Ran out of gas today....

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tdiman

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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.
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Used to be a bad thing to run a fuel pump and injectors dry, but that information might have been superseded.
 
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).
 
Nice. I was wondering if it ran out of gas but still have EV range left, if you could still drive it.
 
insightman said:
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).
Click to expand...
Yes a low fuel warning popped up on iMID separate from the gas light.

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Used to be a bad thing to run a fuel pump and injectors dry, but that information might have been superseded.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

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@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
 
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tdiman said:
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.View attachment 1710

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Click to expand...
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.
 
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.
 
UncheckedException said:
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.
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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.
 
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.
 
insightman said:
Bob's car doesn't respect "theory," it's the least well-behaved Clarity PHEV of them all.
Click to expand...
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
 
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