Out of Petrol

I let my motor spirit run too low today.  

I've been tuning and preparing for my county's bi-annual smog cert (the proposed exemption legislation is dying a slow death in state committee):  Oil & filter change, air filter change, new park plugs & wires, dizzy cap and rotor, and replaced some aging vacuum lines, adjusted idle, cleaned the carb- although it didn't seem to need it.  The Sad Ox been running really well, and I've (thought) noticed better mileage incrementally with each set of work.

Today I needed to run some work kit to the other side of the bay, about 180 mile round trip.  Although I didn't top off before I left, it's within 20 miles of full-up range.

Traffic was very poor, stop and go.  I kept glancing at the gauge, and thought, "Well, that tune up really helped!"  Normally, I'd need to stop and fill up, but I tarried on, proud of myself for facilitating the efficiency.

I was humbled just under 5 miles from home.  At first, I thought I must have another problem, because the gauge showed just over the 25% mark.   A quick look under the hood didn't show anything obviously amiss, and I had a bystander crank while I looked down the carb, and couldn't see any liquid moving.  Luckily, I was within a short distance of a station and figured I should start with at least trying the simple stuff first.  $25 later for a small gallon container and a bit of fuel down the carb and I was running again.  

Much to my dismay, the gauge quickly dropped to "E" as I looked at it.

Two lessons learned:
1.  I will return to resetting the trip odometer after a fill up and not trusting the tank float or gauge.
2.  I'm not *that* good at a tune up.

Bummer!  Glad you were close to a petrol station and got some easily.  But the lesson has been learned, I'm sure.  

Dyn Blin wrote

Two lessons learned:
1.  I will return to resetting the trip odometer after a fill up and not trusting the tank float or gauge.
2.  I'm not *that* good at a tune up.

What is this trip odometer you speak of?...lol.

Since I travel a lot with my work (and get paid mileage for it), I'm used to taking a picture of my odometer before and after so I've been doing the same with my Bullnose. I saves me from having to write it down

The tach clusters are the way to go, if for nothing else than the trip odo.  I really love that feature.

And that is why I added the 2nd tank out back on my flare side, flip a switch and I have a full tank again

Now the picture thing is great as I would not think of that.
Because I don't plan on using the truck much I think till I get to know the truck I will keep a little note pad in it, yep no trip counter. This way I can keep track of MPG from each tank and total of both.
Dave ----

Although the paint on the numbers is long gone, I like using the trip meter.   I finally found a decent cluster "window" on another truck at the P&P last year that was better than my pitted original.   It had what looked like half a shaft of a bic pen replacing the reset button!

I had no idea the trip odometer correlated with the presence if a tach, Gary.  Did I miss that in the documentation pages somewhere & they came as an option package?

Cory, that's a great idea, and I usually snap a pic on all the family fleet when fluids are changed to track.

However, to Dave's point, I still buy the Rite in the Rain's by the dozen.  My kids give me a hard time for carrying them around, but my memory banks long ago adjusted to accommodate  a maximum of 3 items.   They come in orange now, too, so they stopped wandering off from my pocket as often.

Sorry, I forgot this one.  Yes, the tach and the trip odometer came together as part of that package.  You can use either by itself, but they were a pair.