Ran out of fuel on the motorway? What to do on the M9 and beyond

Why people run out of petrol or diesel on the M9

The fuel gauge is the first problem. Gauges are not linear, and on many cars the last quarter drops a lot faster than the first quarter. The gauge also reads differently on a slope or under braking. People who have run the same car for years develop a feel for it and then get caught out by a long motorway run at 120 km/h, which uses more fuel per kilometre than the town driving the car is used to.

The fuel light is the second problem. When it comes on, most cars have somewhere between 40 and 80 kilometres left, but that is at steady speeds, with no headwind, no roof box and no trailer. Some cars show a range figure that drops to zero while there is still fuel in the tank. Others hit zero with nothing left at all. You cannot trust it to the kilometre, and on a motorway a kilometre is the difference between the hard shoulder and the junction.

The third problem is the M9 itself. There are only three places to fill up on the whole motorway: Kilcullen between Junctions 2 and 3, Carlow at Junction 5 and Paulstown at Junction 7. South of Paulstown there is nothing on or beside the motorway for roughly 50 kilometres until the Waterford end. A driver who passes Paulstown with the light on and assumes there will be another one is going to spend some time on the hard shoulder between Danesfort and Mullinavat.

What to do when the engine dies

1. Hazards on immediately. You have a few seconds of momentum. Use them to get on to the hard shoulder, as far left as the car will go.
2. Do not keep cranking the engine. On a diesel especially, repeated cranking on an empty tank pulls air through the system and flattens the battery, and then you have two problems.
3. Everyone out on the passenger side and behind the barrier.
4. Note the direction of travel, the last junction you passed and the blue location reference sign on the verge.
5. Ring 112 or 999 only if you are stuck in a live lane or someone is hurt. Otherwise ring the Motorway Traffic Control Centre on 0818 715 100 to log it, then your insurer if you have breakdown cover. If you have none, or the wait is too long, ring us.
6. Do not walk to the next junction with a can. People are killed on motorway hard shoulders doing exactly that.

Why we recover first on the motorway

On an ordinary road, running out of diesel is a five minute job. We bring a can, put ten litres in, get it started and follow you to the nearest pump. On a motorway we will not do that, and neither should anyone else. The hard shoulder is about three metres wide, trucks pass within arm's reach, and a driver crouched at the filler cap with his back to the traffic is in the worst possible position. The RSA's advice is never to attempt repairs on the hard shoulder, and we treat a fuel top-up as a repair.

So on the M9 the car goes on the flatbed first. You and your passengers get into the cab, we come off at the next junction, and we put the fuel in there, in a lay-by or on a filling station forecourt, where you can stand beside the car without a lorry mirror going past your ear. If the car starts and runs cleanly, you drive on. If it does not, usually because of an airlock or a battery flattened by cranking, we deal with that on the spot or bring it back to Webster's Garage. The price covers the recovery and the fuel together and is agreed with you on the phone before the truck leaves Three Castles.

How emergency fuel delivery works on ordinary roads

Off the motorway, we do deliver fuel to the roadside. The N10, N76, N77, N78, the R700 to Thomastown, the ring road, the car parks in Kilkenny city, housing estates, farm lanes: anywhere a truck can reach. We carry both petrol and diesel in proper cans, and we will ask you on the phone which the car takes and whether you are certain, because the one thing worse than an empty tank is the wrong fuel in a nearly empty tank.

We put in enough to get you to a filling station, usually five to ten litres, start the car, check it is running properly and point you at the nearest pump. For a diesel that has run completely dry we may need to prime the system first. If there is any sign of a fuel pump problem rather than a simple empty tank, we tell you straight and give you the option of recovery to a garage instead of chasing a fault at the kerb.

Emergency fuel delivery in Kilkenny is one of the cheapest jobs we do. There is no call-out fee and the price is agreed on the phone. It is usually quicker to ring than to walk to a garage, borrow a can and walk back, and it is a lot safer on a dark country road.

The diesel airlock problem on older cars

Diesel engines do not like running dry. The fuel is what lubricates the high pressure pump and the injectors, so the last few seconds of an empty tank are the worst thing that can happen to them. On older diesels, and on some vans and 4x4s, running out of fuel draws air into the fuel lines and the engine will not restart just because you have put diesel in. The system has to be bled or primed to push the air out. Some cars have a hand primer bulb under the bonnet. Some need the ignition cycled several times to let the electric lift pump do the work. Some need a garage.

Modern common rail diesels are better at priming themselves but they are not immune, and they are more expensive if the pump is damaged. The practical advice is simple. If a diesel has run dry, put at least ten litres in rather than a dribble, do not crank it for more than ten seconds at a time, give the battery a rest between attempts, and if it has not caught after three or four tries stop and ring us rather than killing the battery and possibly the starter. Petrol cars are more forgiving. Most will start on a couple of litres and a short crank.

How to avoid running out of fuel on the M9

• Fill up before you join the motorway, not after. Kilkenny city, Carlow town and the Castlecomer Road all have plenty of stations.
• Treat Paulstown at Junction 7 as the last stop heading south. If the needle is below a quarter, pull in there.
• Heading north from Waterford, fuel up in the city or in Mullinavat before you join, because Paulstown is the first service area you will see.
• Do not trust the range to zero. When the light comes on, the next exit with a town is where you fill up.
• Remember that a roof box, a trailer, a headwind or a heavy foot can take a fifth or more off your usual range.
• If you drive a diesel that has ever needed bleeding, keep the tank above a quarter. It is cheaper than a recovery.
• Keep a high visibility vest and a torch in the door pocket, because if you do run dry you will be standing behind a barrier for a while.