Fuel delivery in Detroit, MI.

Emergency fuel delivery in Detroit runs about $50 to $80 plus the cost of the fuel. That covers the drive to you and enough gas or diesel to reach the nearest station, usually two to three gallons. Say which fuel the car takes; a diesel filled with gasoline is a shop bill.

The service fee is the trip, and the fuel is charged at what the driver paid. The point is not to fill the tank at the roadside, which would be slow and expensive, but to get you to a station on Michigan Avenue or Gratiot where you can fill up on your own. Two gallons moves most cars twenty to forty miles, which covers any point in Wayne County. Diesel is carried separately and the driver confirms the fuel type before pouring, because an older diesel will run badly on a gallon of gasoline and a newer one can be damaged. If you are not sure what the car takes, the filler door or the owner's manual says.

Most cars start after a few seconds of cranking once the pump picks up fuel again; some newer ones need the key cycled on and off a few times to prime the system first. If it still will not catch, the driver can jump it, since cranking a dry car drains the battery fast.

Running a tank dry lets air into the fuel line, and the pump needs a moment to push it out. On most cars, turning the key to the on position for a few seconds before cranking, two or three times, lets the pump prime. Then crank in short bursts, not one long grind, so the starter and battery are not cooked. Diesels are fussier; some need the lines bled, which is a shop job on certain models, so tell dispatch the car is diesel and he will bring the right advice. A car that has been driven to empty repeatedly can also kill its fuel pump, which runs cooler when it is submerged in fuel. If it starts and stalls, that is a different problem and dispatch will say so.

Gauges in older cars drift, the low-fuel light is a rough estimate, and a tank with a stuck sending unit can read a quarter when it is empty. Hills, a hard stop and a worn fuel pump pickup can also leave the last gallon out of reach.

The sender in the tank is a float on an arm, and after a decade of Michigan road salt and ethanol, the arm sticks. A car that always seems to have a quarter tank and then dies has a float that stopped moving. The low-fuel light on most cars comes on with two to three gallons left, which at freeway speed in traffic is not as far as it sounds. Driving on fumes also pulls sediment from the bottom of the tank into the filter. If your gauge lied, mention it to a shop; a sending unit is not an expensive part, and the second call for fuel costs more than fixing the first cause.

Yes. The I-75 and I-94 shoulders, the Lodge and the Southfield Freeway are the most common fuel calls, most of them after dark when stations are farther apart. Get the car as far right as you can, hazards on, and stay belted in until the truck arrives.

Running out on a freeway is dangerous for the same reason any breakdown is: traffic passes close and fast, and on the below-grade stretches there is nowhere to stand. If the engine starts to stumble, use the momentum to get to the shoulder or an exit ramp rather than stopping in a lane. Once stopped, hazards on, belt on, and give dispatch the exit numbers before and after you, or the overpass you can see. The truck approaches from behind with its amber lights on and parks to shield your car. The driver pours the fuel, waits while you start it, and follows you to the ramp if you ask. On the Ambassador Bridge approach, tell dispatch which lane you are in, because the plaza changes the route.

Diesel, yes, for pickups, vans and light trucks; diesel exhaust fluid is carried on request, so say you need DEF when you call. A newer diesel that has run its DEF tank dry will not restart or will go into limp mode until it is refilled.

Light-duty diesels, the F-250s, Ram 2500s, Sprinters and Transits that fill Detroit's job sites, run out the same way gas vehicles do and take the same two or three gallons to reach a station. The difference is priming; many need the key cycled several times, and some need the fuel filter housing bled. DEF is a separate problem that looks the same: the truck counts down a warning and then refuses to start or limits speed to a crawl once the fluid is gone. A couple of gallons of DEF clears it. Semi tractors and equipment with large tanks need a commercial fuel service, and dispatch will say so rather than send a truck with a can. A quick way to know your real range: reset the trip meter at every fill and note the mileage when the light comes on. After two or three tanks you know how far the car actually goes on reserve in Detroit traffic, which is usually less than the manual claims.