just wanted a second opinion on this.
I have a gas tank indicator that is electronic. Last week with one bar left I drove for almost 20 minutes before filling up. yesterday i had 2 bars when i parked, 5 hours later the car would start then die from lack of gas... do you think its more likely that the angle i was parked at cause the problem... or do you thihnk i was siphoned? It was kind of a rough neighborhood.
just curious thanks.
The angle of the car could cause it. The gas gauge is affected by the voltage of the battery so it's accuracy is suspect. It is dumb running the tank that low. The next thing to go will be your fuel pump.
does running a tank with little gas actually have adverse affects?
yes, it can shorten the life of your fuel pump if the FP occasionally sucks air. Also on a real old car the bottom of the tank may have sediment in it which won't get sucked up until the tank gets low on fuel.
nate
Uhm... how many bars was there after the 5 hours?
I'm probably tempting fate, but I'm one of those people who can't fill up until it's past empty... and I've never had to replace a fuel pump on a fuel injected car. The Beretta is at 17 years and 142,000 miles and still on the original pump.
I know that's a sample size of one, but none of my family or friends have ever had to replace a fuel pump on a car newer than 10 years old.
Ray
Yes. It allows space for condensation so tanks rot above the normal gas line on ones that are always run within $20.00 of empty like some folks do.
Running empty before each fill isn't so bad, but some pumps are apparently garbage that don't handle less than 1/4 tank well. Some pumps have a return line feeding into a cooling jacket around them so they don't care what level the gas is at.
Mike
86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's Canadian Off Road Trips Photos: Non members can still view! Jan/06
Well, what constitutes "past empty" on each car varies. I recently had to drive one of my cars about 50 miles past the GGYI[1] light and below-E indication, and found that the 16-gallon tank took about 14.1 gallons. So "past empty" on that car is pretty early.
[1] Get Gas You Idiot
It's got the digital dash with "miles to go before you're stranded" and I always seem to be at 50 miles or less.
It's not like I do it on purpose, it just happens. I think it's because we have more than one car so we'll forget and then whoops they're ALL on E.
Ray
1, but i dunno if it was reading one cause of the angle or if it was actually 1.
MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.