Are you okay with yet another Citroën 2CV update? I don’t want to oversaturate you with 2CV stuff, and I wonder if I’m in danger of doing that, but at the same time, I like sharing all the details of life with this tin snail with you, because I’m excited about it, and what’s the point of being excited about something if you can’t spread that excitement around, like an STD?
This time I think I may have learned a lesson or two, much like one would when viewing a Very Special episode of Webster, but about the Importance of Fuel Gauges and the Power of Gravity. I’ll explain.
Keep in mind this is all coming right on the heels of a nice thorough shakedown cruise in the 2Cv when I drove it three-plus hours to the Lemons race in Lesser Carolina. It did great! And, I think I mentioned that my fuel gauge was not actually “working.” To compensate for this, I’ve been carrying a spare can of gas in the car.
The lesson happened as I drove my kid about 20 miles to a great used book/music/video game place that we like to go to sometimes. Otto has been doing pretty well in school lately – not exactly his default pattern – so to celebrate we decided to get a used Playstation 2, something he’d been wanting. Also, here’s a parenting tip: get your kid into obsolete stuff! He genuinely likes older games and consoles, and compared to modern stuff, they’re dirt cheap!
The 2CV made the trip out there just fine, being loud and happy and making people who saw it smile, as French Car Dieu intended. On the way home, though, the car started to sputter a bit, and I realized it was likely running out of gas. Okay, fine, that’s why I have the gas can in the car.
But I made a grave miscalculation, though I didn’t realize it at the time. I pulled off the road onto the grassy shoulder, but uphill, at a fairly steep angle.
You can’t really tell in these pictures, but I was on an incline. I went and got the gas can out, filled the tank, and tried to start it. It was taking a while, but that’s expected when you run out of gas – the fuel pump needs to drag that fuel all the way from the tank to the carb.
But it didn’t turn over.
Crank crank crank crank, but no satisfying catching as the engine roars to life. What’s going on?
I tried over and over again, letting it sit between cranks, until I eventually figured something else had to be up. I looked under the hood for loose coil wires, leaky hoses, anything, but saw nothing wrong. And yet still, when I cranked, no joy.
I eventually called my wife to get Otto, and called a tow. I was frustrated! How could this be, when it was trundling along so happily not minutes before?
I mentioned my predicament in our Autopian Slack channel, and David suggested something I’m embarrassed I didn’t think to do right away: pour some gas right in the carb. I even lamented I didn’t have my can of starter fluid with me, not even thinking that I had gas with me right there I could dump into the carb!
So, I got out, decanted some petroleum into the hungry maw of the carb, then climbed back into the car to try again.
Grunnggrunggrunggrungbrunggrunggruuuuuuuuungbrapgrungbrapbrapbrapgrunggrunggrungbrapbrapbrapsepsepsepsepsepbrapsepsepsepsepsep and there it was, running.
So, what happened? My theory is that the incline I was on was enough to prevent the fuel pump from getting the gas from the tank to the carb? Is that possible? It was an incline but not, like, a mountain? So if I run out of gas again, I should try to do so on a downhill slope?
I’m not sure. I was just so thrilled it was going again I took that low-light shaky picture above to commemorate it, and I kind of like the impressionistic feeling it has. Also, my instrument lights do not look that bright in person; I need to upgrade them with some LEDs to make them more legible.
About 30 minutes after I got home we had a massive surprise hailstorm, so I think overall I got pretty lucky. But, I really should get that fuel gauge working. This is just silly. And solvable.
Sounds like you should use the old Model T trick of driving the car up a hill in reverse when the fuel is low so that it can reach the carb
That’s what I was thinking, see if you could roll the car backwards and hang a U, pointing it downhill. I had this happen once in my old GTI, the fuel light came on right as I left the house but I only had a 10mi round trip. 5mi in I parked it on a steep one-way and couldn’t start it when I got back. I would have rolled it back to point it downhill, but there was a car parked too close behind me. F-ing gravity!
