Running car on empty tank

miniyazz · 15 Jun 2009 at 23:04

miniyazz said:
Personally I don't drain the tank because it's an old car and may have heavy contaminants (e.g. metal filings stuff) at the bottom of the tank, and draining it would increase the chance of those damaging the engine.

Hxc said:
You've got a fuel filter which will stop these getting into the engine.

mglover070588 said:
Running it almost empty will pull all the crap through out the bottom of the tank, the fuel filter should stop it getting through but then its blocking up the fuel filter. Fuel filters are designed to filter fuel particles and general crap out of fuel, they are not there so you can run it empty

malfunkshun said:
Myth! The amount of movement a tank sees there is no way that kind of accumulation would occur. Besides which, as I understand it, tanks might have the exit at the top but a plumbed internally to draw fuel from the bottom of the tank...?

So - here's a few conflicting thoughts on whether or not driving with an almost empty tank is bad, and why. What do the rest of you think on the matter?

miniyazz · 15 Jun 2009 at 23:29

In that case, perhaps I'll not worry so much about letting it get to empty. I carry a spare 5l container of petrol just in case, anyway, so actually running out of fuel would be an inconvenience not a disaster.

Who else carries round a few litres of spare fuel, just in case?

miniyazz · 17 Jun 2009 at 00:10

craig_kennedy83 said:
Im sure i did read/hear a while back that running on empty was bad as the flow of petrol can be interrupted, which would be bad!

How does the ignition cut-off work? I suppose it doesn't just cut power to the fuel pump, otherwise there'd be a slight delay before turning off, but unfortunately I don't know enough about engines to work it out :/

miniyazz · 17 Jun 2009 at 00:42

MrMatteh said:
it would cut spark and injectors...

My knowledge of engine workings is lacking.. but that would make sense, lol.

miniyazz · 18 Jun 2009 at 09:11

Interesting that despite there being little mechanical evidence to support it, there are people who have had problems after letting it run dry.

jegz said:
My F reg Polo was never the same once I ran it dry I cleaned the carb out and everything must have have had some crap lodged somewhere!

Did you try changing the fuel pump? As that has been suggested as a potential problem, though I wouldn't have thought so on just one empty tank.
I wonder if carburettors react differently to injectors wrt not having enough fuel, did you ever try replacing that?