Why You Shouldn't Run Your Car Low On Gas

[Extreme Dimensions]

Sometimes it’s tempting to try to eke out as many miles from your tank of gas as possible. But you shouldn’t do it. This video showing the innards of a fuel pump will help you understand why.

Your car’s fuel pump sends gasoline from the tank to the engine. It’s a crucial component in getting your car running, but it has a tendency to fail and leave you stuck on the side of the highway—especially if you like to run your car low on gas.

You can see why running a car low on gas might cause problems by looking at YouTuber speedcar99's tear-down of a fuel pump module:




you can see the video and read the rest of the article here!

http://jalopnik.com/why-you-shouldnt...gas-1796273605

[Subsonic]

Ugh.

I’ve read this so many times on the internet it must be true. What I find confusing though, is whenever someone finds their fuel filter clogged with debris from inside the tank the blame is placed on the motorist who allowed the fuel level too low. Aren’t we missing something here? The cause of the fault the fact that there is debris in the tank! If your tank is rusting internally or it is full of water or other crap introduced via the filler, the problem is not running low on fuel. Fix the main issue please.

That article looks like it was written by a five year old backyard mechanic. I goes on to explain how allowing the fuel pump to suck only air may lead to it overheating. Like seriously. Has anyone ever suggested that running your car completely out of fuel is advisable?

[Yoshoobaroo]

Originally Posted by Subsonic

Ugh.

I’ve read this so many times on the internet it must be true. What I find confusing though, is whenever someone finds their fuel filter clogged with debris from inside the tank the blame is placed on the motorist who allowed the fuel level too low. Aren’t we missing something here? The cause of the fault the fact that there is debris in the tank! If your tank is rusting internally or it is full of water or other crap introduced via the filler, the problem is not running low on fuel. Fix the main issue please.

That article looks like it was written by a five year old backyard mechanic. I goes on to explain how allowing the fuel pump to suck only air may lead to it overheating. Like seriously. Has anyone ever suggested that running your car completely out of fuel is advisable?

Running your fuel tank low exposes most of the inside to air, which causes rust. Leaving it full protects the tank from rusting. Steel tanks only of course. Filters clogging are exceedingly rare in plastic tanks.

About your second point, it's not allowing the pump to suck in air that causes overheating, it happens before that. The pump is cooled by being submerged, and fuel is drawn in through a venturi tube to cool it. This is not the main pickup that feeds the impeller of the pump and thus the engine. If you run it lower than where the venturi can pick up the fuel, that doesn't mean that the main pickup is sucking in air yet, but it does mean the cooling mechanism is nonfunctional.

David Tracy knows his shit. He was an engineer for FCA before working at jalopnik. Granted he oversimplified the mechanisms at work here, but some of the readership requires simpler explanations.


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[Scrappydoo]

Is that an acorn?

[mav1178]

Originally Posted by Extreme Dimensions

Sometimes it’s tempting to try to eke out as many miles from your tank of gas as possible. But you shouldn’t do it. This video showing the innards of a fuel pump will help you understand why.

Your car’s fuel pump sends gasoline from the tank to the engine. It’s a crucial component in getting your car running, but it has a tendency to fail and leave you stuck on the side of the highway—especially if you like to run your car low on gas.

You can see why running a car low on gas might cause problems by looking at YouTuber speedcar99's tear-down of a fuel pump module:




you can see the video and read the rest of the article here!

http://jalopnik.com/why-you-shouldnt...gas-1796273605

Why do you continually copy/paste the first few lines of an article and pass it off as your own?

Do you actually work at Extreme Dimensions? Is your boss aware of how poor of a sales/marketing rep you are?

[why?]

Originally Posted by Yoshoobaroo

Running your fuel tank low exposes most of the inside to air, which causes rust. Leaving it full protects the tank from rusting. Steel tanks only of course. Filters clogging are exceedingly rare in plastic tanks.

