Running your gas to near empty each time = bad?

[KitaCam]

I get $$$ off per gallon of Shell gas for buying certain products at local supermarket, up to 20 gallons...

...but since Kitacam takes only about 17.5 in an 18.5 gal tank, and rather than go so low, I got a 6 gallon gas can at goodwill) to fill after I get down to a 15-16 gal fill-up...

...last fill-up I saved 75¢ a gallon...that's $3-4 saved on just the gas in the can....$15 saved on the 20 gal. fill-up...still, it's not worth taking the chance of running the tank real low.

 

[stephen9666]

Originally Posted By: Carnoobie

I try to stay above 1/4 too, but 1/3 would probably be even better for the pump.


Good thinking.

Maybe 1/2 should be the minimum? No wait, 3/4 would be even better. Perhaps 7/8 is the safest bet.

 

[Tdbo]

Don't see the need to do that.

At 3/8 to 1/4 of a tank I get on the Iphone and request Gas Buddy's assistance to secure the lowest priced fuel in my current area.

Stop and fill. Done.

 

[vwGLI]

it depends on cars.

The high pressure pump on my VW is known to get overheated and fail quite easily. I never let it went below 1/4.

 

[TFB1]

I usually fill mine at approx 1/4 tank just because...

I can see the pump running a bit on the warm side in a return system with low fuel, especially on a hot day, when the fuel returning to the tank is probably 125-140*F... No doubt some heat is lost in the return line but being plastic it's almost like a insulated line...

That's the reason the return-less systems have been developed, evaporation due to heated fuel is much less and easier to control...

 

[Artem]

Been running the fuel gauge below E since new in my 98" Camry V6. Even pushed it too far and stalled a few times over the years. 15 years and 228,000 miles and all is well.

Same with my 2007 Civics. Also 160k of running around with no bars on the fuel gauge and all is well.

As you can probably tell, I like burning through all the old fuel and fill up with fresh juice from my favorite gas station.

 

[GearheadTool]

Originally Posted By: Artem
Been running the fuel gauge below E since new in my 98" Camry V6. Even pushed it too far and stalled a few times over the years. 15 years and 228,000 miles and all is well.

Same with my 2007 Civics. Also 160k of running around with no bars on the fuel gauge and all is well.

As you can probably tell, I like burning through all the old fuel and fill up with fresh juice from my favorite gas station.


This will be the first time that has happened with my Volvo in ~3 months!! I believe it to serve a purpose. (Burning off "whatever was in there"... maybe quarterly, or so.)

Earlier today:

Then, after driving to (and then back from) North End, Boston, Exit 22 on 93 to Exit 17 on Rt 3: (taken in the tunnel by Gov't Center)

I then filled up 6 gallons.. Will fill 'er up FULL today!

 

[GearheadTool]

17.4 gallon fill-up on the V's 18 gallon tank today. That happens.. "quarterly," when I run the gas out.. on purpose.

 

[Doog]

I saw a teenager run out of gas on I-90 about 5-6 years ago. He rolled to a stop on the left median. Then while trying to run across the 3 lanes to get to the berm he was struck by a motorist and killed. Pretty tragic...but Darwin won in the end.

Keep tempting fate and maybe you will get yourself injured or killed doing it. Fuel gauges are there for a reason.

 

[GearheadTool]

Last night, the Volvo just accepted 18.439 Gallons of fuel, after driving for a good 30 miles or so when the gas light came on. We went 349 miles on a full tank. Got 18.9MPG, call it 19MPG (is that good for mixed driving, including ITUs?) I uploaded it to Fuelly.com.

I didn't even know that was possible.. I thought I had a 17.5 gallon tank?

Anyways.. Call me nuts, but I think that maybe I felt some reduced pep/hesitation when it got that low low low low low low low.

Thoughts?

 

[daves66nova]

I always ran the gauge down to as low as possible on my 96 saturn.After 230,xxx miles,i just replaced it a week ago.

 

[ecotourist]

When I was about to start university I borrowed my dad's Chevy II and drove it to Saskatoon, drove around all day looking for a place to stay, then drove home again - must have been about 750 Kilometres - all without refueling. For the last 50 Km the gas gauge was on empty. The car ran out of gas and died just as I turned into our yard.

Refueling in the yard wasn't a problem because we had a gas barrel behind the house in those days.

The towns and villages were at least 10 -12 Km apart and not all of them had gas stations. I could have had a long walk. I don't do that anymore. I'm a lot older older and a little smarter now. Running out of gas is just too inconvenient. For day to day driving I never get much below a quarter tank.

In the winter when I'm in an even minimally remote area (when having a half tank of gas could save your butt if you ran off the road or got stuck) I never let it get below a half tank. That's why I carry a dose of gas line antifreeze in the winter too.

The old saying "It doesn't cost any more to keep your tank mostly full, than it costs to keep it mostly empty" still applies.

Ecotourist

 

[TFB1]

Originally Posted By: ecotourist

In the winter when I'm in an even minimally remote area (when having a half tank of gas could save your butt if you ran off the road or got stuck) I never let it get below a half tank. That's why I carry a dose of gas line antifreeze in the winter too.

The old saying "It doesn't cost any more to keep your tank mostly full, than it costs to keep it mostly empty" still applies.

Ecotourist



Good enough reason for me and I live a couple blocks from a 7-Eleven and a convenience mart...

About a month ago I drained the three year old gas out of my T-Bird(last added Nov, 09) and burned it in my pickup, ran fine... I did add Sta-Bil, but the Bird had set for over a year before it got the first shot(one of those yeah I'm gonna get around to fixing it)... Based on this and the fact sometimes the truck doesn't get gas added for two or three months or more, I could care less how fresh the gas in my tank is...

 

[badtlc]

Originally Posted By: ecotourist
The old saying "It doesn't cost any more to keep your tank mostly full, than it costs to keep it mostly empty" still applies.

Ecotourist



While I agree it isn't worth pushing the limits so you can walk home some day, it IS cheaper to keep your tank mostly empty. You get better MPGs with less weight in the car.

Enough to justify the risk? No.

 

[Bamaro]

Why would a manufacturer put a device IN THE GAS TANK that was known to overheat? Wouldn't we be hearing stories about cars blowing up?

 

[GearheadTool]

Originally Posted By: Bamaro
Why would a manufacturer put a device IN THE GAS TANK that was known to overheat? Wouldn't we be hearing stories about cars blowing up?

They did. And we had the Fiero.

 

[OriginHacker21]

My 2004 Pontiac Sunfire has a very large red highlighted area at 1/4th tank. I used to regularly go below this all the way to empty because of my 180 mile/day drives to work for the last 7 years. I blew through 2 fuel pumps before the last mechanic asked me how my driving habits were. He said because of the fuel pump being in tank, that red highlighted area tells me where I should fill up to keep the fuel pump cooled especially in 115F heat here in the California desert. Been keeping it above that line and haven't had a problem since. Wish I found out about that earlier, fuel pumps in tank aren't cheap.

 

[[RT] ProjUltraZ]

How accurate are your fuel gauges? mine is 15.5 gal but at 1/4 it has 2 gal, at 1/2 it has around 5 it's messed up.

try filling up at 1/4 and 1/2 and see what it takes