Opinions on driving on empty

[Frank Lee]

Wow, everybody sure has hard-working fuel pumps. I've run the tanks to dry before switching to the other tank on my F150 for 19 years now; Here's how it goes: driving along, engine stumbles from lack of fuel, CEL comes on almost simultaneously, I flip to the other tank, engine resumes smooth operation, gas gauge zooms up to full. Of course, I don't sit there and let the pumps grind away at an empty tank for extended periods but the brief exposures to empty and especially the near empty condition don't appear to have hurt anything.

[RandomFact314]

It's defiantly not for weight savings, haha. I keep the car pretty much completely empty at all times. Just me, a water bottle and my GPS.... That's enough weight savings for me, some of my co-workers I swear have 100lbs of crap in their car, back seats completely full of clothes, garbage, baby supplies, welding supplies.... There was even a printer and type writer in one of their cars for the longest time.. -_-

Anyways... yeah I only do it to try and get 400 miles on 1 tank (supposedly 11.9gallons) just as a self-goal or for fun.... I also hypermile WAY more when I know i'm on my last few sips of gas. I try to hypermile all the time but thats hard when you deliver pizza, people around here are retards and get CRAZY if it takes you 35minutes to bring them a pizza

[PaleMelanesian]

I was going to say your car has a lot more potential than that, until I read "delivering pizza". Good job getting even that much.

[UltArc]

Delivering pizza seems rough. I did this once(running very low to set a PR), 15.6+ on a 16 gallon tank, to get me 600+ miles on a tank.

Allegedly Mustangs have terrible fuel pumps, and should never be under 1/4 of a tank-but these same people have the same Mustang and can't get out of the teens in MPG...so, I take it with a grain of salt. - The point is check with other owners to get an idea if it will be common.

One time shouldn't hurt.

One time, while going for 500 miles in winter, I visited some friends, and did not think about parking on their hill. Of course I coasted into the drive, up the hill- with my nose at the top, rear at the bottom. So before I drove away in my car, we drove to the gas station and bought a gallon of gas to start the engine lol

[RandomFact314]

Originally Posted by PaleMelanesian

I was going to say your car has a lot more potential than that, until I read "delivering pizza". Good job getting even that much.

Yeah I wish things were like back when I just drove to school and back or the first half of when I had my ol' Dodge Neon.... I could see being able to hit maybe 40mpg with that type of suburban driving but this delivery job has me stop and go all the time, lots of short trips and we go downtown where its like the city so it's even worse there...

Good news is my wife asked me what I wanted this year for my birthday and I told her another SGII..... Regret getting rid of my first one ALL the time... Sold it cuz I got rid of my 1996 civic and got a CRX that couldn't use it.
In about 40 days I will have a nice new SGII on my dash

[sully06]

Yeah I always fill up at quarter of a tank because dirt in the bottom of the tank and the cooling of the pump

[Frank Lee]

Why do you put dirt in your tank?

How do you know your pump overheats at <1/4 tank?

[sully06]

I don't know about overheating I just feel better about it. I can't believe all the gasoline I've got has been 100% clean.

[2000mc]

ive heard alot of people say stuff like that . if the dirt is at the bottom, and so is your fuel pickup, why would it matter if you're full or almost empty?

[sully06]

Hmmm that makes some sense