I was driving today, looked at the gas guage and noticed it was quite low. I made it about a mile more and then it happened. I was out of gas. Obviously my gas guage sender is a bit untruthful but that is not the issue.

My question is this. How difficult has it been for xj40 owners to get restarted once they have let the car run completely out of gas? It honestly took me 15 minutes to get restarted after I put 5 gallons in.

Any and all people who have ran out of gas, chime in and let me know how it went for you!

 

I mostly use trip computer , my advice is use VCM and FUEL USED readout on the screen and don't forget to reset it each time you fill it up ,thus you will accurately know how much gallon you have used

Sorry, this is not an original answer though

 

I never use the fuel gauge, it is woefully inaccurate. I keep a mental note of fuel added/distance travelled.

You could have helped things along a bit by cycling the fuel pump with the ignition switch a few times without cranking., but they are difficult to get going again. My Ex was always running out, and always with the excuse, well the light has only been on for 40 miles or so!!

 

I did cycle it quite a bit during the process, but it just took forever to get started and I was trying to determine if some underlying problem was not messing with me at the same time. (FF26 CEL was on at the time)

As for not relying on the guage, I only need to learn that once from a car,lol.

 

A few years ago with my XJ40 I kept having problems with my jag not wanting to stay running. It would have plenty of gas and it would completely die while driving. Fortunately I had AAA so they towed it to the shop. My car had to be towed 7 times in 3 weeks. It ended up being a few problems, but it turned out that my last tow was because I had run out of gas (but it acted the same as all the previous times it died).

When they filled it up though it didnt have any problems starting. It roared to life right away. Sometimes when a car is run out of gas it picks up some of the dirt and gunk from the bottom of the tank and it can clog up. I know this is usually more of a problem with motorcycles because the way their reserve bypasses the fuel filter. But maybe it was clogged and it finally cleared itself.