Hello! The wife and I were driving home today (about 85 degrees out), holding about 75 on the highway when the car suddenly lost power. I got over to the side of the road and ran down the list of things to check - the electric seemed fine (AC/Windows/Radio all worked), but the car wouldn’t start. It would crank and try to catch, I let it sit for maybe 10 minutes and then we tried again - nothing.
We had just under 1/8th of a tank left, and the “70 Miles to Empty” light had JUST come on, and then lost power. My theory is that the gas was pretty low, and with the AC and everything running, the engine just low the flow of gas for little while, and it just took a while to come back.
We sat and waited for AAA, and I gave it one more start for the hell of it, and it started almost right up, cranked maybe twice, and then we were off and running! I went immediately to a gas station, filled it up, and it started up perfectly. I tested a few more starts, drove around, same thing, and it was all fine.
So, did we just run out of gas in a weird way, or is it something else?
Thanks!
Impossible to say if it was gas or something else. It is possible for me to say if it is something else, it will happen again.
Next time you post, tell us details about the car as well as the problem. It helps.
Whoops! Sorry - it is a 2015 Subaru Impreza Hatchback, about 48k miles on it. Otherwise running totally fine.
I’ve been back out and driven it since then (just around the block a few times) and it’s been running smoothly.
Myself I wont ever get that low because I have seen enough difference in gas guages from all makers not to trust it when it’s that low . My car when it says 1/8 it is 1/8 but my wifes cars says 1/8 it’s really a 1/4 left . Also when it gets that low if you are going up or down hills could make a difference depending where the fuel pickup tube is located in your particular car .
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The ’ Low fuel light ’ on our vehicles , well I don’t know if they work or not. Because I never let the fuel level get low enough to trigger it.
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I’m guessing this is either fuel pump (fuel) or crank position sensor (spark) problem. The fastest way to get to the bottom of it is to figure out which, but you’ll have to do that when the problem is occurring, meaning at the side of the road. Ask your shop to show you how to test for a fuel problem vs. a spark problem. The best/easiest method varies from car to car.
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