Hi all,
Can anyone tell me how much fuel is left in an NC 2.0 sport when the low fuel level warning light comes on please.
Although I a managed to run my NC dry all I can remember is that it had a 50L tank!
I know my ND shows empty but only accepts 40L when it has a 45L tank…
So there might be a bit of wiggle room, why are you asking?
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Enough to get me home once when that light pinged on, 30 miles👍
Of course that would be variable dependant on journey.
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Hi Ian,
Thanks for that. I’m asking because I don’t want to run out of fuel and would like to know roughly how far I’ve got left. 
Personally I only worry when it hits 0 but, as mentioned above, that has bitten me before 
I know what I get on average per tank in my ND (~320miles) so usually use that to work out if I can risk it when the tank is low.
Having said that, I have no excuse to risk it really but still do!
Think I got similar mileage in my NC (but with a larger tank) which could give you an estimate. Pretty sure there is a thread somewhere discussing mpg and mileage owners were seeing, have a search 
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With an NA, there’s no warning light but when the needle hits Empty you should have about 6 litres left. It seems likely the reserve on an NC will be something similar. A warning light is only useful if it gives you a comfortable range to find a filling station.
The obvious thing to do if you want to be sure is wait till the light comes on then brim the tank and subtract that fillup from 50 litres (if that’s how big the NC tank is, IDK).
(I know the listed 48 litres for a Mk.1 1.8 is accurate from that one time I ran out, just a few hundred metres from a filling station. Did the walk of shame to get a 5 litre container then drove to the pump and brimmed it, taking pretty much exactly 43 more litres.)
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Thanks Ian, I did try searching but must’ve put wrong search criteria (crazy as that sounds) in because didn’t find anything. Like you say pointless in playing Russian roulette and risking it but we still do. I’m not planning on doing much more than 20 miles or so when the warning light comes on. 
Hi Martin,
I had the same idea as you, i.e. as soon s the light comes on and fill it up that would most likely give the best indication.
I usually manage to squeeze 40 litres in brim-full soon after the light comes on, so that suggests 10 litres, at least.
I don’t know if the quoted 50 litres includes the filler tube which must hold at least 2 litres.
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I just had a look through my previous activity, it doesn’t have the most searchable title:
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At a guess I would say 5L until it shows empty and then 5L again until you are stuck, again that is just a guess but seems logical.
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Hmm, on mine the light comes on when the needle suggests empty, 0. But the fuel gauge is so coarse it is a guess anyway.
Our Mazda3 does the same with slightly more claims of accuracy, and it has a 10 litres buffer below 0 as well. The range expectation is also 0 at 0 fuel.
Just once I did 60 miles (maybe 8 litres!) after it dropped below 0 because the country garage I had planned to fill at had the tanker making a delivery, so we ended up at a Texaco ‘Regular only’ garage, and even with a tail wind the Mazda3 felt gutless compared with the previous couple of years of relaxed torque on V-Power.
Moral: Fill up sooner rather than taking a chance on later.
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Yea seems fair enough
I like the moral of the story, good advice
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Slightly off topic, not mx5 related, but when racking up big miles for work, I became weary of fuel stops and ran the gauntlet a little more than I should have. One early morning I ran out when dropping my daughter off at the airport, about a mile from the terminal. I then discovered that on a modern bmw diesel, you just can’t stick a cupful in and limp to the nearest station. The software won’t allow the engine to start unless there is substantial fuel in the tank. Two runs to the nearest petrol station with two new diesel cans, in an airport police car😳
Think I made the local traffic news that morning. Don’t do it…
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Thanks Ian.
I had a NC 1.8 Niseko and ran it with a Scangauge permanently connected to the OBD socket. It gave continuous live readouts for virtually everything going on under the bonnet. Setting the fuel tank size, and accurately monitoring the fuel added at each fill up (brimmed), gave an exceptionally accurate mpg or km/l.
When the normal low-fuel warning light showed, the Scangauge consistently indicated a remaining range of around 70 miles. That figure would vary a little, and the Scangauge calculated it on the driving style since it’s last fill up.
However, on one occasion, miles from anywhere, the low-fuel light came on and it was almost 40 miles before finding a filling station. Refilling the tank suggested there were still 4 litres unused.
Not recommended to get so low, to avoid risk of damage to the fuel pump.
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9ltrs left in mine. Seems to be pretty constant on each occasion I’ve checked it.
Richard.
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Put a full can of petrol in the boot and go try it.
Stay away from motorways and similar when it gets close though 
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Don’t know about NC’s specifically, but it’s never going to be an exact science so if you’re going to rely on the reserve you need a reserve reserve if you don’t want to run out:)
Based on a succession of cars of various types, I’d expect 50 miles or so after the light comes on, driving conservatively of course. So my rule is max 30 miles, i.e. don’t count on more than say 5 litres. I filled the ND a couple of weeks ago just after the light came on, it took 38l. to fill it so probably 7l. still in the tank. I could probably squeeze 60+ miles out of that but then I’d have no reserve…
It’s 30 years since I last ran out of fuel, on the A5 near Weedon. I rather foolishly thought I could make it 10 miles further to Towcester to get some Shell as usual. I passed the little garage on the left going south up the hill and conked out a quarter of a mile later, so I just rolled back down the hill on to the forecourt. I was grateful for a lucky escape and stopped treating the reserve as available fuel after that.
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