First car was a ’78 LTDII coupe, it got gallons per mile. Only car I’ve ever owned that actually handled noticably different with a full vs empty tank – 25 or so gallons IIRC (it’s been almost 35 years!). You watched the fuel gauge like a hawk.
Nothing quite like that sudden sputtering in an old car that has you trying to do quick maths as you coast to a stop!
Both Valiant Utes have non-functional fuel gauges but they do have odometers, although Project Cactus’ odometer is in the cheap GPS speedometer so it’s not 100% accurate if not switched on while doing paddock work.
I keep reasonable account of where they are at (excluding that one time in Brisbane!) and unlike DT I always try and fill once I reach half a tank in any vehicle as it can be a long way between servos out here.
TBQ Answer: Yes, I’m fine with another Citroën 2CV update.
You’re worried about too much 2CV content? Are you new here?
Citroen was such a pioneering company. They even invented range anxiety.
” I don’t want to oversaturate you with 2CV stuff…”
Is that even possible?
My first car was a 1960 Beetle. I thought that luxuries like fuel gauges were reserved for shameless sybarites.
I knew someone that said when your child start to drive, unplug the Fuel gauge. They’ll always have to put gas in it when they take it.
More 2CV content!!
I haven’t had experience with inoperable fuel gauges, but I do know exactly how far I can go when I get the little fuel light. (This did absolutely nothing to reassure my mom when she borrowed my Jeep and called me in a panic because of that little light.)
I’ve had enough cars with questionable fuel gauges that I often go by the trip odometer or calculate miles driven against some very conservative range that I feel it can go on a tank.
Turning the car off while it’s low on fuel and tilted an angle is a real thing. I had this happen to my 96 Holden once. A quick push onto level ground and it started up just fine.
I get twitchy about non-functional gauges. The gas gauge in my Corvette occasionally likes to drop to E some time after it gets below half a tank. When it does that I am nervous until I fill up, even though I know it was just at half and I know I’ve only gone 200 miles since filling up (it will do 400 easily).
The worst was when the oil pressure sensor failed though. It shoots to 88 PSI and stays there. I knew exactly what was wrong, but until I fixed it I worried that something would happen to my oil pressure and I wouldn’t know.
As long as the odometer works, you get used to it. The one in my Fiero is mostly decoration, it can move between 50% and 90%, but that doesn’t reflect the actual quantity of fuel in the tank. Effectively the same as no gauge
Ughh – the one in my old ’88 Regal was awful – a fuel guess rather than gauge. Fortunately the MPFI 2.8 and O/D trans were fairly economical.
Is it a GM thing? I had an ’89 Astro with a bouncy fuel gauge until the tank was more than half empty, then it seemed to be pretty accurate
I recently visited the store I believe you went to for the first time. It’s a far cry from their original location, which was basically a hole in the wall across the street from NC State University. The new place is huge.
It was McKay’s!
Oh, that McKay’s is still open? Had actually been wondering about that one since the one in Knoxville, TN is closing next month if not already; the speculation is that the owners were mad about the workers successfully unionizing (which happened a year or two ago) and chose to shut that location down out of spite and in an attempt to dissuade similar efforts at the other locations.
Yeah, those places are big, like Wal-Mart big (sadly also with similar effects on smaller businesses locally…)
“Are you okay with yet another Citroën 2CV update?”
Absolutely, this one vehicle is potentially more interesting than all current new vehicles combined.
I’m thinking Otto is gonna want an insanely reliable Honda Civic as his first car when he gets in his rebellious phase.
“Oh yeah dad? Well I’m getting a Toyota Corolla. A BRAND NEW Toyota Corolla.”
Yep, gas directly into the carb is the solution. (Turns out my Cougar’s fuel gauge will indicate a quarter tank even when it’s bone dry. Fun!)
I’ve been clicking on so many 2CV articles here, Google’s spies have started suggesting Citroen-related videos in my YouTube feed.
That’s not a complaint.
I’ve been getting a lot of low credit score stuff, but that might be for visiting the overall Autopian site.
