Anyone else who has a 97-02 Mitsubishi Colt?

The Big Red Button

Bit of an odd query here!

Right, when I'm driving and I'm low on petrol, the light has only come on once or twice and that's when the needle is about halfway down on the red line at the bottom of the petrol gauge. And those times I've put in petrol straight away.

What I'm wondering is, say if I was on a motorway or something and the light came on, approximately how long would I be safe to drive with the light on? Or would I have to leave the motorway and get petrol straight away?

Now I know it's not good to let the petrol get that low, and I very rarely do, but I'd just like to get an idea just in case I'm ever in that situation!

Thanks!

EPM

How long is a piece of string? Dont have a Colt but on my yoke the light comes on anywhere from 60-100km left in the tank according to the computer. Usually drops off a lot quicker than that though...

The Big Red Button

EPM wrote: »

How long is a piece of string? Dont have a Colt but on my yoke the light comes on anywhere from 60-100km left in the tank according to the computer. Usually drops off a lot quicker than that though...

But would the distance left not be fairly similar on all 97-02 Mitsubishi Colts?

Absurdum

On that model Colt, the light comes on when there are 8 litres left in the tank, you'd be good for at least another 60 miles on that.

Tipsy Mac

Most cars it's about 30miles left when the red light goes on.

Gary ITR

I drove to from Dublin to Athlone with the light on in an E200 Kompressor last week. Drove past the Petrol Station on the N4 at Lucan because I wasn't thinking and was on the phone (car kit) Next open station was Athlone. Stuck the cruise control on and kept it at 55mph. If I'd have driven it hard I'd have made it to about Maynooth I'd say

Biro

The colt goes well into the red before the light comes on. Only saw it once on my mothers colt, and a mile later it chugged briefly on a long left hand slip-road. I wouldn't go too far on it if I were you!

The Big Red Button

Biro wrote: »

The colt goes well into the red before the light comes on. Only saw it once on my mothers colt, and a mile later it chugged briefly on a long left hand slip-road. I wouldn't go too far on it if I were you!

See that's the thing!

If it came on too early, I wouldn't be worried. But the fact that I don't put in petrol for literally weeks and weeks before the light comes on worries me!

I'd love to have some idea of what time I have left, once the light comes on.

I must say, in general, my car seems to run on fresh air. Seriously, I would recommend the Colt to anyone. It's actually ridiculous how little petrol it uses, particularly on long journeys.

ChristyCent

out of interest how many miles do you get on a full tank?
I find lately I only get about 250 or so miles from full.

When the needle hits red in a colt theres still a relatively large amount of petrol left so theres no need to worry. I find when the light comes on if I ease on accelerating it can go of for up to another twent miles but once it comes on permanently you'd wanna get to the nearest station

The Big Red Button

ChristyCent wrote: »

out of interest how many miles do you get on a full tank?
I find lately I only get about 250 or so miles from full.

To be honest, I've had the car over a year but I've never really bothered taking not of how much fuel it uses.

I do know that I went to Sligo to Wexford a couple of weeks ago. I put in thirty euro in Sligo, by the time I got to Blackwater in Wexford the fuel needle was not even as low as it was when I started out (i.e. less than 30euro petrol.) According to AA, that's 325km.

ChristyCent wrote: »

When the needle hits red in a colt theres still a relatively large amount of petrol left so theres no need to worry. I find when the light comes on if I ease on accelerating it can go of for up to another twent miles but once it comes on permanently you'd wanna get to the nearest station

But is it normal for the light to only switch on when the needle is halfway through the red bar? I'm just worried that the petrol gauge on my car is fecked up or something ... and I really don't want to take it to the test coz I don't want to end up running out of petrol on the motorway or something!!!

ChristyCent

chatterpillar wrote: »

But is it normal for the light to only switch on when the needle is halfway through the red bar? I'm just worried that the petrol gauge on my car is fecked up or something ... and I really don't want to take it to the test coz I don't want to end up running out of petrol on the motorway or something!!!

My needle normally drops a few mm below the end of the red before the light comes on. Its too late now but when I'm leaving for work tomorrow ill take a pic of where mine is when the light comes on cos I know I'm pretty close empty atm

pete4130

Find out how many litres your tank holds.....when the red light comes on....fill it up.....see how many litres goes into the tank(say 45 litres for my care).....deduct this from the tank capcity (53 litres for my car)....and that leaves me with 8 litres left in the tank....and around the city I get about 40mpg so that leaves me about 70 miles left in the tank before I'm fully empty.....if you deduct what it takes to fill from a red light fuel warning to your tank capacity, you get the figure of whats left in your tank.

From some googling, I think your car has about 11.5 gallon tank (53 litres)...so when the red light comes on fill it up asap and see what you can fit in, take that away from 53 litres and thats what was left in your tank.
I can't be sure of yur full capacity but if you have the original manual with it it should be printed in there somewhere. Simple maths!

The Big Red Button

pete4130 wrote: »

Find out how many litres your tank holds.....when the red light comes on....fill it up.....see how many litres goes into the tank(say 45 litres for my care).....deduct this from the tank capcity (53 litres for my car)....and that leaves me with 8 litres left in the tank....and around the city I get about 40mpg so that leaves me about 70 miles left in the tank before I'm fully empty.....if you deduct what it takes to fill from a red light fuel warning to your tank capacity, you get the figure of whats left in your tank.

From some googling, I think your car has about 11.5 gallon tank (53 litres)...so when the red light comes on fill it up asap and see what you can fit in, take that away from 53 litres and thats what was left in your tank.
I can't be sure of yur full capacity but if you have the original manual with it it should be printed in there somewhere. Simple maths!

That makes a lot of sense! My tank's pretty low at the moment, so I'll definitely do that as soon as the light comes on. Thank you!!!