How low do you let your car's gas tank get?

[BudAshes]

Why even chance it when a fuel pump change is such a pain in the ass? You're sucking up trash and running the possibility of running it hot and or even completely out of fuel.

What are you pouring into your gas tank? There is very little contaminants in gas anymore.

 

[lxskllr]

What are you pouring into your gas tank? There is very little contaminants in gas anymore.

Fuel is a coolant for the pump, and the pump can get hot if the fuel drops low. That's what I've heard anyway.

 

[BudAshes]

Fuel is a coolant for the pump, and the pump can get hot if the fuel drops low. That's what I've heard anyway.

I don't disagree with that part. I bolded the part I was talking about.

 

[Captante]

Depends. Not driving around as much these days. Usually only before modest to long trips out of town or when it drops to ~1/4 tank

Same

 

[dainthomas]

You people hate your fuel pump.

 

[Captante]

You people hate your fuel pump.

I've replaced exactly one fuel pump in my life and it was on a beater Chevy Malibu 2ed car that had over 100k when it was given to me. Considering I used to run my tank to vapor-level every time but averaged well over 200k on most of my vehicles I'm skeptical.

Are you implying that running @ 1/4 tank will burn up fuel pumps?

 

[ctbaars]

You people hate your fuel pump.

I feel we are heading for "sidewall pressure" epic thread here ...

 

[rh71]

There is lots of “urban legend” stuff surrounding this subject… In most tank / pump designs, the actual pump is mounted high in the tank and is only submerged when the tank is full or nearly so. Since the fuel system constantly is returning excess fuel to the tank in a closed loop constant pressure system, the fuel flowing through the pump keeps it cool, if indeed it needs to be kept cool…This whole argument depends on the fallacy that in-tank fuel pumps are somehow subject to overheating when in fact I don’t believe that’s the case…

Overheating fuel pumps inside a closed gasoline tank are NOT a design feature that is built into these pumps. They don’t fail because they overheated. They fail because they wore out or the flex-lines that connect them inside the tank rupture and pressure is lost. Once fuel pressure is lost, the engine and fuel pump are shut down long before the pump “burns up”…

 

[BurnItDwn]

Between 1/8 ani 1/4 usually fill up on my way home from work when convenient.

 

[dainthomas]

I've replaced exactly one fuel pump in my life and it was on a beater Chevy Malibu 2ed car that had over 100k when it was given to me. Considering I used to run my tank to vapor-level every time but averaged well over 200k on most of my vehicles I'm skeptical.

Are you implying that running @ 1/4 tank will burn up fuel pumps?

I'm saying people who run until the low fuel light on a regular basis will reduce the life of their fuel pump. For no reason.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

What are you pouring into your gas tank? There is very little contaminants in gas anymore.

If you got it straight from the refinery then yes it's probably very clean. Problem is that you aren't buying your gas straight out of the refinery. There are tanker trucks with dirty gloves, dirty hoses, dirty tanks that deliver the fuel to a big fuel yard that sells it to local distributors. Lets hope the steel tanks that store the fuel don't have any rust in them. Then from there it's loaded up again with dirty gloves handling dirty hoses into a dirty tanker to go to your local fuel distributor. Then let's hope again a steel tank that stores the fuel has no rust. Super large steel tanks are super expensive and aren't replaced when they should be. Finally some guy at the local fuel distributor is going to load up his truck with fuel to take to the gas station. Same process but this time it's put into an underground tank at the gas station. Surely no contaminants are in an underground storage tank.. Yes I'm sure the gas station has some kind of filtering system but those are not 100% efficient. Sediment is going to get through.
I've delivered fuel and oil myself.

