Here is the story of me running out of gas on the first leg of a 3000 mile (4828km) roundtrip from Arizona to Oregon. I have B58 version of the Grenadier with 3/15/70 tires.
I had been driving for about 45 minutes. I was pulling my camper (~7000 pounds, 3175kgs). It was 112F (44.4C). I was on the I10 interstate in Arizona with cruise control set to 65mph (104.6kph). There was a 25mph (40kph) headwind. The grade was slight uphill. I was in the left lane passing an even slower vehicle when I reached an exit that had a sign that said something like, “Last services for 54 miles" (87kms). I could not get-over to exit in time. I could have done an illegal U-turn, but since the fuel gauge still showed 40% fuel remaining, I decided to keep going.
My average economy without towing has been 13.5 mpg (17.4 L/100km). Thinking about it, I thought that at 40% of the ~24gallon (~90.84L) tank I should have had approximately 9.6 gallons (36.34L) left giving me a range of ~129.6 miles (208.6 km) so it should have been no problem even accounting for less range with the trailer. But, the fuel level dropped alarmingly quickly and I started to worry I might not make the next fuel station. I passed a rest-stop and briefly debated pulling over and detaching the trailer to go get fuel, I should have done that.
The gauge finally hit the empty mark with 5 miles (8kms) left to the gas station. At 3.5 miles (5.6kms) to the fuel station (I could see the "Loves Truck Stop" sign and the big American flag) the engine started to sputter, I pulled off the interstate and the engine died. I disconnected the trailer and tried restarting it to see if maybe I could make it. No luck it wouldn't restart. I called USAA roadside assistance and they sent a guy with fuel (87 octane only), who put 3.5 gallons in. (I only had to pay for the fuel. We called other tow companies and they wanted between $250 and $650 to deliver the fuel, plus the cost of fuel, so I was glad we had the roadside assistance with USAA). We had to wait on the side of the interstate for about an hour and a half, but at least we had the air conditioning in the trailer. The Grenadier started immediately and we continued to the fuel station.
On the rest of the trip, I made all leg plans based on 150 mile (241kms) or less stops between fuel stops. That was not easy in some of the remote sections of Nevada, Arizona, California, and Oregon. It also meant I spent a lot of time at fuel stops, and often had to stop when I had only done about 55 miles in order to have enough range for the next longer stretch. I also was forced to get fuel at some stations that were very expensive - I paid from $4.20 per gallon ($1.11 per liter) to $6.40 per gallon ($1.69 per liter).
People talk about range anxiety with electric cars, but that's nothing compared to range anxiety towing with a petrol Grenadier. With my extended tank on my LC200 diesel, I could cover 1500kms (932 miles) (not towing), so this dramatic change in range was a surprise.
My actual fuel economy over this trip while towing worked out to 7.36mpg (31.95 L/100km).
Lessons learned:
1) When the fuel gauge hits empty, it has almost no reserve (1.5miles in my case). (I'm used to having several gallons in reserve once you hit empty.)
2) Fuel economy drops drastically when towing
3) I need to get an extended tank and carry jerry cans
4) I need to do better route planning based on my actual mileage history.
Here is a screenshot of my fuel stops for that trip. (Note that the first line gallons includes 3.5 gallons from the jerry can.)
Some photos from the trip to make this thread more visually interesting:
Out of fuel on the side of I-10:
Had some great camping though - the high temp when we were on the Oregon coast was only 64F (17.8C).
I had been driving for about 45 minutes. I was pulling my camper (~7000 pounds, 3175kgs). It was 112F (44.4C). I was on the I10 interstate in Arizona with cruise control set to 65mph (104.6kph). There was a 25mph (40kph) headwind. The grade was slight uphill. I was in the left lane passing an even slower vehicle when I reached an exit that had a sign that said something like, “Last services for 54 miles" (87kms). I could not get-over to exit in time. I could have done an illegal U-turn, but since the fuel gauge still showed 40% fuel remaining, I decided to keep going.
My average economy without towing has been 13.5 mpg (17.4 L/100km). Thinking about it, I thought that at 40% of the ~24gallon (~90.84L) tank I should have had approximately 9.6 gallons (36.34L) left giving me a range of ~129.6 miles (208.6 km) so it should have been no problem even accounting for less range with the trailer. But, the fuel level dropped alarmingly quickly and I started to worry I might not make the next fuel station. I passed a rest-stop and briefly debated pulling over and detaching the trailer to go get fuel, I should have done that.
The gauge finally hit the empty mark with 5 miles (8kms) left to the gas station. At 3.5 miles (5.6kms) to the fuel station (I could see the "Loves Truck Stop" sign and the big American flag) the engine started to sputter, I pulled off the interstate and the engine died. I disconnected the trailer and tried restarting it to see if maybe I could make it. No luck it wouldn't restart. I called USAA roadside assistance and they sent a guy with fuel (87 octane only), who put 3.5 gallons in. (I only had to pay for the fuel. We called other tow companies and they wanted between $250 and $650 to deliver the fuel, plus the cost of fuel, so I was glad we had the roadside assistance with USAA). We had to wait on the side of the interstate for about an hour and a half, but at least we had the air conditioning in the trailer. The Grenadier started immediately and we continued to the fuel station.
On the rest of the trip, I made all leg plans based on 150 mile (241kms) or less stops between fuel stops. That was not easy in some of the remote sections of Nevada, Arizona, California, and Oregon. It also meant I spent a lot of time at fuel stops, and often had to stop when I had only done about 55 miles in order to have enough range for the next longer stretch. I also was forced to get fuel at some stations that were very expensive - I paid from $4.20 per gallon ($1.11 per liter) to $6.40 per gallon ($1.69 per liter).
People talk about range anxiety with electric cars, but that's nothing compared to range anxiety towing with a petrol Grenadier. With my extended tank on my LC200 diesel, I could cover 1500kms (932 miles) (not towing), so this dramatic change in range was a surprise.
My actual fuel economy over this trip while towing worked out to 7.36mpg (31.95 L/100km).
Lessons learned:
1) When the fuel gauge hits empty, it has almost no reserve (1.5miles in my case). (I'm used to having several gallons in reserve once you hit empty.)
2) Fuel economy drops drastically when towing
3) I need to get an extended tank and carry jerry cans
4) I need to do better route planning based on my actual mileage history.
Here is a screenshot of my fuel stops for that trip. (Note that the first line gallons includes 3.5 gallons from the jerry can.)
Some photos from the trip to make this thread more visually interesting:
Out of fuel on the side of I-10:
Had some great camping though - the high temp when we were on the Oregon coast was only 64F (17.8C).
