Embarrassment

Might have embarrassed myself this evening ‍

Took the old girl out for a spin now that she’s running...ish and she died on me a few miles from home. Couldn’t get her started again. Called the AA to recover me home - turns out I may have run out of fuel.

What an idiot!! Anyone else made the same, very simple, very silly mistake?

I did it in mine on the way to the petrol station. I think it was the first week I had it and the fuel gauge was all over the place.
I soon put a new one in and not had the problem since.

done it a couple of times, though luckily I didn't have to ring AA, my fuel gauge has three levels: empty, half empty and full, when it says its full it isn't necessarily full, but when it says its empty it really is emplty

I ran out in an old Hilman Avenger estate, on a sharp bend on a hill, couldn't see how I'd done it as it showed 1/4 tank, then I remebered I'd reversed over a rack a few weeks before, looked underneath and the tank was pushed in by at least 4" / 2galls.

Not in the Landy but I did in a CAT D6 bull dozer on the way to the diesel bowser, Monday morning and I was on holiday cover, dipped the tank as no gauge and the steel dip stick said nothing in it so started tracking up to the bowser and it spluttered to a halt about 200 yards away was not impressed and made my feelings known to the driver when he came back to work

Up to my knees in slop walking back and forth with 5 gallon cans of diesel so I could get it started again and then had to swap out the fuel filters that were full of carp

Similar...but worse! Got a call-out one sunny Saturday lunchtime to go to nearby town, lift a D2, and bring it back to base for a fuel drain. Yep, some dozy woman had wrong-fuelled. So off I toddled, picked up the car, the driver, and the 2 kids, and took them back to base. My boss was laughing his head off as I got out of the truck, followed by my wife and daughters!

Nearly. Changed the tank on the 90 for one which had a bottom made of steel and not muddy rust. Tootled about a bit and eventually realised that the gauge was stuck just below halfway. The tank was a slightly different shape inside and the float had stuck on something. So out it came to fix it, and I shined a torch inside to check the actual fuel level...about 5mm from the bottom! Hasty drive to the nearest petrol station for a tank of fuel then. At least it was a new tank so no accumulated crap in the bottom.

I have a steep quarter of a mile hill to leave home.With my 2a petrol if I let the tank run low it would stop before I got to the top.The answer was to reverse up the hill and if I made it I knew there was enough juce to drive the five miles to the garage.

When I first got Compo I knew very little about it, I hadn't yet discovered Landyzone. The fuel guage was one of the many things that didn't work. One day whilst I was sat in it doing some little job or other I noticed a little lever type thing mounted on the seat base under the driver seat. I fiddled with it, turning it one way and the other but it didn't seem to do anything. Later, I took Compo out for a test drive and he conked out at the end of my road, I got the wife to tow him back. Thinking it had run out of petrol I put a couple of gallon in but wouldn't start, I changed the fuel filter, cleaned the carb and replaced the fuel pump, still no go. Then I resorted to reading the manual and found out the little lever was a tank change over tap. I didn't know it had two tanks and I had turned the tap onto the empty tank hidden under the driver seat. I was relieved but felt a right idiot.

Col

My fuel gauge is unreliable. Happened to me this year but I carry a petrol can just in case. You can tell it's happening with a petrol cos it splutters and cuts out. Must be a right bugger with a diesel having to bleed the system.

Went up to Scotland in the car a journey made many time, coming back got to 1/2 mile from southwaite on the m6 ran out of fuel, most odd, used more fuel than usual, went to boot no fuel can.... SWMBO has taken it out to load her art gear and not put it back.. .

I ran out of fuel on a moped back in the early 80's and pushed it 5 miles home... I have checked before every journey or carried fuel in a can since
When I went to pick up my 90, I took 20 litres in a Jerry can as I don't trust gauges!!

glad I’m not the only one. I do usually have 5 litres in the back just for such occasion but I had already put it in the day before

When I picked up my Series the guy warned me it was a "bit low" (what he meant was VERY LOW!). Gave me directions to the nearest garage but there was no socket for my sat nav (doooh) so I started getting lost. Found garage pulled up at pumps, couldn't find filler. He'd shown me the week before when I viewed it and keen to get away before dark I'd just siad "yes yes, etc" when the queue got to 3 cars I pulled away form the pumps and hid behind the building while I got underneath and worked it out. Obviouly under the seat... Then again it had 12 months MOT with 3 radials and one cross ply, no rear lights if you turned the headlights on and a speedo that underead by 15 mph, It was 40 miles round the M25 with a torch taped to the rear window as it had got dark due to all my faffing in the filling station.. Plod pulled alongside at one point then decided they had better things to do.

My Compo came with 12 months mot but there was at least 10 very good reasons for it to have failed. I still wonder how a blind person gets a job as a mot tester.

Col

When I was younger, as a passenger in a TR6 with roof down hot day- loads of people around, knock on wheels put on the wrong sides
Rear wheel decided to make a break for it and bounced off down the high street ending up in the pub car park down the bottom

The embarrassment was excruciating

Yes, twice in the first month on the road (fuel gauge not working). First time in a Sainsbury's carpark on a hot and sunny, late Sunday afternoon. Second time on a very wet and miserable afternoon on the out-laws steep driveway with wife and little one onboard. I'll park on the street from now on.

dieseldog69 said:

Not in the Landy but I did in a CAT D6 bull dozer on the way to the diesel bowser, Monday morning and I was on holiday cover, dipped the tank as no gauge and the steel dip stick said nothing in it so started tracking up to the bowser and it spluttered to a halt about 200 yards away was not impressed and made my feelings known to the driver when he came back to work

Up to my knees in slop walking back and forth with 5 gallon cans of diesel so I could get it started again and then had to swap out the fuel filters that were full of carp

Click to expand...

Bleeding that through must have been lovely ....

no you are defo a plonker.

Dippypud said:

Bleeding that through must have been lovely ....

Click to expand...

3/8th & 5/8th spanners to undo the banjo's an bleed screws and it wasn't too bad as I look back through rose tinted glasses, but I weren't half swearing at the time

Now the who're of a thing that did exercise every ounce of patience that I had was a Terex TS14 motor scraper.



The driver put new fuel filters on it and didn't put fresh fuel in the filters before putting them on, ran it for 2 days on just the front engine being push loaded in the cut, I asked why he wasn't running both engines and found that they had air locked it and couldn't bleed it through, cue me spending over an hour getting it running and blathered in diesel

Themz wuz the dayz

My favourite incident was having a nipper who thought he was gods gift to plant operators coming on the firm and proving that he shouldn't ever be let near any type of machine after he filled the engine up to the rocker cover with engine oil while we were servicing them, I kid you not, they used to take 25ltrs straight in and then top it up to level, I became concerned after he came down with a half can of oil telling me it was "full", I pulled the dipstick and it spurted out like a bloomin fountain rammed it back in and quickly pulled the drain plug out, I was highly unimpressed!!!!