 

[BudAshes]

If you got it straight from the refinery then yes it's probably very clean. Problem is that you aren't buying your gas straight out of the refinery. There are tanker trucks with dirty gloves, dirty hoses, dirty tanks that deliver the fuel to a big fuel yard that sells it to local distributors. Lets hope the steel tanks that store the fuel don't have any rust in them. Then from there it's loaded up again with dirty gloves handling dirty hoses into a dirty tanker to go to your local fuel distributor. Then let's hope again a steel tank that stores the fuel has no rust. Super large steel tanks are super expensive and aren't replaced when they should be. Finally some guy at the local fuel distributor is going to load up his truck with fuel to take to the gas station. Same process but this time it's put into an underground tank at the gas station. Surely no contaminants are in an underground storage tank.. Yes I'm sure the gas station has some kind of filtering system but those are not 100% efficient. Sediment is going to get through.
I've delivered fuel and oil myself.

I'm not an expert but as far as I know they have filters attached to any modern gas pump these days.

 

[Rifter]

If you got it straight from the refinery then yes it's probably very clean. Problem is that you aren't buying your gas straight out of the refinery. There are tanker trucks with dirty gloves, dirty hoses, dirty tanks that deliver the fuel to a big fuel yard that sells it to local distributors. Lets hope the steel tanks that store the fuel don't have any rust in them. Then from there it's loaded up again with dirty gloves handling dirty hoses into a dirty tanker to go to your local fuel distributor. Then let's hope again a steel tank that stores the fuel has no rust. Super large steel tanks are super expensive and aren't replaced when they should be. Finally some guy at the local fuel distributor is going to load up his truck with fuel to take to the gas station. Same process but this time it's put into an underground tank at the gas station. Surely no contaminants are in an underground storage tank.. Yes I'm sure the gas station has some kind of filtering system but those are not 100% efficient. Sediment is going to get through.
I've delivered fuel and oil myself.

This is very true, gas can be dirty. A friend of mine had a late 90's golf GTI, babied the hell out of it never missed an oil change or a service interval for anything. One day it wouldnt start after work, i helped him diagnose it and it wasnt getting fuel so we assumed fuel pump even though we could hear the pump working. Well he towed it to his mechanic and when he went to check on it the next day the first thing his mechanic said to him was you have been filling up at the chevron on cap rd havent you? My buddy is OCD, and only fills at this specific station(which is now closed, thank god). He was totally amazed his mechanic could possibly know this as he had never mentioned it to him, until he found out its because his fuel lines were plugged solid with debris, and that this was common for cars that filled up only at this specific station, which had old tanks with tons of sediment in them. His fuel filters were even hollowed out by the abrasion of the debris and had to be replaced too as they were filtering nothing at this point, $1500 later he was back on the road.

TLDR do not under any circumstances assume the fuel you are putting in your car is clean.

 

[Captante]

I'm saying people who run until the low fuel light on a regular basis will reduce the life of their fuel pump. For no reason.

Misunderstood my bad

do not under any circumstances assume the fuel you are putting in your car is clean

As for gas cleanliness, I was told this years ago by I guy I knew who worked for Exxon/Mobil in a NJ storage tank facility. According to him the primary determining factor had to do with what level of said huge storage tanks gas was pumped from with so-called "top-tank" being by far the cleanest. (and reserved mainly for corporate-owned stations)

Supposedly sludge can be measured in feet after awhile without being cleaned and when it gets stirred up tends to mix with the fuel.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

I'm not an expert but as far as I know they have filters attached to any modern gas pump these days.

Those pump filters are there to catch the big stuff. You think they can pump at the rate they do and catch all the particles? If they had proper filtering systems youd be waiting a lot longer at the pump than you do. They get most of the stuff but not all of it.

The guys delivering your fuel try their best to get you clean fuel. Sometimes shit happens. You might trip on something and drop your hose on the dirt. You pick it up wipe off the nozzle or the fittings and you finish the job. Its an imperfect world. Run enough fuel in your car and I promise you that there is crud in your gas tank.

 

[lxskllr]

Its an imperfect world.

