Danger, Out of fuel on a big hill

[multihull]

Has any one had an issue with their JKU running out of fuel on a big hill even though they still half a tank left?

This has happen to me twice now, both time in very tricky circumstances. When the engine stalls the power assisted brakes fail and you have no holding power, Scary stuff!
This has happened to my Rubi when doing extreme off roading, once when wheeling with the Brisbane Jeep Club at City View and then again last weekend. What happens is all the fuel runs to the front end of the tank so there no fuel left at the rear end of the tank where the fuel pick up point is.

The first time this happened I was hung up because a chose a bad line and waited to be recovered and had the car idling so I maintained my power assisted brakes, then the engine stopped after about 5 or 10 minutes while a recovery was being set up. The car was on a server angle tilted nose down toward the drivers side (RHS). Then again this weekend while wheeling at Land Cruiser Mountain Park I was doing a recovery of a Patrol that couldn't get to the top of a step climb, I went to the top of the hill then did a U turn back down the hill, stopped nose down and connected my winch to the Patrol and a recovery strap to a tree back to the rear of my car to stop me being dragged down the hill. I winch the Patrol out and up but then just as the recovery was completed my car stalled. "Out of Fuel" again because of the server down hill angle of my JKU. All the fuel was at the front of the tank and no fuel at the rear pick up point.

Has any one had this issue before, any thoughts or have you heard of a fix on how to correct it, have you installed a header tank. Pls don't state the obvious "don't recovery Patrols or Land Cruisers" or recommendations "just drive on flat roads & tracks".
This is a serious scary and dangerous issue that needs a fix.

[nevillebartos]

Happened to me the other day with low fuel nosing up my steep driveway, I figured the fuel was sitting away from the pump, but now I see you same problem nose down.

[Nanook]

I have a steep driveway down to my carport and though I haven't had it stall due to lack of fuel it plays havoc with the fuel gauge and DTE if lower than half a tank.

At one time, I actually stopped on the side of the road a couple of kms after leaving home to shut down and re-start the motor so the tank was on level ground.I got sick of the low fuel light even though there was plenty of fuel left.

[StuieG]

Yeah, it's a shockingly poor design, my JKU CRD does it too. I just try and make sure I've always got more than half a tank, by transferring it over from my additional/secondary tank

[st_za]

Originally Posted by StuieG

Yeah, it's a shockingly poor design, my JKU CRD does it too. I just try and make sure I've always got more than half a tank, by transferring it over from my additional/secondary tank

If they put the fuel float near the back of the Jeep then you have this problem on uphills. If they put the float near the front then you have this problem on downhills. If they put it in the middle then you have the reverse problem of it reading empty on steep uphills or downhills.

The same thing would be true of the position of the fuel intake/pump - not so much bad design as a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" kind of scenario.

A possible solution would be a very efficient fuel sock - I remember seeing something on a video from SEMA that is meant for use in race cars that can hold a ridiculous amount of fuel.

[YamahaDOC]

A large external surge tank would solve the problem but there is not much room I guess