About your second point, it's not allowing the pump to suck in air that causes overheating, it happens before that. The pump is cooled by being submerged, and fuel is drawn in through a venturi tube to cool it. This is not the main pickup that feeds the impeller of the pump and thus the engine. If you run it lower than where the venturi can pick up the fuel, that doesn't mean that the main pickup is sucking in air yet, but it does mean the cooling mechanism is nonfunctional.

David Tracy knows his shit. He was an engineer for FCA before working at jalopnik. Granted he oversimplified the mechanisms at work here, but some of the readership requires simpler explanations.


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That is specifically why most cars are designed now with the idea that the fuel pump be totally submerged until there is very little gas left. The smart ones are designed so that the pump is still submerged when the fuel gauge is telling you it is totally empty.

[Tcoat]

Jesus this crap again!

Gas tanks filling with water extracted from the air and rusting away.

Fuel tanks that magically keep all the crap suspended at the bottom until it builds to critical mass and gives birth to Godzilla.

Fuel pumps that will over heat and burn out after 30 second of low flow or sucking air.

Running LOW on gas and running OUT of gas are NOT the same fucking thing.

This has been rehashed about 4 million times here and the internet and is a waste of time.

Really creates some doubt in my mind about the qualifications and reliability of a vender that would even post this stuff.

[Ultramaroon]

WAY overemphasized, IMO, even for the rust belt. 86 tank is plastic.

[Mr.ac]

Just say no to click bait.

[Cole]

WHY FAKE PARTS RISK LIVES!

[ZDan]

Obviously you don't want to run out of gas, if only because it's inconvenient. But the idea that running it down near empty is "bad" is IMO utter b.s.

If you fill up at 1/4 tank, you are stopping for fuel 33% more frequently than you need to, for no good reason...

[Yoshoobaroo]

Originally Posted by ZDan

Obviously you don't want to run out of gas, if only because it's inconvenient. But the idea that running it down near empty is "bad" is IMO utter b.s.

If you fill up at 1/4 tank, you are stopping for fuel 33% more frequently than you need to, for no good reason...

I fill up at 1/8 as soon as I can, just for piece of mind. I've ran out a few times in my life and its not fun when you're miles from the next station.

That and it's a habit now since my previous car (BMW 335i) would experience fuel starvation on on/offramps below 1/8 tank. Then again I was maxing that fuel system pretty hard.


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[Gforce]

This advice is correct. In tank fuel pumps are cooled by the fuel in the tank. Frequently running the tank very low can shorten the service life of the fuel pump, especially in hot climates.

Any solid contaminants tend to accumulate in the low point of the tank, the fuel pump tends to draw from the low point. For those who think fuel is always free of contaminants ask yourself why all cars fit a fuel filter. Contaminants all pass through the pump on their way to the filter.

Water contaminatation is unavoidable. Fuel floats so guess where the water is. Gasoline contains water absorbing additives, most gas in Canada has lots of ethanol which dissolves water nicely. Shell V power 91 does not have ethanol but does have a water absorber. Water contamination is now rare, but, I still pop a bottle of gas line antifreeze into my cars once or twice a winter. Good preventative maintenance. Isopropyl alcohol versions are more expensive but twice as effective. Most water in fuel is condensation. Obviously the less fuel there is in your tank the more humid air there can be. The less often you refuel the more water there will be in your fuel. Condensation rates are affected by how many temperature cycles the same air volume goes through and how much air is there. In winter in Canada condensation in your fuel tank can be significant, ditto underground tanks although the temperature doesn't vary much at the depth of the storage tanks.

Always buy gas from a reputable retailer.

[Gforce]

Originally Posted by Yoshoobaroo

I fill up at 1/8 as soon as I can, just for piece of mind. I've ran out a few times in my life and its not fun when you're miles from the next station.

That and it's a habit now since my previous car (BMW 335i) would experience fuel starvation on on/offramps below 1/8 tank. Then again I was maxing that fuel system pretty hard.


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Me too. I had a pump failure on one of my cars and it is pretty inconvenient. Fuel pumps last the life of the car if you don't abuse them.

With a supercharger fitted I have to refuel when the low fuel light flashes on....or I could run out before I can reach a gas station. 8-)