OT, but there was a station around here dispensing gasoline from the kerosene pump, That's *very* bad. I don't think anything happened, but someone could have firebombed their house if they used it.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Those pump filters are there to catch the big stuff. You think they can pump at the rate they do and catch all the particles? If they had proper filtering systems youd be waiting a lot longer at the pump than you do. They get most of the stuff but not all of it.

The guys delivering your fuel try their best to get you clean fuel. Sometimes shit happens. You might trip on something and drop your hose on the dirt. You pick it up wipe off the nozzle or the fittings and you finish the job. Its an imperfect world. Run enough fuel in your car and I promise you that there is crud in your gas tank.

Eh, if I recall there is approx 8000 gallons in each tanker truck. A little mud when mixed with the rest honestly isn't going to do much I wouldn't think.

Hell, the Ethanol probably hurts vehicles more than some slight dirt particles.

 

[pauldun170]

Why even chance it when a fuel pump change is such a pain in the ass? You're sucking up trash and running the possibility of running it hot and or even completely out of fuel.

Buy a car built in the past 20 years and the only thing you need to avoid is running it dry.
https://www.cartalk.com/blogs/dear-car-talk/modern-tanks-dont-gather-debris
http://parksidemotors.ca/dont-run-your-tank-empty-fact-or-myth/

 

[rh71]

As for gas cleanliness, I was told this years ago by I guy I knew who worked for Exxon/Mobil in a NJ storage tank facility. According to him the primary determining factor had to do with what level of said huge storage tanks gas was pumped from with so-called "top-tank" being by far the cleanest. (and reserved mainly for corporate-owned stations)

It's actually called Top Tier. https://toptiergas.com/licensed-brands/

Wonder how much the extra additives matter. I'm not driving an extra 1.5 miles to go to one of those every time as opposed to the Speedway at the corner near my house.

 

[FeuerFrei]

2 gallons from empty

Light comes on around 3

That's if I'm in familiar territory.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I try not to go past half way, that way if I get stuck in a situation where I have to let the car run to warm up ex: after freezing rain and windows are all caked, then I have some leg room. Also less chance of condensation in the tank.

In the summer months I'm a bit less cautious but still make sure to fill up before the light goes on. I've had it happen a few times while driving and it sends me into a mini heart attack and I immediately get to the closest gas station. Stalling in the middle of the road would SUCK. Not only having to deal with that, but the embarrassment factor. My brother in law had it happen in the Tim Horton's drive thru. People were PISSED at him because it held up the line. It's a super shameful situation to be in.

One time after night shift I got into my car and the needle was practically at empty and I freaked out wondering how I let it go that far without noticing Was not sure what gas station would be open at that time and didn't have enough gas to start driving around so I took my chances are drove towards the one closest to my house, at least if I stall I don't have far to walk. Was like -40. They were open but their interac machine was not up and running yet, think they had just opened. So I went to the corner store nearby but their ATM was down as they had not come to put money in it yet I presume. So I asked if I can do cash back if I buy something but their limit was $20. So I bought a chocolate bar and took out 20 bucks and then carefully got as close to 20 as possible when gassing up without going over. 20 bucks of gas it not going to get you very far, but it at least gave me a bit of a buffer so I can go home and then when I leave for work I can go back to get more.

Let's just say that was quite a stressful morning lol.

 

[stargazr]

Usually at about 1/4 tank.

 

[Fenixgoon]

i don't like to go below 1 gallon. fuel pumps are cooled by the fuel, so you don't want to constantly run to empty otherwise you'll burn the pump out.

 

[Sgt. York]

I fill up on the 1st and the 15th whether I need it or not.

 

[DrDoug]

Our local Fred Meyer (Kroger) gives you a gas credit of .10 a gallon per $100 spent in the store, up to $1.00 off a gallon. We run the tank to near empty before refilling since we max out the credit between refills. That's $17-$19 off per tank fill (21 gal. tank). The Mustang runs ethanol-free and we use the rest of any discount on that because it has a smaller tank.