A relative of mine told me that I should never let my gas gauge go below 1/4 tank because it will cause the fuel pump to burn out. Is this fact or fiction? I've heard a lot of rumors about cars in the past, so I don't believe everything I hear.

You give no clue as to what brand or model car you are talking about, but whatever it is I wouldn't worry about it.

Peter

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Auto Zentral Ltd.

There is nothing damaging about running the tank down low. The myth that it will "pickup the crap at the bottom of the tank" is a good one too......the pickup is always at the bottom of the tank!

The only time is can do damage is on older style pumps (CIS/Kjet vehicles and early EFI) is when the pump starts to pickup air, but you'd have to let the tank get pretty low to get to this point.

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Alex.

MB Tech
Sydney, Australia
Volvo 122S
W201 190D 2.5 manual
W202 C240
W203 C32

It's more likely you'll run out of gas before you burn out a pump...

Best Regards,
Jim

This really IS true, it happened to me TWICE on a POS GM 84 Oldsmobile. Twice, within two days after "running on fumes", I lost the fuel pump that was embedded in the gas tank. $300 each time to drop the tank and replace it. Yes, I DID learn to keep in at least 1/3 full.

I'm guessing that the POS, worthless turd of a pump was ingeniously designed to use fuel as cooling. This way, GM could use as little actual metal as possible in a crucial part. Probably saved GM 20 cents. It saved me a lot of money too-I never spent another dime on a GM car!

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86 560SL
With homebrew first gear start!
85 380SL
Daily Driver Project

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