekdance:
If anyone is getting over 20mpg's combined? You wasted money on a sports car cuz that poor baby sees no action. :p

Thread title advice to the general public... Fill at Five. You'll destroy your fuel pump early causing another problem and blaming Nissan for it:ugh2:.

I had "5.5 MPG" on my H2!

My wife got 21 mpg for the first 18 months commuting about 15-20 miles per day all highway (with me romping on it during the weekends). Since Sept 2012, I have knocked that lifetime avg down to 18.5 :icon17:

I guess I'll be ready when it happens, but I still don't understand how the fuel pump is affected by how much gas I have in the car (I run it to '--- miles left' pretty much every tank). And if I have to leave several gallons of gas in the car to keep the fuel pump from failing, how is that not a poor design on Nissan's part and ergo their fault? You're damn right if it fails within my warranty period I'm going to blame them. I should be able to drive my car until it's almost out of gas, and almost is not 'I could have driven another 100 miles' :ugh2:

Hey knock yourself out. Just advice to save you guys trouble. Take it or leave it.:tiphat: The fuel pump potential issue is on ALL cars, not just nissan.

:tiphat: I'm just not worried about it... if it happens to me, maybe I'll change my tune then. I can handle a little inconvenience. For what it's worth, I've never had the problem with any of my DDs (88 Pathfinder I drove 120K of the 220K total miles, 95 Explorer Sport 120K of 160K, 99 CR-V 180K of 250K, 2000 Sentra 10K of 50K - grandpa gave me the Sentra which I traded for the Z within 6 months :icon17:). I drive the car until virtually empty so I know how many miles I can get on the tank - I never trust the car's fuel gauges, only the mileage counter. It's worked for me so far :tup:

Fuel pumps, by design, are located in the tank and the fuel is the only thing that's cooling it (like a radiator) from overheating and burning out. That's how fuel pumps are in general. If your running on fumes, the fuel pump will be running hotter = shorter life. I don't know how Nissan quality is but I ran my old '92 Integra till the E light was on all the time. No problems. I personally try to fill when it's down to 2-3 lights

:tiphat: Thank you for the explanation. I was aware that the fuel helps cool the pump, but is there ever a point where the fuel pump has zero fuel cooling it? If not, I would think that while a smaller volume of fuel heats up quicker, a full tank could get to the same temperature eventually on a long trip. So it would make sense to me that it could be affected more by driving habits in conjunction with fuel filling habits than just fuel filling habits by themselves.

Sorry for jacking the thread...

It's not a big problem unless you empty the tank and run the pump dry. Very few ppl do that.

It may slightly reduce the life of the pump to run with a very low fuel level, but, in the end, it really doesn't amount to a hill of beans. :driving:

You're silly. That makes no sense as a reason. LOL. You can do the same if you constantly fill up after driving only a couple hours and fill up again, rinse/repeat.
:shakes head:

ex:
running to empty tank-
18.8 gallons used
396.87 miles driven
21.11 mpg (21.11010)
19.1ga. capacity tank
tank can go 403.2~ miles

filling up every couple hours-
3.65 gallons used
77.05 miles driven
21.11 mpg (21.10958)
19.1ga. capacity tank
tank can go 403.2~ miles

Yes, I can do math, thank you :tiphat: That does not account for varying driving styles. Some tanks get more miles than others. It's knowing my driving habits vs the car's mileage.

The reason I want to know exactly how many miles I can get on one tank is because I drive all over Texas, which is a big a$$ state. If I'm out in the middle of nowhere and running low on gas, it might be awhile before I come across a gas station. So if I need to reroute to find some gas before I run out, then I can map out a plan to do so. I know exactly how far I can get at any point, and I can adjust my driving habits as well if needed.

damn you guys are getting 21.11mpg?

im getting like 21.09 wtf...

My MPG ? Geez I never look because I don't care....I bought it to go fast...

I know JAR. I'm just stating that letting your tank go to the last few dots is not going to give you any more information about the capacity to use a tank of gas than filling up after using 1 gallon. The math and physics don't change over the life of the tank, so you can just as accurately gauge how far you can go from 1 mile from fill-up just as easily as waiting until you've used 3/4 of a tank, regardless of how much gas you have left.

