[General] dont forget to fuel the car, it might stop halfway

Suppose I want to tell a friend who is using my car to make sure that he re fuel the car so that it won't stop halfway.

1. Don't forget to fuel (the car) or it might stop/halt/stall halfway.

Which verb would be natural here? (stop/halt/stall/any other)

I would use "stop".

Don't forget to put fuel in the car or you may run out of gas/petrol halfway there.
Don't forget to fuel up or you may not make more than halfway.

Is it correct to say "fuel may be exhausted halfway"?

Matthew Wai said:

Is it correct to say "fuel may be exhausted halfway"?

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No.

Is it ungrammatical?

As far as I know, fuel cannot be exhausted. You would be exhausted if you ran out of gas and had to walk a certain distance carrying a gas can to the nearest gas station and back to the car or if you had to push the car until the gas station.

You might exhaust your supply of bullets or chocolate chip cookies. But you wouldn't say that you have "exhausted your cookies."

When speaking of a car, there is a literal exhaust, so I would avoid any figurative use. If you said that your fuel was exhausted, I would think that you were blowing gas out of the tail pipe.

It sounds fine to me. "You've run out of petrol" = "You've exhausted your fuel". I wouldn't say it, but that's the meaning.
"I've exhausted my resources", "You've exhausted my patience" - I'd say these.

2. To drain of resources or properties; deplete: tobacco crops that exhausted the soil. See Synonyms at deplete.
3. To use up completely: exhausted our funds before the month was out.
5. To draw out the contents of; drain: exhaust a tank gradually.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/exhaust

Raymott said:

It sounds fine to me. "You've run out of petrol" = "You've exhausted your fuel". I wouldn't say it, but that's the meaning.
"I've exhausted my resources", "You've exhausted my patience" - I'd say these.

2. To drain of resources or properties; deplete: tobacco crops that exhausted the soil. See Synonyms at deplete.
3. To use up completely: exhausted our funds before the month was out.
5. To draw out the contents of; drain: exhaust a tank gradually.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/exhaust

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Note it says "exhaust a tank" not exhaust the gas/petrol.

SoothingDave said:

Note it says "exhaust a tank" not exhaust the gas/petrol.

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Hello, Dave.:-D
What about definition #3?
Could we not apply it to the word 'gas/petrol'?

tzfujimino said:

Hello, Dave.:-D
What about definition #3?
Could we not apply it to the word 'gas/petrol'?

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You could, but I still don't like it. Sounds unnatural to me. And there is still the confusion with the exhaust of the car.

Whilst there is nothing ungrammatical about "exhausting one's supply of petrol" or "exhausting your petrol", it's simply not natural. In BrE at least, we use "to run out of petrol" pretty much exclusively.

And Americans "run out of gas". Same idea.

AusE uses the verb "exhaust" where appropriate. Naturally "You've run out of petrol" is almost infinitely more often said than "You've exhausted your fuel", but that doesn't make the latter wrong. I know that cars also have 'exhausts'. But "to exhaust one's fuel" is just a normal of usage of the verb "exhaust".

"Stars are formed from the material between stars, shine until they exhaust their fuel ..."
http://science.jrank.org/pages/6491/Stellar-Evolution.html
"Stars whose mass is very low will eventually exhaust all their fusible hydrogen and then become helium white dwarfs"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future_of_an_expanding_universe
"The ship will exhaust its fuel reserves and then coast until it either ..."
https://forums.unrealengine.com/showthread.php?818-Exodus!-The-Game
"Its on board power plant apparently won't exhaust its fuel for a very long time, although output would gradually decrease."
http://space.stackexchange.com/ques...-rover-last-and-what-would-be-the-most-likely

charliedeut said:

As far as I know, fuel cannot be exhausted.

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Please click here to see the truth. It seems that people are saying it whether it is natural or not.

Not a teacher.

Matthew Wai said:

Please click here to see the truth. It seems that people are saying it whether it is natural or not.

Not a teacher.

Click to expand...

I meant that remark to be a play on words, meaning that fuel cannot get "extremely tired (=exhausted)". :-o

This kind of wordplay is like a pun.

Not a teacher.

If fuel can't get exhausted, then wheels can't get tired.