Fuel Levels

[Dune Dude]

Interesting article in Diesel Power Mag. about fuel levels for vehicles with in tank fuel pumps.
If your vehicle has an in tank fuel pump, avoid driving until you are almost on Empty.  With the sloshing around of fuel from stop and go and turning, with low levels of fuel you can actually be starving the fuel pump.  Even though it is only for a slit second, It will cause cavitation in the pump which will lead to premature failure.  Also, the pump uses the surrounding fuel to keep itself cool.  When the levels drop real low the pump does not receive sufficient cooling and this will also lead to premature failure. 

[DuneJunkie]

I have my own little system.  I fill my tank when it gets to half.  I hardly ever run it below half a tank, unless its a dune trip or something.  That way, if I ever run short of $, or miss a stop, I know that I still have 1/2 a tank to go with no worries.  I add my fuel additive every other fill up.

[RTOYZ]

How do you know if you have the Fuel pump in the Tank or Not??

[PDP Shane]

It varies from year to year . A service manual would tell you . I do know ( from working on my truck ) that the '03 and '04 dodges have the factory fuel pump mounted up front by the fuel filter . The '05 and up are mounted in the tank .

[Dune Dude]

This recommendation is for both diesel and gasoline vehicles.  Most fuel injected gasoline vehicles have gone to setting the pump inside the tank.

[2fun]

So how low is too low??

Surely they don't expect you to keep the tank at 1/4 and up all the time??

I thought I read somewhere that even when the needle reads empty, there is still like 8 gals left in the tank???

[RTOYZ]

There is a percent of fuel Like 8% left after the computer shows 0 miles to empty. I have tested this out once. 

[DuneJunkie]

There is a percent of fuel Like 8% left after the computer shows 0 miles to empty. I have tested this out once. 

now thats a story I got to here!

[2fun]

There is a percent of fuel Like 8% left after the computer shows 0 miles to empty. I have tested this out once. 

LMAO!!   

Ok, lets hear the story!!   

So 8% is about 2 gal or so??
Posted on: February 12, 2007, 10:12:49 PMOk, so my fuel light came on, on the way home from my last Dune trip 2/9/08

Anyway, it was on for about 13 miles or so before I could fill up, and DTE read abot 60 mi or so if I remember correctly.

Anyhow, after filling up, it appeared that I still had about 3 gal left in the tank, so it looks like with my truck anyway (06 Dodge cummins quad cab) that there is approx 4 gal left in the tank when the fuel light comes on.