rapcomm

My 2004 allroad 2.7 is about a year old (to me) and I just didn't know how low I could go. I wasn't trying a Kramer (Seinfeld reference), but I ran out of gas about 100 yards from the service station.

Have I done any damage to my engine? The "check engine" light is on now and I wondering what the heck I've done to it?

And if I should take her in to the dealer, will they still perform service under my CPO warranty if I tell them I ran out of gas? Or can they just VAG-COM it to see that I emptied the tank.

Any advice on the effect and warranty work associated with running out of gas?

gragravar

Sorry, I have no idea about warranty implications

allroadCole

but I have also never got a cell... and when I ran out it was due to steep hills. (the fuel pick up is at the front of the tank, you can run out with the tank about half full if you stay on a steep hill long enough...)

OOOOya

VAG COM knows.

blackIIIroad

Have you put gas into the tank and tried starting it up? Does the engine still turn over? I doubt that you did any harm to the engine due to a fuel pump failure.

paulroad

couldn't fire as the engine was shutting down. The CEL will clear within 50 miles of driving.

drivingforever

If you turned the ignition off within 5 minutes of it dying due to lack of fuel, you'll be fine. Beyond that might be concern for wear & tear in the pump, but that's pretty uncommon. Dump more gas in 'er and go.

paulroad

I don't follow... we an out of gas in the 04 A4 cab.

CEL came on pulsing, etc. Naturally no restart was possible. We shut it down and found some gas at a house nearby. Put it in, let the FP prime a bit and the start was still rough. Once the fuel was fully in the lines and the air out of the lines the car ran fine. The CEL was still on but went out on its own within two hours of use.

Studly_1

I burned the fuel pump on a Chevy by running low several times, then out of gas on a highway. Gas cools the pump in the tank, so this is more likely to happen if it's warm out.

The time it ran out, the pump fried. Never again will I take it so lightly. I was going to the airport. Instead I took 5 hours to get towed in to a dealer to pay over $500 for a new pump. All for my rush to not fill up earlier.

drivingforever

Everyone that I know who has a 1998-2003 Chevy pickup has had the fuel pump replaced - they were all bad. And yeah, the dealer price was around the $450 mark for the pump, more including labor to either pull the box or drop the tank.

If that was the case, your pump might've just died coincidentally with you running out of fuel. But yeah, that was my thought: with the ignition on, the pump will continue to run, and pumps intended for moving liquid won't run forever when they're dry.