Fuel Sediment

Old people always tell me not to let my gas tank go all the way to emplty because there's always sediment in the bottom of the tank that will hurt the engine.

True? :confused:

I figure if this was really a problem, we'd get out fuel tanks flushed once and a while or something.

Also, isn't sending sediment into the engine to be burned off and expelled better than stockpiling it in the tank?

My father-in-law never lets his gas tank drop below half. What's the point of having an X gallon tank, if only half of it is useful?

I run my car until the low fuel light comes on every time. :devil: Burn, baby, burn!! :devil:

That's what fuel filters are for. Worst case scenario is that some stone or something clogs up a fuel line, but fuel lines are considerably larger than the holes in the fuel filter, so I highly doubt you ever have to worry. I take mine to empty too, no damage done. Old people are just used to crap old cars that they hadn't figured stuff like this out on yet...

Originally posted by jay@af
Old people always tell me not to let my gas tank go all the way to emplty because there's always sediment in the bottom of the tank that will hurt the engine.

True? :confused:

I figure if this was really a problem, we'd get out fuel tanks flushed once and a while or something.

Also, isn't sending sediment into the engine to be burned off and expelled better than stockpiling it in the tank?

My father-in-law never lets his gas tank drop below half. What's the point of having an X gallon tank, if only half of it is useful?

I run my car until the low fuel light comes on every time. :devil: Burn, baby, burn!! :devil:


I guess that could be true. But you need to get the shit in there first. I read somewhere that it is best to stay away from a gas station that has just had its tanks filled by the tankers, as that stirs up stuff. So if I see a tanker at a gas station, I will just cruise on past to tthe next place. But you know, driving on your tires tends to wear them down. So maybe I wont drive anymore.

And don't fuel lines suck (or gravity-feed) from the bottom of the tank anyway? Or are the big bad sediments living at the top of my tank?

edit: I do that, too, Kris. :D

well, um, eerr, last week, i, um, ran out of fuel, and, um, eerr, i didnt know it had ran out of fuel, i, um, thought that i had blown car up or something, and, um, i went and told dad, and he asked, um, if it had just died while i was driving along, and, um, eerr, i said yes, and, um, he said it had run out of petrol, and, eerr, he was right.........
:o :( :o

shows how much i know about cars :)

Its all crap, from the letting it run out to getting gas from a recently resupplied pertol station.
The sediment counts in your fuel are VERY low, and the filter takes care of them anyway, as long as you replace the filter when your supposed to it dosnt matter.

The only potential problem with running completely out of gas is some early fuel injected cars could get an air bubble in the fuel line, and the pump would cavate and destroy its self. Of course cars will stop long before the pump can dmamge itself, and any modern cars is plumped in such away that it will self bleed.