FUEL PUMP QUESTION, TRUE OR FALSE

Shop deals on ebay
shop deals on amazon
Advertise with us
Ford SportTrac Forum

Help Support Ford SportTrac Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
G

Gary L

Active Member
Joined
May 12, 2003
Messages
248
Reaction score
0
Location
DRACUT, MA
I wanted ask this question base on what someone told me about fuel pumps.

Is it true that driving your a vehicle below a quarter tank of gas on a regular basis will reduce the life of the fuel pump?:unsure:
 
So they claim. I drive mine till I have a half of gallon of fuel left and have never had a problem with a fuel pump.







Tom
 
Well.... sort of.

The fuel in the tank acts as the coolant for the fuel pump itself.



When the fuel passes thru the fuel rail it picks up a good amount of heat that is being radiated from the over all engine. To see how much it actually heats up, feel the tank with your hand before you leave for a decent drive. Then feel it once you get to where your going. The lower the fuel level the more heat that is retained. So now you are cooling the internal workings of the fuel pump with warm to hot gas. This causes the pump to exand, just like your fingers do when you get hot. It is in this expanded condition that the pump loses some of its performance due to the increase of the tolerances.



That said, with the desgn of the pumps as we know them today they are pretty tuff. I drive until my light comes on in many cases.



Clear as mudd???
 
Try to keep it more than half full all the time (unless on a road trip) - keeps the gauges up to snuff. Esp. in the winter, don't want the tank freezin' up.
 
Costiejoe is the most correct in my opinion. The fuel pump is cooled by the surrounding fuel and also tends to muffle the hum of the fuel pump. 1/4 tank is not too low on most vehicles so that should not be a problem, however running the vehicle with the tank at or near Empty can cause problems. Some vehicles will have more problems with this than others.



The other problem with running your gas tank too low is that any dirt or sediment that develops in the tank will be in a higher concentration as the fuel is used and can actually restrict the fuel pickup filter. This is usually not a problem on a newer vehicle but can be a factor when the vehicle starts getting close to 10 years old.



...Rich
 
My 1999 GMC has 220,000 miles on it, and I understand from mechanics that the GMC has the same kind of pump in the tank as our Tracs do. However, my GMC also has a fabulous problem with an erratic gas gauge. After checking around, it seems that the fuel tank sending unit is intergral with the pump, and the whole thing will have to be replaced, to the tune of about $500. Not wishing to spend $500 right now, and being the adventuresome sort, I drive it around using the trip meter to tell me when to fill up. I have run out twice (once on the freeway 1/2 mile from the station, I just rolled up to the pump as it lost momentum! The second time I got to push it about 200 ft.). A fresh tank of gas, and it starts up just fine. There may still be enough gas in there to keep it cool for a minute or two, but not enough to get any pressure. I wouldn't recommend running out, though. You feel really stupid pushing a two ton truck!;):D
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I would suspect that there was some case where it was true, but I would not worry about it unless maybe you live some where real hot..



external electric fuel pumps (aftermarket) have a reputation of dieing from heat.. or so I am told,, for that reason I just took the trouble to drop my tank in my 73' Scout II and put a GM style in tank pump in there for my future Fuel injection upgrade. I also need a new feul level sender,, so I killed 2 birds with one wrench,, and gave a paint job to boot,, (so make it 3 birds).. The hideous vomit color of the tank prolly made the cops want to pull me over..
 
Run mine till the light comes on.... Most of the time it takes over 20 gallons to fill...

Todd Z
 
I have found several seemingly credible links on the web that backup Coastie and Richard on the issue of potentially insufficient cooling and the sediment factor when running a tank near-empty (see link).



However, the question remains, what is TOO LOW? Is less than 1/4 of a tank TOO LOW?



That seems pretty high still to me.



TJR
 

Latest posts

Top