Ran out of gas today....

Discussion in 'Clarity' started by tdiman, Jul 25, 2018.

To remove this ad click here.

  1. tdiman

    tdiman Member

    Was in HV charge mode... Was a bit of a strange moment... Almost pulled over at 9 HV miles but decided to trust the engineers that EV range was correct.

    Got me thinking... Wonder how much gas the car actually had left. Honda recently has been leaving the fuel pump submerged and so there's typically about 2G left.

    I didn't fill the tank on purpose (this tank lasted long enough - 900+miles and ~8 weeks - that I wanted to burn through the gas and replace it) so I can't do the math.

    The engine definitely shut off and it went to EV mode. IMG_20180724_190714.jpeg

    Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
     
  2. To remove this ad click here.

  3. KentuckyKen

    KentuckyKen Well-Known Member

    How much gas did it take to do the fill up afterward?
     
    insightman likes this.
  4. Atkinson

    Atkinson Active Member

    Used to be a bad thing to run a fuel pump and injectors dry, but that information might have been superseded.
     
  5. insightman

    insightman Well-Known Member Subscriber

    Searching through the Owners Manual, I didn't find any cautions about running the Clarity PHEV out of gas. However, I believe a poster here has written that a low-fuel warning message pops up on the instrument panel (in addition to the illumination of the Low Fuel Indicator).

    The manual says the Low Fuel Indicator "Comes on when the fuel reserve is running low (approximately 1.1 U.S. gal./4.0 Liter left)."
    I'd love to know an empirical number for when the Low Fuel Indicator lights up (with the understanding that every car is different).
     
  6. weave

    weave Active Member

    Nice. I was wondering if it ran out of gas but still have EV range left, if you could still drive it.
     
  7. To remove this ad click here.

  8. tdiman

    tdiman Member

    I only put 3.5G in... It took almost two months to go through the last tank so I forced it down to put fresh gas in.

    Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
     
  9. tdiman

    tdiman Member

    Yes a low fuel warning popped up on iMID separate from the gas light.

    Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
     
  10. tdiman

    tdiman Member

    My 2017 crv has two gallons left when the gas gauge goes to zero for this reason. It will obviously still run but I would be surprised if the Clarity ran to zero in my case.

    Now, if I ran out of EV miles I wonder if it would switch back to ICE and burn through the fuel pump immersion gas... Not going to be the guina pig...

    Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
     
  11. K8QM

    K8QM Active Member

    @LegoZ posted this a while back "It took 7.141g to refill until the pump auto clicked off after I ran out. Yes the car will run but will yell a lot and tell you to pull over and stop as soon as safe. If you pull over and "reboot" the car and keep it in Econ mode it appears to work fine (no message on the iMid anymore) but a warning light remained lit."
    He posted a more complete description of his process on the forum you can probably find with the search function although it may be buried in another thread.

    geo
     
    Last edited: Jul 26, 2018
  12. To remove this ad click here.

  13. PHEV Newbie

    PHEV Newbie Well-Known Member

    Thanks for actual experience that the Clarity can run on EV after running out of gas. I assumed it could based on no gas used when I'm in EV mode but it would be awful to discover that you can't during a road trip. This is another of many reasons to keep a significant charge in the battery during a road trip.
     
  14. megreyhair

    megreyhair Active Member

    I wouldn't want to dry up the tank. The tank is pressurized. That means the pump in there is larger than normal car to pump the gas and pressurized the tank. Running it dry might cause it to overheat. You might also introduce air in the fuel line, which can cause the ICE to 'hiccup' after the refuel when it get air instead of gas in the injector.
     
  15. bobcubsfan

    bobcubsfan Active Member

    I am thinking of running out of gas to stop the ICE from coming on when it should not.
     
    Domenick, leehinde and PHEV Newbie like this.
  16. If you run in “Econ” mode, it shouldn’t start the gas engine unless you click the accelerator petal past the detent. In theory, at least. We all know this car comes from the factory possessed by a whimsical demon.


    Sent from my iPhone using Inside EVs
     
  17. bobcubsfan

    bobcubsfan Active Member

    ICE comes on when "it feels like it."
     
  18. insightman

    insightman Well-Known Member Subscriber

    Bob's car doesn't respect "theory," it's the least well-behaved Clarity PHEV of them all. For it's response, Honda turns its head, closes eyes, and places hands over ears.
     
  19. bobcubsfan

    bobcubsfan Active Member

    Call from Larry at Honda today, basically saying that's the way it is. He even misquoted page 15 in the manual which reads:

    Power Source and Charging

    Electric Source

    When the High Voltage battery is sufficiently charged, the vehicle is propelled solely by the electric motor. When the remaining power of the High Voltage battery drops to a certain level, the vehicle switches to HV.

    Unless the dealer finds something Honda will not replace parts.
     
  20. K8QM

    K8QM Active Member

    We need an forum FAQ with #1 being "@bobcubsfan Clarity is one of a kind and even the most ardent non-believers have been convinced of this fact after reading his numerous attempts at getting to the bottom of his unruly cars behavior, so please hold comments until you are of the enlightened group."

    I'm still hoping for a miracle cure for Bob's frustration - like he finally finds the groundhog that's been hiding in his engine compartment.

    geo
     
  21. Carro con enchufe

    Carro con enchufe Active Member

    My Clarity is pretty well behaved then. I run in Sport mode all the time and still the ice only comes on when I want it to.
     
  22. bobcubsfan

    bobcubsfan Active Member

    You are lucky. Ours is schizophrenic.
     
    Carro con enchufe likes this.
  23. Atkinson

    Atkinson Active Member

    Bob,
    Do you ever run in HV mode for any significant number of miles?
     

Share This Page