Fuel Range.. how far past zero can you go?

[aseibel]

I fill up whenever I'm below 1/4 tank and driving near the costco 

[Wiggums]

23 minutes ago, Silverado4x4 said:

If you think by running your tank down to clean out sediment you are way wrong, where do you think its going in the motor? These fuel pumps have a filter in the pump in the tank and when you shut the truck off a little bit of fuel will back flush the filter keeping it clean.

 

What does earthquakes have to do with how much fuel you keep in your tank?

I am in Orange County that's seismically active. I see you haven't been stranded because you didn't have enough gas during the Northridge Earthquake. It was a lesson learned so I keep it 1/4 or even 1/2 full whenever I can.

I regularly drive in very dusty conditions so I expect sediment in my gas tanks. It's not about keeping the filter clean, it's about getting rid of the sediment By not allowing it below a certain point, you're letting it build up.

[Wiggums]

8 minutes ago, aseibel said:

I fill up whenever I'm below 1/4 tank and driving near the costco 

I'm the same way!

[the wanderer]

34 minutes ago, Wiggums said:

I am in Orange County that's seismically active. I see you haven't been stranded because you didn't have enough gas during the Northridge Earthquake. It was a lesson learned so I keep it 1/4 or even 1/2 full whenever I can.

I regularly drive in very dusty conditions so I expect sediment in my gas tanks. It's not about keeping the filter clean, it's about getting rid of the sediment By not allowing it below a certain point, you're letting it build up.

 

That's not how it works. The fuel FILTER filters out any sediment that might accumulate in your tank. It never gets to your engine regardless of how dirty your tank is. That's the whole purpose of the filter. Once the sediment is in your tank, it doesn't come out unless you vacum it out or flush it with the filter off.

[L86 All Terrain]

Not only is it hard on your pump to do that for cooling and starvation reasons, but in winter climates leaving a cold fuel tank with no fuel in it leaves a lot of room for condensation to build on the walls of the fuel tank and introduce water to your fuel. Not good idea for many reasons. I wish we had Ford sized tanks for this reason, although it is nice to pull up to the pumps in Canada and have it NOT cost $200 like a Ford does. It may cost $200 to fill a Chevy here after the "Carbon Tax" starts April 1st... They still wont tell us how much they are upping the price. 

[Racindave]

I’ve had mine miss a few times when i got gas at certain stations so I run mine down periodically in case there is water in the tank. My thinking is i can try to burn it out before it accumulates to too much to burn. But that’s just me. 

[Wiggums]

It doesn't get that cold in southern California so build-up of condensation isn't an issue but.. that's just California.

 

As Racindave stated, fuel filter's not always efficient. Water build-up is always a possibility.

I don't empty my tank regularly, I do it once every 10,000 miles. We had a lot of rain here recently so I did it at 5,000 miles instead of the usual 10,000 miles.

 

That's why I was asking how close I could get to zero, or even if I could go below, and the inputs I got here wasn't exactly helpful, but thanks for the responses.

[garagerog]

Take it from an old fart, there is no reason whatsoever to run a tank dry to get rid of sediment, or water for that matter. Water is not an issue with what most people run, no matter the time of the year, the 10% ethanol will dissolve the water just fine, and for gawd's sake you want the sediment to stay on the bottom of the tank, not clogging your fuel filter, sock on the fuel pump or whatever, oh and another thing, maybe that sediment will get past those filters and the fuel injectors will just handle that and burn it off, NOT!

[Wiggums]

No, the question was...

 

How close to zero or how far past zero can I go before I'm out of gas?

[garagerog]

1 hour ago, Wiggums said:

No, the question was...

 

How close to zero or how far past zero can I go before I'm out of gas?

I ran out of gas just once, in college, and had my college roommate to help push me to a service station, fortunately I'm no longer a struggling college student, way past that, in years anyway. To me this is just an idiotic question, or maybe not, try it in Death Valley in August and report your results.

[Booger T]

3 minutes ago, garagerog said:

try it in Death Valley in August and report your results.

[Wiggums]

There are many things that can cause one to be nearly out of gas. I only wanted to know what the cushion was. Now you're set on ignore so I don't have to listen to your drivel. Good riddance.

[garagerog]

25 minutes ago, Wiggums said:

There are many things that can cause one to be nearly out of gas. I only wanted to know what the cushion was. Now you're set on ignore so I don't have to listen to your drivel. Good riddance.

Fine, Wiggy, no loss to either one of us I guess, those of my generation have learned through experience to avoid unnecessary troubles, if that doesn't work we rely on slight of mind and treachery. Once you graduate from Mommy's basement, please come back when you have something worthy of contributing.

[Jimmyc!]

Reminds me of a Seinfeld episode.

[Dnt]

Wiggums, would you be willing to perform an experiment for the good of the forum data base? Maybe fill up a 5 gallon gas can with your favorite ethanol blend and roll out on a trip along a Non-Busy side road and monitor your vehicle until it dies from fuel starvation? Please be sure to list out the truck specs (cab configuration/4x4?/options/engine size/gas tank size etc) so the information is useful for comparisons. I doubt that a one time fuel starvation will damage the fuel pump significantly maybe it only goes 150k miles when it could have done 250k?  Good Luck man, I look forward to seeing this very important data posted.