Won't start when parked nose-down on sloping driveway when 'on reserve'.

Isuspect a somewhat inaccurate fuel gauge. A fuel gauge reading is more of an estimate than a measurement. When I worked at the National Bureau of Standards, I realized that everyone in my car pool had mentally calibrated their fuel gauge. Your experience suggests one calibration point, at the low end.

Ah, how about filling up when you get below 1/4 of a tank?

I don't think there is anything wrong with your car.

John

My V70 diesel is the same. I got caught out soon after I bought it. My driveway is steep, and I park nose down ready for a quick exit from it in the mornings! I never let the estimated level of fuel get below 60 miles. I notice the light comes on when the computer estimates 70 or 80 miles remaining. It's time to fill up when it reaches this point, and I never drive more than about 20 miles without filling up (except 1 time, out in deep dark suffolk when all gas stations were closed! Eventually found one, with just 30 miles left on my trip computer!). I normally let my fuel run fairly low before I fill up. I normally shove 50 litres into it, but It'll only take about 60 litres max if I keep going. This must mean there's about 10 litres left when the light comes on? I'm sure it'd be a good idea to leave around 6 to 8 litres in it when parking on hills. I work with people who fill their cars up as soon as they get below 3/4 full! I say they're paranoid. All that extra weight they're carrying around, and all that extra wear on the fuel cap lock! Anyway, I think the fuel gauge on the V70 is at the opposite end of the tank to the suction pipe too. cos my fuel gauge shows higher when I'm parked on a slope (nose down), but the risk of taking air in is greater. Of course, being a diesel, it only takes a bit of air to kill it. It then needs a LOT of cranking (jump-start probably) to bleed the fuel through again. No manual lift pump on these modern cars!

"John Horner" wrote in message news:AerVc.759$ snipped-for-privacy@nwrddc03.gnilink.net...

Oh, sorry, I forget to mention: My wife drives this car most of the time. :-) Dz

I'm one of those guys that likes to minimize my trips to the fuel station, so I don't get fuel until the light comes on. The light comes on at around 80 km to empty, usually I fill up within 20 km of this. I've never seen less that 10 km to empty, but my wife has managed to get the display to ----. That said, I was sure glad I wasn't on the last quarter of my tank when we had that big power failure last year. There were few stations open, and some didn't have fuel. The fill up at 3/4 people had the right idea then!