Do you fuel your vibe when the light kicks in?

[THINKPADT61]

I keep hearing that you should refuel your car before the warning light kicks in .... but i notice there are rougly 9 liters of fuel when the car warning light turn on, which is about 1/5 of our 50L tank....
so the question is... is 9L enough to avoid damage to the fuel pump?

[win-star]

That's strange that your car vibrate when the light kicks in or before, I never experiance that before. Most cars these days, the light comes on early before the fuel pump starts to work harder that it should be. But it's a good habit to keep atleast 1/2 tank in your car if possible, especially in the winter.


so what car do you own?

[VorteC]

I think he owns a Vibe.

It shouldn't damage your fuel pump to have the car run past the yellow light. I've driven past the yellow light by as much as 30km and the car still ran fine.

[akravator]

You'll be fine.
So long as the fuel pump is pumping fuel you're fine.

When it stops pumping fuel. You'll know :P

[Quiggie]

But if you let it get down too low, won't it suck up the crud/residue in the fuel tank?

[Paolo]

what kinda car is it?

[ES_Revenge]

Ha OP must have thought he was on a Vibe forum :D

But yeah you should keep your tank filled as much as possible. Usually I try to fill up when I have 1/2 to 3/8ths of a tank remaining, though it doesn't always work out that way and I sometimes end up getting close to empty.

There's a few reasons you want to keep your tank filled instead of running it dry, though some of these are vehicle dependent as to whether they are advantages or not... Off the top of my head though:

-In many cars the fuel also acts as a cooling method for the fuel pump. When the tank gets low[er] less fuel cools the pump and therefore, arguably, you are shortening the fuel pump life by constantly running close to empty.

-Dirt/sediment, as already mentioned by another poster, is more likely to get picked up and run through the injectors and engine as you run towards empty. Though there is a fuel filter(s), this will also only serve to plug up the filter more over time.

-Fuel acts as a rust inhibitor for your tank (applies only to metal tanks obviously). Keeping it filled prevents condensation/water from forming in the tank (and getting in your fuel) and prevents the tank from rusing. Also by preventing rust in the tank you're preventing sediment from the rust particles getting in there. Another benefit, metal tank or not, is that in the prevention of water formation you are preventing fuel tank/line freeze up in the winter as well.

Now none of these problems (pump failure, injector/filter clogging/engine damage, or fuel tank rusting out) are going to happen if you run your tank close to empty just once or even every now and again. They aren't problems that just pop up or anything, they are problems that happen over time. And, if you continually run your car to empty or never fill above a half tank, then you're bound to encounter some of these problems sooner rather than later.

It actually puzzles me as to why people that claim to not be able to afford as much gas when the prices go up, continually fill only "$20" or only to half, or something like that. You may as well keep the tank filled and just keep adding that $20 or half tank when you have a half tank remaining, because other than that initial extra half tank you have to buy, it's the same as filling it up halfway from empty, only you're saving yourself repair costs down the road.

About the only advantage I can see to keeping less fuel in your car is that it will accelerate faster due to lower weight, lol. Obviously this should only be a consideration at the 1/4 mile strip, not the regular road.

[boredstudent3]

less weight in the back also means less weight on ur springs and shocks...

[VorteC]

less weight in the back also means less weight on ur springs and shocks...

meh. negligible. half a tank in a vibe is like 20L. which is about 20kg. that's like.. 1/4 of a person. haha.