My new '11 Overland died on the interstate! Out of gas with NO warning.

overland11 · 11-26-2011, 07:31 PM

We haven't had our GC for more than a month. Left the house traveling to see family today on a half tank. Should have been plenty. On the interstate, cruise set, going 70. Not 10 minutes away from our destination, my husband proclaimed we were slowing down. He tried to press the gas thinking the cruise had disabled, but the jeep kept slowing. I said it must have died so we coasted over to the shoulder and stopped the engine completely.

Tried start again, nothing. The fuel light had never come on, the dash said we had 100 miles left to go on the tank. Luckily my father lived close by so he was able to bring us a gallon or two to make it to the next gas station. When we got there we filled up only around 19 gallons. So there was still over 5 gallons in the tank when we 'ran out'! Calling the dealer on Monday, but I can't find anyone reporting this has happened to them. Any ideas what it might be?

Nonaspirin · 11-26-2011, 08:20 PM

I'm new here as well, but I noticed the JGC has two fuel tank skid guards on either side. I'd bet that either side was still full therefore you didn't get a low fuel signal but one side wasn't fueling the car. Just my idea from looking at the car layout from underneath

ecupip · 11-26-2011, 10:07 PM

The gas tank is split but by no means should it not flow from side to side. What was the physical gauge reading?

overland11 · 11-26-2011, 10:13 PM

The gauge was reading about an 8th of a tank. Not quite to the E, which sounds accurate given how much gas we estimate was still in the tank and having '100 miles to go'.

**ColdCase** · 11-27-2011, 07:05 AM

Sounds like a bad fuel level sending unit, or bad connection.

peckmv · 11-27-2011, 08:10 AM

You should never go much below 1/4 of a tank because the fuel cools the fuel pump. In this case I agree with Coldcase. The sending unit is suspect.

**ColdCase** · 11-27-2011, 09:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by overland11

....he was able to bring us a gallon or two to make it to the next gas station. When we got there we filled up only around 19 gallons. So there was still over 5 gallons in the tank when we 'ran out'! ...

Oh, if you put about 19 gal in plus about one or two gallons... that could be as much as 22 gallons. These are 24.6 gallon rated tanks, I think, but I've had a hard time putting more than 23 gallon in... I'm not sure how these fuel pumps and inlet are mounted in the tank, but if it has an intake leak (a leak above the empty level of the tank) the pump would be drawing are instead of fuel at that level and you could also get this symptom.

overland11 · 11-27-2011, 07:20 PM

Yeah I realize we shouldn't have let it get that low, but still, the low gas warning should have at least come on..so something is up. I'll let you all know what the problem is once I get it fixed.

Jeep_addicted · 11-28-2011, 12:11 PM

I don't like the low fuel warning that these cars give it is easy to overlook. My last car used to place a huge amber Icon in the center of the MFD screen and the left you with about 3 gallons when the light came on.

With these Jeeps you get low fuel message in the EVIC and a barely audible tone the message is not even in a High Visiblitly color. If you are looking at the "fuel economy" screen in the EVIC the DTE message changes from miles to "LOW FUEL" this is hard to catch if you are unfamiliar with the car or haven't learn to read the fuel gauge.

I have my car just over 3 weeks and because of where I live my care give AVG mile of 9.3 MPG so a full tank of 93 only give me 258 Miles of range according to the EVIC and I am not lead footed driver but I am nearing the 900 mile mark on the clock so it may improve when the car get really broken in.

RB145 · 11-28-2011, 12:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeep_addicted

I don't like the low fuel warning that these cars give it is easy to overlook. My last car used to place a huge amber Icon in the center of the MFD screen and the left you with about 3 gallons when the light came on.

With these Jeeps you get low fuel message in the EVIC and a barely audible tone the message is not even in a High Visiblitly color. If you are looking at the "fuel economy" screen in the EVIC the DTE message changes from miles to "LOW FUEL" this is hard to catch if you are unfamiliar with the car or haven't learn to read the fuel gauge.

I have my car just over 3 weeks and because of where I live my care give AVG mile of 9.3 MPG so a full tank of 93 only give me 258 Miles of range according to the EVIC and I am not lead footed driver but I am nearing the 900 mile mark on the clock so it may improve when the car get really broken in.

I don't see how you could miss the giant amber fuel pump light on these. The one time mine came on the first thing I thought was how big it was. If someone doesn't notice that they are not at all properly paying attention to their driving.

Terminator2 · 11-28-2011, 12:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by overland11

We haven't had our GC for more than a month. Left the house traveling to see family today on a half tank. Should have been plenty. On the interstate, cruise set, going 70. Not 10 minutes away from our destination, my husband proclaimed we were slowing down. He tried to press the gas thinking the cruise had disabled, but the jeep kept slowing. I said it must have died so we coasted over to the shoulder and stopped the engine completely.

Tried start again, nothing. The fuel light had never come on, the dash said we had 100 miles left to go on the tank. Luckily my father lived close by so he was able to bring us a gallon or two to make it to the next gas station. When we got there we filled up only around 19 gallons. So there was still over 5 gallons in the tank when we 'ran out'! Calling the dealer on Monday, but I can't find anyone reporting this has happened to them. Any ideas what it might be?

That is definitely not normal mine has been run down to 30 miles to empty or roughly 22 gallons to fill it with no issues. If you had 4 gallons or so in the tank it should have been fine.

Jeep_addicted · 11-28-2011, 01:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RB145

I don't see how you could miss the giant amber fuel pump light on these. The one time mine came on the first thing I thought was how big it was. If someone doesn't notice that they are not at all properly paying attention to their driving.

I have yet to see this huge amber icon unless they got rid of it for 2012 because the low fuel message is all you have seen and I think my car was pretty empty because it took almost 22 gallons to fill

Jeep_addicted · 11-28-2011, 01:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RB145

I don't see how you could miss the giant amber fuel pump light on these. The one time mine came on the first thing I thought was how big it was. If someone doesn't notice that they are not at all properly paying attention to their driving.

I have yet to see this huge amber icon unless JEEP got rid of it for 2012 because the low fuel message is all I have seen and I think my car was pretty empty because it took almost 22 gallons to fill. And since this car is still new to me I would not go past the mark before empty which I think it pretty low already.

Terminator2 · 11-28-2011, 01:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RB145

I don't see how you could miss the giant amber fuel pump light on these. The one time mine came on the first thing I thought was how big it was. If someone doesn't notice that they are not at all properly paying attention to their driving.

It comes on at 30 miles to empty. I wish it would come on a little sooner.

airec13 · 11-28-2011, 04:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeep_addicted

I have yet to see this huge amber icon unless they got rid of it for 2012 because the low fuel message is all you have seen and I think my car was pretty empty because it took almost 22 gallons to fill

looks like this...