Ever run out of gas on area running route?

MSGTDEL

Active Member
I ran out of gas running residentials (close to Emory University in Atlanta) in an old "piece of doodoo" p-800. This car had a broken gas gauge. So I took a chance and left the building without gassing up (bonehead decision). When I ran out of gas a man in his house just happen to hear my engine go out. He came out of his house with a gas can. After he emptied his gas can into my package car, I broke off my route to get gas and then finished my route. So needless to say that prevented a call to the Center manager to inform him/her that I ran out of gas running my route.
 

TheKid

Well-Known Member
I ran out of gas once on the way back to the building. I was only about 5 miles from the building....thank goodness the mechanic covered for me.
 

brownmonster

Man of Great Wisdom
Twice. Someone in a car ran me to a gas station to get a can of gas. The other time another driver swung by to take me to get a can of gas.
 

over9five

Moderator
Staff member
I was "loaned" to another center one time, and as I returned to the building with the supervisor who trained me that day, I headed for the fuel pumps. "Don't bother", he said, "we have people who fuel the cars at night".
OK....

I ran out of fuel on-route the next day.

Who's fault was this? I tried to fuel the car. The sup directed me not to.
Whateva, they sent a mechanic with a gas can.
 

tarbar66

Well-Known Member
Back in the 80's an accurate and functioning gas gauge was almost unheard of in my center. Part of the pretrip was a visual check of looking into the tank. Most drivers knew how far they could go on a tank of gas. The big wrinkle was when your car was red tagged and you ran a spare. I ran out of gas at least 10 times in those 10 years, too many rural route miles. I don't recall ever calling in because I didn't want to get a butt chewing. A couple of times I was pushed off the Interstate by another driver. I got a couple of gallons gas from farmers quite a few times too. It helped to be friends with your customers.

If getting pushed by another package car today you would probably get charged with an accident for scratching the paint.
 

MSGTDEL

Active Member
I have pumped gas in package cars after running routes just to make sure I DIDN'T run out of gas on the way back to the building. I felt kind of stupid at a Shell station pumping gas in a P-1200 knowing that I should have gotten gas that morning, lol.
 

robot

Has A Large Member
I ran out of gas all the time in my old piece o' crap natural g(ass) car. I was lucky to get 80 miles per gas tank. They kept it on that route even though some days I could easily do 100+ miles on it.
A cover driver blew the transmission while on I was on vacation and they finally decided to retire it.
 

The Blackadder

Are you not amused?
I can top running out of gas I once ran out of oil....

Now this is funny, they had changed the engine put in a brand new block so we could get another 300k out of the 24 year old package car... they put it back on line friday night... problem the oil plug was not tight. Over the weekend it leaked but because the cars in the building are so close no one could tell.

I pulled out did my pre-trip and off I went.... within sight of the building it blows up. I walk back and say my truck just died... yep the new engine got a whole 1/10 th of a mile before it went... a bit less then the 300k they had hoped for I am sure.
 

iruhnman630

Well-Known Member
I ran out of gas in the yard, twice, just a few weeks apart.

I'm sure the mechanics loved me cranking the starter repeatedly to get the car to the fuel pumps.
 

scratch

Least Best Moderator
Staff member
I have ran out of gas twice in a P-500. Both times were a long time ago when the fuel guages were never fixed. First time, the mechanic had to bring out some gas. The second time, a woman let me have some out of her Gas Caddy, which was a big portable gas tank on wheels that she would fill up her jet ski with. Once I broke down when the electric fuel pump got stuck, the shop told me to crawl under the package car and beat on the gas tank. It worked.
 

BrownArmy

Well-Known Member
Someone in my center ran out of gas last year...

The sludge in the bottom of the tank killed the fuel filter, necessitating a tow, etc. etc.

We had a PCM about it the next morning.
 

grgrcr88

No It's not green grocer!
I ran out of gas running residentials (close to Emory University in Atlanta) in an old "piece of doodoo" p-800. This car had a broken gas gauge. So I took a chance and left the building without gassing up (bonehead decision). When I ran out of gas a man in his house just happen to hear my engine go out. He came out of his house with a gas can. After he emptied his gas can into my package car, I broke off my route to get gas and then finished my route. So needless to say that prevented a call to the Center manager to inform him/her that I ran out of gas running my route.

Good thing, in my center you would get progressive discipline for not doing a proper pretrip!!
 

grgrcr88

No It's not green grocer!
I can top running out of gas I once ran out of oil....

Now this is funny, they had changed the engine put in a brand new block so we could get another 300k out of the 24 year old package car... they put it back on line friday night... problem the oil plug was not tight. Over the weekend it leaked but because the cars in the building are so close no one could tell.

I pulled out did my pre-trip and off I went.... within sight of the building it blows up. I walk back and say my truck just died... yep the new engine got a whole 1/10 th of a mile before it went... a bit less then the 300k they had hoped for I am sure.

If you did your pretrip how did you not see it was out of oil before you left? Again a PROPER pretrip would have caught this and saved thousands of dollars to the company. You would definately be disciplined in my center, if not walked out for "other serious offenses"!!
 

satellitedriver

Moderator
When I was a new hire rookie my center manager told me to take off the gas cap and rock the car to look for the gas and the splash sound.
He told me to never trust a gas gauge on a pkg car.
I have never run out of gas.
 

CRASH501

Well-Known Member
Yup I did it twice , 1 time i knew i had a 1/2 tank upon end of day I was never told my truck was used to make a run upto Hartford CT. so I assumed I was ok until the next night to fill , WRONG never checked the gauge and ran out in the rain , not a fun call to the center. I found out later that night that a carwasher ran airs up to CT on a regular basis with my truck....
.
and the other time my truck was switched out overnight by automotive never noticed the change as they were sister trucks **913 & **912.......oops again
 

UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)

Well-Known Member
Our mall driver ran out of fuel on area. He could safely go 3 days on each fill-up but decided to see if he could get a 4th out of this one. He lost 1-1 1/2 hours on that service call and received a warning letter. We also had a PCM on this.

I played a joke on him--I went to Google maps and printed out all of the gas stations on his area and taped it to his windshield. He didn't find it funny.
 

Nimnim

The Nim
If you did your pretrip how did you not see it was out of oil before you left? Again a PROPER pretrip would have caught this and saved thousands of dollars to the company. You would definately be disciplined in my center, if not walked out for "other serious offenses"!!

I'm not sure where you guys pull to to do your pretrip, but if it was far enough away from where it was parked the leftover oil from a puddle wouldn't have been seen. I'm going to assume the leak had sufficient time to bring the oil level down to a thin film in the pan. Though this brings up another question, don't PCs have oil lights like every other car on the road? Not a driver so I don't know, but I'd hope there's a light.
 

brownmonster

Man of Great Wisdom
I'm not sure where you guys pull to to do your pretrip, but if it was far enough away from where it was parked the leftover oil from a puddle wouldn't have been seen. I'm going to assume the leak had sufficient time to bring the oil level down to a thin film in the pan. Though this brings up another question, don't PCs have oil lights like every other car on the road? Not a driver so I don't know, but I'd hope there's a light.

He says it was a 24 year old package car. Lucky you get a seat and a steering wheel on those.
 

Treegrower

Well-Known Member
Our mall driver ran out of fuel on area. He could safely go 3 days on each fill-up but decided to see if he could get a 4th out of this one. He lost 1-1 1/2 hours on that service call and received a warning letter. We also had a PCM on this.

I played a joke on him--I went to Google maps and printed out all of the gas stations on his area and taped it to his windshield. He didn't find it funny.


Some joke. You must be a real "pleasure" to work with.
 
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