On Wednesday, July 5, 2017 at 10:45:14 AM UTC-4, micky wrote:
Warning, never pour fuel... into the throttle body air inlet opening in
an attempt to start your car. Could result in flash fire..."

I did this 2 or 3 times with carbureted cars, but I'm sure the same
warning would be given for those cars if they were sold new now.
However it worked well. I only needed to do this when I ran out of gas,
and after a few times, I learned** to turn the engine off the moment it
started to show signs of running out of gas, so that when I got a gallon
of gas and tried to restart it, there was still gas in the gas line and
it always restarted after a few seconds.

Clearly, wih a current, fuel injected engine, gas poured into the air
intake will not be injected into the cylinders, but it may be slightly
vaporized and sucked in with the air.

So my question is, will pouring a little gas into the air intake help to
start a car that has run out of gas


**Actually there were three stages:

1) At first, I'd pour the whole can of gas into the gas tank, and then I
might run down the battery or risk overheating the starter motore before
the car started. Maybe I had to get a jump, I can't remember.

2) I learned to not pour eveything into the gas tank and save some for
the carburetor. I'd guess between a quarter and an eighth of a cup,
maybe less. That always worked well. I think I tried starter fluid
earlier, but maybe the car didn't run as long on starter fluid as it did
on gasoline.

3) I learned to turn the engine off the moment it started to show signs
of running out of gas, and iirc I didn't need to pour anything after
that.

The one and only time I ever ran out of gas in a car was back during the supposed "gas
shortage" in NYC during the 70€˜s. That was time when you could only buy $5 worth
of gas on odd or even calendar days based on the last digit of your license plate.

It was my girlfriend's car and she always pushed the limits of running out of gas. One
Friday night we were in a long line for gas. I made it to the 6th car in line when it
ran out of gas. She and I were able to push it along until we were 3rd in line, when the
attendant pulled out the dreaded "Out Of Gas" sign. People were ****ed, but the out of
gas sign was a common sight during that period.

I walked over to him and asked him what I should do since we were out of gas. He quietly
told me to wait until everyone else left and he turned off the lights. Then we would push it
up to the pump and get gas. He said "It's 11:00 on a Friday night. We want to go out and
party. If we stay open, we'll be here all night. Let me get everyone else out of line, close up
and then I'll pump your gas."

We waited about 10 minutes and then he helped us push the car to the pump. "Fill her up?"
he asked. "Uh, sure" I said. A few minutes later we drove away with the first full tank that
car had seen in a long, long time.