Fuel Pump

[Alex Kowalski]

Fred Munro wrote:

>I think the red zone on the gauge is the remnant of the European "reserve
>tank" philosophy. The older cars actually had physical reserve tanks - the
>old VW beetles had a foot lever you flipped when you ran out of gas and it
>gave you an extra 1.5 gallons. When they put fuel gauges in the VW beetles
>(1962 model IIRC) they eliminated the lever and had a band marked "R" on
the
>empty end of the gauge to show the reserve.

I tend to agree.  The Red Zone seems to be the cognate of "RESERVE."  On the
'87 5KCSTQ, once the needle gets between the two infitinesimal little dots
in the red zone, you're on thin ice.  The instrument cluster flashes the Gas
Pump warning through the autocheck system at the beginning of the zone, and
then the mile countdown starts as the gauge continues to drop.  It begins at
30 miles...25...20...and then on my car it just flashes E!  E!  E! for a few
miles.  Not long after that, you know you're in real danger of running out
of fuel when you hit the brakes or descend a hill and the engine stalls.  At
that point you had better be within walking distance of a gas station, or
you're going to be, er, walking.  ;)

The whole thing takes less than 40 miles, which pretty much indicates
"reserve capacity" to me.

Alex Kowalski
'87 5KCSTQ - "Gretchen"
'86 5KCSTQ - "Sessa"