How far can I drive while the low fuel light is on?

Maybe. Jack Cassidy

You can drive until the car suddenly stops, at which point you'll get out and kick yourself in the ass as you walk to the nearest gas station.

"Jack Cassidy" ha scritto nel messaggio news:8BQdg.8398$ snipped-for-privacy@tornado.tampabay.rr.com...

Better not doing more than 50 Km.. if you remain without fuel the pump could break, and it's very expensive.

How gutsy do you feel? The most I ever pushed it was when it took 11.4 gallons to fill my, IIRC, 12 gallon tank in my 03 Accent. I don't recall the distance I had driven, but it must have been close to 400 miles.

Any evidence that this is true?

Matt

"Matt Whiting" ha scritto nel messaggio news:832eg.9078$ snipped-for-privacy@news1.epix.net...

Read the instruction manual, they recommend to fill the tank asap when fuel light is on..

Yeah, but that's for the idiots who can't figure that out on their own. There's a ton of stuff in owner's manuals that shouldn't have to be said and that pose no threat to the car.

Having said that, most in-tank pumps are cooled by the liquid in the tank and it is advisable to keep the level above a quarter tank or so.

Sure, you don't want to run out of fuel. Does the manual say that not doing so will harm the fuel pump? I don't recall seeing that when I read mine back in December.

Personally, I believe this is largely an urban legend. Maybe there are some poorly designed electric fuel pumps out there, but most are cooled by the fuel running through them, not the fuel they are immersed in. So, as long as you have fuel, you have coolant for the fuel pump. And once the fuel is gone ... the engine quits and there isn't much need for the fuel pump then. :-)

This myth has been perpetuated by a lot of organizations who should know better (AAA for one), but that doesn't make it true. AAA also says that running low on gas will cause the pump to pick up sediment in the bottom of the tank. Do they really believe that the fuel pickup, which is located near the bottom of the tank, knows how much fuel is above it and thus will only pick up sediment from the bottom when the fuel level is low? Reading this sort of stuff is a hoot.

Matt

I'm still looking for some credible evidence that this is true. Credible, means it doesn't come from AAA, or your brother-in-law, etc. If it comes from a fuel pump manufacturer, fuel pump designer, car maker, etc., I'd consider that reasonably credible. I've never yet seen anything for any vehicle I've owned and, in fact, have some evidence to the contrary. Admittedly, not a lot of evidence, but some.

First evidence is that I routinely run my vehicles down below 1/4 tank or occasionally until the low fuel light comes on. I've run several cars over 100K miles and have had only ONE electric fuel pump failure. That was on a 96 Plymouth Grand Voyager that had in the neighborhood of

150,000 miles at the time of failure.

Second evidence comes from a guy who was a fuel pump designer for a number of years and said that the fuel pumps are cooled by the gas they are pumping (they pump the gas around the electric motor typically), not the gas around them in the tank. It also comes from common sense. Anyone with half a brain knows that moving a liquid past a source of heat is much more effective for cooling than depending on relatively still coolant. That is why cooling fans exist, why water pumps exist, etc. Using the fuel around the fuel pump as coolant would be much less effective as you'd be depending on the sloshing action alone to move heat away from the pump. If the car is sitting still, this would not be very effective. Pumping the coolant through the pump is the smart way to do it, and the way every fuel pump I've seen has been designed. This way, as long as the pump is running, a moving stream of coolant will exist.

Matt

"Matt Whiting" ha scritto nel messaggio news:044eg.9084$ snipped-for-privacy@news1.epix.net...

May be the point is that if you run with very few gasoline the pump could in some moments to have cavitation picking up air bubbles instead of gasoline and this is not good for lubrication inside the pump itself. I have LPG on my Sonata and the LPG manifacturer recommends to keep in gasoline tank at least 1/4 of capacity, even if I could run my engine without any gasoline, using LPG.

I'm not familiar with LPG systems so I have no idea why that recommendation. I just spent an hour reviewing the fuel system section in the Sonata shop manual (official Hyunday manual set) and there is no mention of keeping any minimum amount of fuel in the tank.

Matt

Made a search in google about the topic:

Zotto

Remember, I specifically said credible sources. This is just another person passing on the old wives tale. And even the grammar in this is atrocious. I'm guessing this guy didn't make it past 8th grade.

I really like the "running completely out of fuel running out of fuel allows the electric fuel pump to run "dry" which nearly immediately ruins the pump." comment. I've run my Chevy pickup completely dry several times (I used to carry a 50 gallon tank in the back to refuel my airplane, so I always had gas available handily). My truck has nearly

100K miles on the original fuel pump. So much for the "immediately ruins the pump" theory.

Matt

That I cannot provide. Like you I dismiss the AAA suggestions and all of the other completely unfounded stuff and do look for some credibility, or some other assurance that the story is coming from a source that I can trust. For the most part, I've been hearing this for a while now within the auto-repair circles. From folks dealing with this stuff every day. I've never heard a design engineer state it, or the manufacturer themselves, but it is a concept that at least makes sense.

I've had a couple of GM pump failures. Like you, my cars stay in the family for a long time. My failures have generally been upwards of 100,000 miles. I make it a practice to keep 1/4 tank full but that's a longstanding habit and a reflection of where I live. We are subject to condensation in the tank and ice in the winter. Dry gas fixes this, but so does keeping a sufficient level in the tank.

Actually - that does make a great deal of sense.

Better so, then. One thing less to be worried about :)

That was my reaction. When you have a choice to use gas just sloshing around the pump or a constant stream of gas flowing through the pump, I really believe that the design engineers are smart enough to choose the latter. That doesn't rule out some cheap design from somewhere that isn't well-designed, but I'm guessing that most quality conscious auto makers would have eliminated those suppliers long ago.

Matt

What is a Sonica? I see that in your .sig. The pictures seem to show a Sonata. Does Hyundai use different model names in different countries?

Matt

"Matt Whiting" ha scritto nel messaggio news:qeheg.9094$ snipped-for-privacy@news1.epix.net...

Yes, in Italy Sonata is named Sonica, as "sonata" in italian means not only a musical form but also something like "cheat"...

Usually around 30-40 miles. Of course, after that, you can still drive all you want...it's just that the car won't be moving anymore and you'll look pretty silly.

Never Forget!!!