I put LEDs in my Vanagon instrument binnacle. OMG! Not life changing, but close.
Had my brother the mechanic put them in the 99 Lexus RX300. It’s like cataract surgery. (or do I’ve heard from a friend who had it done). I can see ahead at night and also blind the fucking Audi drivers who never/always refuse to change to low beams on approach.
You could also just peel the black electrical tape off of the warning lights.
I’m tempted to put some in my old MB because either the current lights are about to die or the brightness pot is, or both, but I don’t know if they can be retrofitted.
Have you tried hand cranking it yet?
(not that it helps with no fuel, just thought of it…)
It’s something with not getting your thumbs in the way, Jay Leno probably made a video on it at some time.
And here’s something that MIGHT help: Put a pump ball – like the ones for outboard engines – in your fuel line, than way you can manually get fuel pressure again, and not drain the battery and tire the poor starter motor. I have that in both the 356 and the old DS. You can actually feel on the ball pump when the carb float goes up!
“Grunnggrunggrunggrungbrunggrunggruuuuuuuuungbrapgrungbrapbrapbrapgrunggrunggrungbrapbrapbrapsepsepsepsepsepbrapsepsepsepsepsep”
Little known fact, but this is actually the longest word in German and it was created specifically to describe talkative little French cars with fuel delivery struggles.
I’m impressed you knew it, Jason.
You guys need to stop just creating new Tags out of thin air. Some poor intern will have to retroactively apply the “Oops” tag to, like, 1300 posts for this to mean anything. Wow!
(Kidding!, I love that this joke gets inserted into the gray text most people don’t see!)
I did this once with my Tercel. As teenagers, my brother and I decided to go drive the forest roads nearby. The car had about a 1/4 tank of gas, which is usually fine for 20 or 30 miles (so plenty for what we were doing). Once we started going up these steep gravel roads, the car died, with all the fuel at the back of the tank. No problem I thought; it’s a manual, I’ll just put it in neutral and use gravity to turn it around. But then I got way too close to the edge of the cliff, and of course, couldn’t go back uphill to correct the angle. And of course, no cell phone signal. So we had to hoof it back down about 3 miles until we got in cell phone range, and called the house to ask for the lawn mower gas can to be brought up. Mom wasn’t too happy with us…
I will never tire of 2CV content, it reminds me of driving my grandmother’s bright yellow 2CV in Southwest France, where even the French popped a smile when they saw it. They are such a jaunty treat to drive, bouncing along with the roof rolled back on the way to the beach is one of my fondest memories.
More relevant to the story, though, is that because the old 2CV may not be driven very often, it has a hand primer on the line to the carb to help suck some fuel into the pump, like this:
https://ecas2cvparts.co.uk/products/fuel-hand-primer-bulb-aluminium-spigots-sucks-fuel-through-tired-pump-see-notes-01135
It could be that the fuel couldn’t reach the pump, or that with air in the pump the battery isn’t strong enough to get it going. Installing one of these may help if the pump goes dry again.
I do see the link says it is not to be left in but we had ours in for years without problem.
a diaphragm pump running slow might not be able to pump enough air to prime the pump from the no longer empty tank, but running faster it can. Especially if it’s old…
if it sits long enough to empty the pump, or if it’s run dry you need to either run it faster or have something like this that is better at pumping out air.
submerged pumps are better.
I stopped my car on a slope last week with the low fuel light on and it took the electric fuel pump twice as long as normal to get fuel up to the injectors. Mechanical fuel pumps aren’t pumping too hard at cranking speed, and it maybe didn’t have enough force to pump gas up to the carb?
Lately the way gas prices are going as soon as I’m a bar or two below “F” I top up since it’s not getting any cheaper.
I’ve always done that, because even when there’s been periods when fuel has got a little cheaper, over time it’s just going to get more expensive. It’s roughly three times what it was when I passed my test 30-ish years ago
Adjusted for inflation an average 1996 gallon ($1.26)would be $4.00 in today’s dollars.