If you are of a certain age, or should we say, if your parents or those who are teaching you to drive are of a certain age, you probably heard that if you run your fuel tank down past the 1/4 mark, you run the risk of sucking sludge at the bottom of your tank into your engine and destroying your engine.
The warning about running low on fuel is so common it is generally accepted as true.
Well, here is the truth. It’s not.
Where did this myth come from? We aren’t sure, but it dates back at least 50 years and the days before electric pumps. Before fuel pumps were electric, they were mechanical, run by a lobe or the camshaft. These mechanical fuel pumps sucked the fuel from the tank. Gravity took care of much of the work when the fuel tank was full. When the tank started to empty, it became harder for the pump to get a constant fuel flow. Back then, the unofficial rule was never to let your tank get below the 1/2 full mark. If there was a partial or complete interruption of fuel into the line, it could cause a vapor lock, which could cause an engine to lose power, stutter, or stall. It would also be difficult to restart the engine.
In the late 1960s, the electric fuel pump became widely used, and it was a game-changer. Since the electric pump pressurizes the fuel line, vapor lock was no longer an issue.
As for sludge accumulating at the bottom of the tank… the fuel intake is at the bottom of the tank. If it weren’t, any fuel below the intake would be wasted since it would never be able to get into the intake. The constant movement of the fuel at the bottom of the tank would not allow any sludge to form. That doesn’t mean that the bottom of the tank is pristine. There may be some water deposits and some rust. These things are not an issue since the amount of water that accumulates is not enough to be an issue, and the rust would be caught in the filters before it got into the engine.
So the myth of not wanting your tank to get too low is busted. As long as there is any fuel in the tank, there should be no issues related to the fuel itself.
This does not mean you should run your tank that low because if you run out of gas, you risk damaging the fuel system, including the electric fuel pump. The worst thing you can do is play chicken with your gas tank. How often have you been low on fuel and skipped a gas station because it was on the other side of the street, you didn’t want to get off the highway, or the price was too high? Even within a city, there is a chance of getting caught too far from a gas station.
If you are driving alone at night, you may not want to stop to fill your tank. However, if you know you may be in this situation, it is vital to plan ahead and fill your tank when possible. If the reason you don’t want to stop is the price, you don’t have to fill up your entire tank. Instead, get a few gallons to get home or to a station with a better price.
If you don’t want to stop because the station is on the other side of the street, you will have to get over that inconvenience.
While the old stories of why you should never let your fuel tank get too low are not true, you should still avoid running out of gas. When you bring your car in, there are additives we can provide that will help to keep fuel systems clean, and of course, when you bring your vehicle in for an inspection or a tune-up, we will check to make sure your fuel system is working correctly.
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