Petrol the new toilet roll

[integrale_evo]

The gauge in the Alfa is woefully pessimistic, even with it in the last quarter and the fuel light on I’ve only managed to get 30l into a supposed 50l tank.

I guess it’s a good thing but you don’t want to get too complacent and realise that one time it’s screaming it’s empty it actually might be

[Beany]

Hmm, letting the fuel tank run totally dry should be avoided really because IIRC the fuel pump is lubricated by the fuel (and running them dry does them no good at all), and when you get to that level of the tank you might end up getting any crap in there pulled, at best, into the pickup sock, and at worst (if the sock is old and fucked) straight into the pump itself, humping it.

I get the idea (and if it's a car you've just got, mebbe you're planning on doing the pump and filter anyway) but it's not something I'd do

[integrale_evo]

So everyone who has ever run out of fuel will immediately have to go and buy a new fuel pump?

[Beany]

So everyone who has ever run out of fuel will immediately have to go and buy a new fuel pump?

Upon reflection, lol no

To be avoided if it can be at all helped, rather than 'doing it for a reason that isn't really that useful if you just try to keep the fuel needle on the gauge most of the time' is perhaps more where I was coming from

[GG.]

Canny.

Very good

[ZedLeg]

So everyone who has ever run out of fuel will immediately have to go and buy a new fuel pump?

Upon reflection, lol no

To be avoided if it can be at all helped, rather than 'doing it for a reason that isn't really that useful if you just try to keep the fuel needle on the gauge most of the time' is perhaps more where I was coming from

I’ve had to bleed the fuel system on a couple of old Diesel engines before because they’ve ran out and air locked. Never had a problem with petrol though, even if it’s sat for a while.

[Sundayjumper]

Not long after I got the Scimitar it ran dry, with a mechanical fuel pump you get a bit of a catch-22 situation that it won't run without fuel (obvs), and it won't pump the fuel properly until it's running. In normal use there's enough in the float bowl to get the car started and you're all good.

I had to take the air filter off and tip petrol straight down the carb to get it to fire up.

[ZedLeg]

Ah yeah, been there before

[IanF]

A30 Shell, followed a M760Li (6.0L V12 these days.. ouch!) into the forecourt where everyone is trying to get into lanes 1-4. Lanes 5-7 had half the cars, so I went hmmm 7 works I’ll look at 8. Yep! UL and no queue Sheeple!

As I was leaving there was a full racer spec Dodge Viper waiting with his engine idling.. brave lad!

[Marv]

So everyone who has ever run out of fuel will immediately have to go and buy a new fuel pump?

Upon reflection, lol no

To be avoided if it can be at all helped, rather than 'doing it for a reason that isn't really that useful if you just try to keep the fuel needle on the gauge most of the time' is perhaps more where I was coming from

I’ve had to bleed the fuel system on a couple of old Diesel engines before because they’ve ran out and air locked. Never had a problem with petrol though, even if it’s sat for a while.

Yeah, modern diesels are usually self priming... I've even seen a priming bulb on a Diesel Megane

I don't entirely buy into the thing that if you run a tank empty, you'll get all the crap at the bottom of the tank enter your engine. They've been fitting fuel filters to cars for a decent amount of years now!

[integrale_evo]

Unless you regularly fill your tank in the middle of a sandstorm there will be sod all in the bottom of a plastic tank.

And yes, the strainer on the intake is designed to filter anything which would damage the pump, the fuel filter to stop anything which would damage the injectors, and the injectors themselves will have a gauze filter.

Pumps also don’t tend to suck fuel from the surface of the fuel and any ‘bits’ will regularly get sloshed around the bottom of the tank end end up in the strainer regardless of fuel level kept in the tank.

[Beany]

Yeah, it's probably bollocks - one of those mechanical urban legends. Perhaps true forty years ago when the fuel pickup was little better than an actual gym sock and the filters were barely a sheet of coffee filter paper in a plastic case but not so much now with synthetic, microfibre pickups and modern filtration, plastic tanks and the like.

I'm quite happy to look like an idiot on this one because it's made me feel better about running on barely more than a quarter tank of fuel at a time for the last couple of years - by my own rules my car should have exploded by now

[Swervin_Mervin]

I regularly run mine low. I've never seen the point of carting around a full tank (unless I've got a big journey obvs) so often run it at a max of half full and then just run it down. Even on my old French shitters it never caused any issues.

[Beany]

This is why I'm the local idiot

[nuttinnew]

Just been past three or four stations, all seemed to have fuel and no queues. I didn't get any, I've half a tank. AIdiw?

[Sundayjumper]

I’ve just topped up at Tesco. Fairly long queue but they’ve got loads of pumps so it moved quite quickly.

[RobYob]

I regularly run mine low. I've never seen the point of carting around a full tank.

Apart from filling being a chore and preferably done as infrequently as possible

[JonMad]

The two in the village are still out of fuel (one had a queue of cars still). Down the road I managed to fill up after about 10 mins of waiting.

[Gavster]

Received this email this morning

Forum group buy?!

[Ascender]

Its still amazing to see some of the pictures of people filling up a dozen plastic fuel cans at a time or using whatever containers they can find. And those kicking lumps out of each other. Is there any hope for the country??