Has this ever happened to anyone? It happened to me the other day, when my fuel gauge wasn't working, and told me I had 1/2 a tank left...when I was in fact empty. My car sputtered to a halt at a light when I tried to enage 1st gear. I was able to restart it, and run for another 1/4 mile b4 it died (again). I know it's not good for a car to run til empty, so my concern is that I may have done some damage to the engine. Could I have? And, if so, what can I do to fix or lessen the damage?

Thx.

 

I believe running out of/low on fuel is hardest on the fuel pump. On the motor though, I'm not sure if any damage can sustain from low fuel/no fuel situations. I'm sure someone more knowledgable will chime in.

-Homie J

 

No, there wouldn't be any engine damage.

I've heard the tale about not wanting to run your tank to empty because you will collect the sediment in the bottom. This never made much sense to me since it seems like any sediment would be stirred and mixed with the gas when the car is in motion.

 

If you think about seriously, if that was the case you would have to fill up your tank all the time. Your gas gets sucked from the very bottom.

-Trung

 

its hard on the fuel pump becuase the pump works best(and is cooled) by being submerged in gasoline. your fuel injectors can also suck up dirty contaminants from the bottom of the gas tank and can cause them to clog up.

 

You'll be fine.

 

I ran out of fuel one block before the race track. The car shake/vibrate for a little bit and when I gas there was no respond, until finally it die out. I just add more fuel and it shake/vibrate for a bit when I started driving and it went back to normal

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by RazorV3
its hard on the fuel pump becuase the pump works best(and is cooled) by being submerged in gasoline.

 

I don't think you did any harm to the car. But why doesn't your gas guage work!?

 

I'd imagine if it happened to you say 500 times at WOT it might be bad. Considering the fact that the ECU does not actually know it is not getting fuel until the o2 sensor gets a lean condition or the engine stops, because there is no intermediate metering device. Hence you get a lean condition that may cause detonation..

Hey it's possible you destroyed the compression rings