Again, not a reason to run your tank low. But, if it's your preference, go all about it. :tup:

I'm just a logic guy, so if you say you have a rock that keeps away tigers, and justification is that you carry the rock and never see a tiger, I might say something. Running low on your tank provides no more information about how far your car can go as filling up every few miles.

Like you say, it's all in how well you drove the car, or intend to drive the car from filling up.

Cheers!

Turn off the A/C. That's the hidden potential. Plus a 'the370z.com' sticker adds 50whp at the minimum.

:roflpuke2:

^^^^^ this!

Being out of the country so much, I really don't give a damn. Filled it up in January, and again last week so far this year!

:tiphat: I understand exactly where you're coming from. Now that you have removed all logic from my argument, going forward, I will be emptying the fuel tank just to show you guys that it doesn't hurt anything :rofl2:

Oh and to be clear... I don't care about my mpgs. I like to know how many miles I get per tank so I don't have to stop for gas if it's inconvenient. More than once the Z has told me I have --- Miles Remaining when I know I can get another 50 miles out of the tank (that's a couple of days worth of my regular commute).

I'm with you on wanting to know what my mpg is on every tank so I know how many miles I can travel. That said, I always thought Z's had a 20 gallon tank so I'm glad I read this thread! I'm still breaking the car in so while I haven't done much spirited driving yet I have been varying the gear and RPMs frequently so I averaged around 18.6 MPG. In my '07 350Z I would generally average between 16MPG and 20MPG depending on how much highway and how spirited my driving was that tank. I assume that the 370Z will be similar.

:tup::roflpuke2:

I'm an @ss sometimes. My bad

:icon18: no apologies necessary dude :tup:



I can dish it out and I can take it

Welcome to the Club....I am thinking of starting a A$$hole anonymous club....:tiphat:

I never let my car get below a quarter of a tank. Play it safe

I fill at 2 dots and my last 5 tanks have all been over 20.6 MPG. :happydance:

Agreed...issue resolved. :tup:

Other than fuel starvation potential, I'm still confused as to what is the actual issue. If I'm driving where I think FS might be a problem (i.e. on a track), then I will adjust my fill up habits accordingly. So far, all I've heard, is that the life of the fuel pump might be shortened by waiting so long to fill up with no evidence why or how that might happen. I will certainly post if I ever have a problem, but I haven't had a problem yet in 2+ years of DD.

No response needed unless you can explain why the fuel pump would fail because I don't put gas in the car soon enough with a 'running out of gas' scenario excluded from the equation. I'm happy for everyone to do whatever they want when they fill up their cars, but it just seems like there are a lot of people saying that the Z should be filled up at 5 dots or half a tank or something without a valid reason why.

The two theories that I have seen/heard are: lack of general cooling and lack of seal lubrication. Both caused by loss of flow for extended periods while the pump motor is running.

Most common reasons for loss of flow seems to be clogged inlet filter and corrosion/erosion caused by water and/or alcohol. I didn't dig very deep, but it appears that lack of fuel only becomes a problem if it lasts for more than a few seconds. Google "fuel pump failure" for more info.

lol thanks SouthArk :tiphat: Always with the technical answer :tup: I understand how and why a fuel pump can fail but not how it relates to my fuel fill up habits. Running out of fuel seems to be the most likely reason for failure, but otherwise, it's likely going to be a event that happens randomly and unrelated to the fuel level at the time of failure. I hope that makes sense.

Sorry, I'll try not to beat this dead horse any more :ugh2:

:hello:

Fill @ 5 dots. Never have to worry

about?

Fuel starvation in turns.....:tiphat::icon18:

Makes sense to me ... I think. Makes sense if you're saying that total, extended loss of fuel flow will kill a pump, but random, short-term losses cause little damage and tank level is just not all that important (as far as the fuel pump is concerned) for most DDs?

I suppose if you spent most of your time doing hard corners on a low tank (eg, at the track) it could be a problem. I've never experienced it in my Z, but assume that the engine cutout would be very noticeable and one would know it was time to add some fuel.

Neigh, neigh. Whinney, whinney. The Famous Mr. Ed. :)

haha I agree then :tiphat: