I had a mechanic that I know working on my niece's car. Her and her husband always had a propensity to run their damn gas tank low or empty. Anyway he told me after replacing their fuel pump that they need to stop running it low and/or/dry because they were made to stay wet to keep them cool and lubed.

I've done it many, many times over 40+ years. In college, I had a little Datsun 210(Nissan to you youngsters) that I would often run down to almost fumes. My uncle, who possessed a great sense of humor, once asked me if I was trying to wean my car- lol.

Then I had a small diesel-powered car that I tried not to let run low because of how dirty the fuel was at that time, but it still happened occasionally as I was traveling for a living. I put over 80k miles on it before I sold it, and it was running like a champ.

After that, I had a couple high-performance autos, then a series of SUVs that I put 180k-250k on before I sold them. All of them I had run down to fumes more than once while traveling. They all ran great and I never had to replace the fuel filter.

Caveat- I always used brand-name, higher quality gasoline, except on the rarest of occasions when I had no other choice.


.

quote:

Originally posted by Prefontaine:

He had thousands of blown motors in his shop to be rebuilt due to bad fuel.

If I've told you once, I've told you FORTY MILLION TIMES, don't exaggerate!

quote:

Originally posted by Prefontaine:

quote:

Originally posted by lyman:
BS, like the trash in the fuel from the local exxon etcetc

every vehicle I have I usually let go till the fuel light cuts on , and have coasted in a few times on fumes w/o issue

ditto the gas tanks in the ground,
unless you are buying gas from some old station that has not be updated or still has the tanks from 1958

So you never buy fuel from rural stations with older pumps, etc? I can tell you I was quite good friends with the owner of a performance shop locally. He specialized in turbocharged performance cars. He had thousands of blown motors in his shop to be rebuilt due to bad fuel. Shattered piston ring lands. Damaged rod bearings to name a few things. I guess if you live in neverland in some major city or suburb and only buy fuel at state of the art newer gas stations maybe. But many of us have to buy fuel from rural or very rural gas stations. There is no harm in hedging your bets and topping the fuel tank off at 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, etc, especially if it’s a rural gas station with older pumps. Bad fuel causes detonation and that is no bueno for your motor. Each to his own however. It’s not like the gas station charges you an extra fee or tax for topping off a fuel tank.

One shop, THOUSANDS of blown motors? Surely you jest. Dude should've put in his own Gas Station serving up all the finest aromatic fuels available then! Sure does sound like there would be a business justification for it if there's truly a rural fuel desert that exists 'Down South'.

Fuel pumps do need to have gas around them to help keep them cool, but they are designed to sit in a surrounding plastic container that holds fuel inside of the tank.

The fuel line sock typically sits outside of that fuel reservoir.

You can see the plastic housing that surrounds the pump in the image, yes you can burn a pump out but it takes some work, and you'd have to have it running quite a while with no fuel around it at all.

Keeping a 1/4 tank would allow the fuel in the reservoir to be replenished and cooled and help extend the life of the pump.

quote:

Originally posted by nhracecraft:
One shop, THOUSANDS of blown motors? Surely you jest. Dude should've put in his own Gas Station serving up all the finest aromatic fuels available then! Sure does sound like there would be a business justification for it if there's truly a rural fuel desert that exists 'Down South'.

No, I didn’t jest but thank you so much for the courtesy. I asked him how many motors over the years, he’s had to rebuild. “Thousands” was his exact reply due to a myriad of reasons. I was in the shop often, and saw them. Spun bearings, piston ring failure, lots of reasons. Bad fuel wasn’t every one of those, as the cause, but it was common enough. 100% stock motors, tuned motors.

And fuel desert? Really? Sorry to break the bad news to ya, but if you are riding motorcycles or driving a performance car out in the sticks of the twisties where there is extremely low population density, major brand fuel stations are not available. Good idea to top off somewhere else when you find a major branded gas station. In the city or suburbs not really an issue.

Let me know where to show up for the polygraph. You pay for it.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:

quote:

Originally posted by Prefontaine:

He had thousands of blown motors in his shop to be rebuilt due to bad fuel.

If I've told you once, I've told you FORTY MILLION TIMES, don't exaggerate!

I fucking didn’t. Geez, give me a fucking break and find something to do.

Pump gets hot.
Pump burns up.

among the useful relics of the demanding era of First Drivers License in the years of high school Camelot, was a little phrase from my dad, which I was somewhat tardy to accept until adequate experience accumulated during the "Oh Really" test period:

It really doesn't cost more to keep the tank at least half full as it does less than 1/8, base on a number of unpleasant Learning Opportunities.....

Soooooo……………I guess it’s both fact and myth. Fascinating.

quote:

Originally posted by Prefontaine:

He had thousands of blown motors in his shop to be rebuilt

Must be a pretty big shop. Thousands of motors would take a lot of room.

Fuel on many vehicles actually pumps through or around internally the pump motor thus cooling it regardless of fuel level in the tank.

I once bought a used Ford truck from an old man that never let the gas go below 1/4 tank. The fuel gauge, for the remaining life of the truck, would stick/stop at 1/4 tank and never go any lower!

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:

quote:

Originally posted by Prefontaine:

He had thousands of blown motors in his shop to be rebuilt

Must be a pretty big shop. Thousands of motors would take a lot of room.

Only if you rebuild 50 at a time. Guy who rebuilt my 85 Suburban 350 did more than four or five a month - consistently - for near about 50 years.

That is thousands though in his case (RiP Ed Hale) he built/rebuilt a ton of racing motors.

quote:

Originally posted by Prefontaine:

He had thousands of blown motors in his shop to be rebuilt due to bad fuel.

I have heard the it keeps the fuel pump cool stuff but I have it ingrained in myself and my kids to never let it get below 1/4 full because you never know what you're going to run into and you might run out of fuel. I have been stuck in traffic for over 4 hours because of some serious crash. Like near those tunnels that go through the mountain in VA?

During the winter times, my kids and go I fuel up at 1/2 tank.

On long trips, a full tank will get my around 550+ miles so I think I've driven long enough before empty to stop and refuel and take a break. Like when my son was stationed at Fort Bragg, I could make it there in one tank (it was about 510 miles away) and we've done it in one drive but I'd rather stop and take a break and fuel up at least halfway.

I had a 2005 Mercury Sable that I used to run down to fumes on about every tank. I drove it (company car) until about 75,000 miles and then my sister bought it and drove it to 200,000 miles and the she sold it. Never had any issue with it.

quote:

Originally posted by fischtown7:
My reason has always been the SHTF theory on gas tank, you never know when or why you need fuel, so at half tank I topped it up. Occasionally I might go to 1/3 but seldom.

I don't know if there's a mechanical reason for doing so, but I generally don't let my tank go below 1/2 for the same reason as fischtown7.

quote:

Originally posted by Prefontaine:

quote:

Originally posted by lyman:
BS, like the trash in the fuel from the local exxon etcetc

every vehicle I have I usually let go till the fuel light cuts on , and have coasted in a few times on fumes w/o issue


ditto the gas tanks in the ground,
unless you are buying gas from some old station that has not be updated or still has the tanks from 1958

So you never buy fuel from rural stations with older pumps, etc? I can tell you I was quite good friends with the owner of a performance shop locally. He specialized in turbocharged performance cars. He had thousands of blown motors in his shop to be rebuilt due to bad fuel. Shattered piston ring lands. Damaged rod bearings to name a few things. I guess if you live in neverland in some major city or suburb and only buy fuel at state of the art newer gas stations maybe. But many of us have to buy fuel from rural or very rural gas stations. There is no harm in hedging your bets and topping the fuel tank off at 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, etc, especially if it’s a rural gas station with older pumps. Bad fuel causes detonation and that is no bueno for your motor. Each to his own however. It’s not like the gas station charges you an extra fee or tax for topping off a fuel tank.

I don't think there are any left in this area, or this state, that are so old and have not been updated,


the local convenience store has been there 40 yrs in the new building, with pumps updated maybe every 10-15 years, but they still have an old Veeder Root box behind the counter to tell them if there is any water,


if there is a store in this state that has stale fuel, betting it is out of business, and closed


FWIW I had a Cooper S, bought used at 6K, and had a couple trips back for a check engine light,

was lectured the first time about name brand gas, additives etc,

so I stopped using Kroger gas, (I was a Store Manager for them) from a brand new station, and used nothing but Shell, (Kroger partnered with them for discounts)

had to have it serviced again for CEL, started to get the same lecture from the service writer, and shut him down when I told him it has nothing but Shell premium, and then gave him a lecture on how fuel was pumped and delivered and the additives,


guess what, the issue was not the fuel, it was programing and mapping,

got the car back in a week and it ran like a raped ape,


had an expert mechanic tell me our fuel, both diesel and gas, were contaminated due to his customers saying so,

so we pumped from each pump, into a clear container, and there was zero, as in none, 0,, nada, water or trash in any of the containers from any of the pumps,


dude STFU, and went back to work to figure out that either his customer lied, or he had the wrong diagnosis

quote:

Originally posted by 12131:
Soooooo……………I guess it’s both fact and myth. Fascinating.

maybe a mythical fact?? or a factual myth?

quote:

Originally posted by LS1 GTO:

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:

quote:

Originally posted by Prefontaine:

He had thousands of blown motors in his shop to be rebuilt

Must be a pretty big shop. Thousands of motors would take a lot of room.

Only if you rebuild 50 at a time. Guy who rebuilt my 85 Suburban 350 did more than four or five a month - consistently - for near about 50 years.

That is thousands though in his case (RiP Ed Hale) he built/rebuilt a ton of racing motors.

I knew a Ed Hale, ran an Upholstery shop here, made a killing doing headliners in 80's and 90's cars, (foam backed fabric sucked) and the occasional boat or car interior,


we used to fish together a lot , great dude, then cancer got him

RIP