AR

iTrader: (2)

is it? i heard this myth somewhere. mpg techs, please explain.

ngophat

well first guess are usually the best guess, but from what i hear if you let the gas drop really low it sucks in the grit that accumulates at the bottom of tank, which leads to depositing on the valves and could cause fuel line problems (??). i wouldnt worry bout it though, ive ran till the gas light came on more than a few times. just throw some engine cleaner in the tank ever once in a while during fillup and i think you should be good to go.

CivicSouldjaEX

iTrader: (7)

yeah, we have a lot of reserve space in there for those emergencies when you can't find a gas station, I had to drive on my yellow light on for a long time. But just to be precautious, you can use the fuel line cleaner. Wouldn't hurt. BTW I heard higher octane gas is cleaner and so that way you won't get that grit at the bottom? true?

PESTLNC

If I remember correctly we have a 13-gallon tank. The "low-fuel" light usually turns on right around 10 gallons gone.

Souldja...higher octane gas isn't any cleaner than 87. It may actually cause more fouling on our cars than "low" grade.

AR

iTrader: (2)

thanks for the info pestlnc. ive always read your mpg posts, you know too much about gas.

kempster

iTrader: (2)

I think its really just a big deal when its really cold, cause i always hear when people race they would like less than a 1/4 tank of gas

WannaBFast

iTrader: (16)

well thats because it weighs less than a full tank....

injencivic

iTrader: (7)

Yes, it is bad to leave your car with below half a tank of gas. It clogs up your fuel injectors and in turn will lead to problems with your fuel lines clogging up. Also this can cause major problems with your fuel pump going bad!! so i would keep at least at half tank.

INJEN

sawgunner06

When my gas gets to about a quarter tank I am always trying to find a place to fill up. Thats just because I dont like it being lower than that. But hey if it keeps my fuel lines clean thats a pluss.


Good thread I learned something today. THX guys.

Shawn02

man thats crazy.....my fuel pump went bad and I always fill up when the tank gets slightly below half. Just bad luck I guess. Hey PESTLNC...I've got a question for you---out here we don't have 87octane, just 86, 88, and 90; I use the 88 always, will that put any undue stress as you were talking about w/ the "high octane"...it doesn't seem like 88 would be too high, and I just don't feel comfortable using 86.

coldblood

From what i have heard if you let your car below 1/4 tank, it sucks all the grit from the bottom then it lead to your fuel lines and to your injector causing problems.
Use a fuel treatment, and keep your fuel sistem working in optimal conditions

PESTLNC

You should be OK with 86. Our cars are actually tuned for 86. I've always recommended 87 because that's regular grade for most of the country. If you do get pinging on 86, switch back to 88.

iamboo

iTrader: (4)

then whats the purpose of the fuel filter? the fuel filter is the thing that cleans nasty particles from getting into our fuel lines is it not? i wouldn't recommend driving with low fuel all the time but car engineers aren't dumb when it comes to things like internal fuel systems...

enlighten me if i'm wrong..

PESTLNC

The funny thing about our fuel filter, is that you can't just go down to AutoZone and order a new one. Honda lists it as "non-servicable", and there is no recommended change interval. Most other makers recommended the fuel filter be changed every 10-20K miles.

Majestic Honda sells the fuel filter for $25, but it looks like it is built into the fuel pump. Again, other makers usually put it inline with the fuel line making replacement a whole lot easier.

Mbow

My hondas in the past had the filters seperate and recommended changing them at about 100k if I remember correctly. I asked them to save one for me so I could check it out. We dumped out about a teaspoon full of gas and it looked like gas..lol I also think that prior hondas had 2 filters.

Anyhow, both me and the wife have driven several hondas to high mileage, over 150k miles. I can tell you that they were always driven until the tank was very low. I continue to do so with the civic. We have never had a problem with anything clogging or any other types of problems. I am sure it does happen but I feel like it is one of those things that someone started and everyone followed suit.

I have heard of problems pertaining to electronic fuel injection when running them completely out of gas. However, I have run out of gas several times and never had a problem, but those instances were in a pontiac.

I wouldn't worry about negative side affects from running the tank low.

Handsonme

iTrader: (3)

That's just crazy.

Gryphin

well to you all who do run in the yellow are stupid my brother rides around on E all the time in his civic, and hes about to put a NEX kit in god cant wait for when he preps to race, pushes the botton to purge and thats the rest of his BOOM BOOM juice

Dr5D

iTrader: (6)

its bad to have less than 1/4-1/2 a tank when its real cold out cause it causes condensation on the fuel take and gets water in your gas. basicly

Falcon

iTrader: (4)

wow.. you got to it just before i did

we run into this all the time in small planes.. thats why we get the tanks filled at the end of the day

overnight (usually) as the warm, moist air in the tank condenses it squeeses some of that water out... and it condenses on the sidewalls of the tank

now water is heavier than gasoline... so the water sinks to the bottom... and eventually into your engine

as you can imagine, the filter does nothing to remove the water, and neither small planes nor our vics run very well on water (thats why small planes have a drain at the bottom of the tank and usually in the fuel sump that you empty before every flight to check for contaminants like water or grit... i suppose you could have one installed on your vic if you're really worried )

silverdevil

iTrader: (5)

Yup. I'm an aircraft mech. as well so I know what he's saying. The dirt will get sucked into your engine no matter how much gas is in there since your pump suckes off the bottom of the fuel tank, not the top. Water is your biggest enemy.

Also, you can't remove the dirt from your fuel tank with a gas treatment. It will clean the built up dirt on your injectors and valves, tho. You can also buy a gas treatment to remove water from your tank but I never tried one, so I don't know if they work or not

Bartkat

Yep, most gas is pretty clean these days. Water condensate in the bottom of the tank can cause problems, especially in cold climates where you can get fuel line freezing. So keeping above 1/4 tank is especially important in cold climates in winter.