Ran out of fuel, now got warning lights

cyclonebri1

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers! wrote: »

This is nonsense. Fuel tanks empty from the bottom, always.

Yep, can never understand why folks think this. The renault system warns when there is 1 gallon left in the tank, henc folk getting the range indicator droping out at 30 or 40 or even 70miles. I run to the warning light, with one eye on the guage every time, never ever had a problem with fuel contamination yet.

I actually suspect as has been sugested that it is a coincidence, it could be some thing totally unrelated, especially as it seem to be flowing enough fuel to run ok at high revs. Needs a plug in check.

johnnyroper

andygb wrote: »

From a purely mechanical point of view, I don't see how the CAT could be damaged. If there is no fuel, then the engine stops, therefore there is nothing going through the CAT/exhaust system.

Agreed plus this dragging up rubbish from tank is nonsense,all fuel pick ups are at bottom of tank so any crap will get picked up anyway hence why cars have filters.
I still say the ecu has thrown hussy fit when engine started to conk out with fuel starvation.
Battery disconnect to reset and then a good run may just sort it out I reckon

davidjwest

Battery reset didn't work unfortunately.

Took it to garage they hooked it up to diagnostics and apparantly it needs a new coil pack on cylinder 4 - they recommend replacing all 4 at the same time which, with new spark plugs (recommended) and some injector cleaning fluid will set my partner back £270

Question is, do I just get coil pack and plugs for the failed cylinder? Garage is recommending replacing all 4 or it could cause damage to the Cat allegedly, but they would say that wouldn't they?

What do you reckon, ringing them back in a few mins.

Thanks.

davidjwest

Local parts dealer has 4 coils for £21 each and he reckons it's fairly easy to do it yourself, am tempted but times a bit tight, going on hoiday to Spain tomorrow so still got packing and stuff to do.

Moral of the story is don't bloomin well run out of fuel!

I'm going to tell my partner the Di-Lithium crystals have melted.

:rotfl:

Lum

Running out of fuel wont affect the coil packs.

Yes they do fail. When a coil pack fails then you don't get the spark in the engine which starts the burning of the fuel in that cylinder, this will cause the lumpy running as instead of burning and providing power, the unburnt fuel is shoved down the exhaust and into the cat.

If the coil pack is marginal then it may work ok at higher speeds as the alternator will be doing more work and providing more electric current which could make just enough difference that it works normally despite being on it's way out.

As for replacing all 4, if it's a slightly older car then it would seem likely that the other 3 coils aren't far behind this one so if it saves on labour charges then you might as well replace all 4 at once.

Not sure I'd clean the injectors though, it it was running fine for the last month then the injectors are probably ok. You could also try to clean them yourself by running a tank or two of Shell V-Power through them.

davidjwest

johnnyroper wrote: »

Agreed plus this dragging up rubbish from tank is nonsense,all fuel pick ups are at bottom of tank so any crap will get picked up anyway hence why cars have filters.
I still say the ecu has thrown hussy fit when engine started to conk out with fuel starvation.
Battery disconnect to reset and then a good run may just sort it out I reckon

I always thought that when you ran out of fuel there was a chance of debris getting into the engine, but as you say that can't be the case as the fuel comes from the bottom of the tank anyway. Maybe this is a throwback to the good old days?

My only other though was maybe the fuel a friend gave her, from a jerry can, was old or maybe there were some debris in there.

Still, fuel filter should have caught that anyway.

Thanks.

davidjwest

Oh and which is cylinder 4 - furthest to the right?

KingElvis

These Renault coil packs are known to be shonky, they also affect the Laugna model which I had which went through them like they were going out of fashion.

Never been so glad to see the back of that hunk of junk.

davidjwest

Garage reckons it's a coincidence that the coil pack has failed now, nothing to do with running out of fuel.

I've got a new one ready to fit once I work out which is cylinder 4, this is referring to the firing order isn't it?

Strider590

My brothers ex was forever running out of fuel, everytime it'd require the ECU to be reset by a dealership, he went mad at her for only filling up with £5 at a time, but she kept doing it!!!