How to (not) look like an idoit!

Morning everyone, I thought I would share a funny story with you all! It all started when I had to drive to pick up the missus' mother on Saturday but I was desperate for petrol! The light had been on for a while and the computer was saying I only had 15 miles left in the tank. I quickly dashed into Tesco's and put £20 in, which of course is pretty much nothing these days! As I started the engine the petrol gage remained where it had been, really into the red with the computer saying only 15 miles range left. So I taped the console in some magic hope that the needle would wake up and flick up to about 1/4 full. I then thought well I will drive out of the forecourt in the hope that the petrol would slosh to the back and trigger the needle. After a mile down the road nothing, needle still in red and then me thinking Christ, no petrol went in my car! The missus ordered me to go back and say look, so I did. Spoke to the women who served me who really couldn't believe that I was saying what I was saying. She said I would have to go to the main customer services but no complaints had been made about any pumps not working. I decided to go into the main Tesco's, which on a Saturday morning I thought was a pretty brave thing to do! Although when I got there, the queue was about a mile long and I could see someone on the phone, obviously talking to the petrol station as they were obviously warning them that some joker was going to come in and want a refund on £20 worth of petrol! I said to the missus that we would go and I would just write it off and never fill up in that particular Tesco or any Tesco ever again. So after getting the mother-in-law (which she gets nicely in the back, btw) and boring her quickly with the story, I went to the BP down the road and put £30 in it this time! Then ALLENUIA the needle went bang up to 3/4 full! I said to the missus there was no way that £30 would give me 3/4 of a tank, (might have done in 1998!) so the £20 from Tesco must have gone in. I luckily had the manual of the car in the car so I asked her to try and find out how big the fuel tank is so I could try and work out what 3/4's of a tank was roughly in litres (If anyone doesn't know or is interested the tank capacity is 64 litres). Then there it was in black and white, an ALLEUIA moment! Basically the manual was saying that Porsche have a system, where if you are really low and don't put in what the computer considers as 'enough' petrol, then nothing will register on the computer, basically forcing you to fill up again!!! How silly is that! Not only did I put in £50 of petrol in that now I have to carry around with me but made a fool of myself in front of the Tesco petrol lady! I thought I would let people know so not to panic like I did and then stamp their feet in front of the petrol assistant and holding up a queue of 15 people trying to pay for their petrol and get on with their lives! Chris

Hi Chris- I hate to say, but it is a known issue and there has been quite a few "incidents" similar to yours posted here. :hand: But a very interesting read. :thumb:

I thought it might have been! major

[m-in-lmutters] I told your dad we should never have let you marry him [/m-in-lmutters] :hand:

LOL!!!! I was almost ready to blame the mother in law, for having to pick her up! Luckily i didnt do that otherwise that would have ruined the rest of the weekend!!!

Remember: "When everything else fails, read the instructions"

had to run out of petrol twice!! before i decided to read the manual and find out what the problem was lol

:lol: :lol: I think we've all done that (except most of us skipped the making a scene in the forecourt shop bit :floor: ) From experience, 25 litres seems to be about the minimum to take the warning light off.

I was aware of this also. But only because the sales guy who I was taking a test drive with had to explain that he had put fuel in as the light was still on!! To prove it he put £40 in on our test drive and the needle went to full.

:floor: I did the exact same thing when I first got mine a couple of months ago! Long story short, I use V-Power but the garage is a fair way away. Car said 30 miles left so I put a tenner in my local garage to tide me over. Jumped in the car and no movement at all :? Left the garage and complained to everyone etc etc and nearly phoned trading standards! :floor:

when i sat in the porsche first time i saw the empty light and low needel, and thought very strange since he was a perfectionist that he was low. so he prolly still had 1/3 tank ur saying

that's amazing - whats the point of having a fuel guage if it doesn't tell you exactly how much is in? You only really need it when you're running low anyway! Things like that are v.frustrating .... I can imagine what the Tesco's staff were saying about you after you'd gone ! :floor: