out of gas

[dramo1]

hey guys..i ran out of gas today because my fuel sender is messed up and the puter tells me i got like 50 more miles left of gas..my question is what kind of damage will this do..it has happened more than once..today the rear end seemed to be smoking like crazy as i sputtered into the gas station and it smelled really bad

thanks

 

[6 Shooter]

It's hard on your fuel pump.

 

[Rain]

yea, know its bad for the fuel pump since it uses the gasoline to help cool itself.

Ran out in mine last night on the way back from a gig. I was 20 miles from the next city, cell phone was dead and just by luck my drummer was an hour behind me.

An hour of sitting on the side of the interstate, flashers on, gas lid up, rear hatch up with a bright orange shirt dangling from it and NOT ONE person stopped to see if I was ok. 10:30 pm

Of course the battery was weak once we got fuel in her and had to run to the next town for a set of cables.

But same boat - mine said I had 35 miles before empty.

 

[LT4man]

Hey, guys. I used to do the same thing. Look at my trip computer and not fill-up until I only had a gallon or two in the tank. Then my fuel pump went out and I was 200 miles from home!

Learned the hard way. Now I fill-up when I get below half. In fact, on the 96s, I found that once you hit the halfway point on the gauge, the calibration of the gauge changes. Less gas in the lower half than the upper half.

The cooling properties of the gasoline enables the pump to last nearly forever.

As a comparison, my 93 Grand Prix SE with 147,000 miles has the original fuel pump. I have a trip computer in that one also, but for some reason, keep the tank filled.

SAVE THE WAVE!

 

[Mike_88z51]

dramo1, you can fix the sending unit problem yourself. It requires pulling the entire fuel sending unit out and cleaning the windings in the fuel level sending unit. Takes about an hour and costs less than $20 to do. Cheaper if you reuse the tank gasket (which I don't recommend, but many have done with no harm). Feel free to email me for an illustrated write-up if interested.

 

[sxyvet]

"keen on repairing/cleaning sender unit?"

dramo1, you can fix the sending unit problem yourself. It requires pulling the entire fuel sending unit out and cleaning the windings in the fuel level sending unit. Takes about an hour and costs less than $20 to do. Cheaper if you reuse the tank gasket (which I don't recommend, but many have done with no harm). Feel free to email me for an illustrated write-up if interested.

hi there mike,
how are you!
i am very keen on learning how to go about cleaning the sender unit as my sender unitin my 1991 vette is also reading false all the time!
can you please email me the write up please to
sxy_corvette@hotmail.com
thanks heaps
glen
sxyvet
Australia

 

[Scott Winebarger]

hey guys..i ran out of gas today because my fuel sender is messed up and the puter tells me i got like 50 more miles left of gas..my question is what kind of damage will this do..it has happened more than once..today the rear end seemed to be smoking like crazy as i sputtered into the gas station and it smelled really bad

thanks

OK guys first time ever I ran out of gas in my Vette today and it said I had 1/4 tank left , bumped the car and it fell to E.. Get gas , come home , log into CAC and the first post was this one ...

NOBODY CRASH PLEASE !

Shes back in the garage full of $3.07 gas and ready for the next trip out..

 

[WhalePirot]

Learned the hard way. Now I fill-up when I get below half. The cooling properties of the gasoline enables the pump to last nearly forever.

Ditto.

Methinks the gas is a lube, too.

FWIW, when I redid the car, I checked the resistances on the sender and it checked okay. This gauge has never been reliable, which I would dearly love to fix. Pullin the unit is not a big deal.

How about posting what works for cleaning?

 

[MoeJr]

I never run my car that low on gas. The pump needs the gas for cooling. On my car when the gauge reads 1/2 I know I have about 7 gallons left. The sending unit isn't very accurate past that point in my car.

 

[sxyvet]

dramo1, you can fix the sending unit problem yourself. It requires pulling the entire fuel sending unit out and cleaning the windings in the fuel level sending unit. Takes about an hour and costs less than $20 to do. Cheaper if you reuse the tank gasket (which I don't recommend, but many have done with no harm). Feel free to email me for an illustrated write-up if interested.

hi mike_88z51,
could you please let us know how to go about cleaning fuel tank sender please?
thanks
glen
sxyvet
australia
sxy_corvette@hotmail.com

 

[Mike_88z51]

sxyvet, I wasn't ignoring you, just had not logged in or checked emails recently. I have sent you an email with a zip file FGuage.zip that contains the complete illustrated Tech Tip that Corvette Forum member Frizlefrak and I wrote up. He did all the wonderful pictures which help walk you through the entire process. I'll be glad to send a copy to anyone else who sends me an email. You can do so via my profile.

I'd post the tip here, but I don't know how to post the entire article with photos. It is over 400k compressed in the zip file. Lots of pics.

-Mike

 

[milehigreg]

I feel fortunate

Last weekend I took a short trip north of here for a baseball game and ended up waiting to fill until a got back to Denver. I usually don't let it get below 1/4 of a tank. Gage was down to one bar left. Didn't run out. Whew! So should I be confident now or more cautious?

 

[sxyvet]

thanks mike!

sxyvet, I wasn't ignoring you, just had not logged in or checked emails recently. I have sent you an email with a zip file FGuage.zip that contains the complete illustrated Tech Tip that Corvette Forum member Frizlefrak and I wrote up. He did all the wonderful pictures which help walk you through the entire process. I'll be glad to send a copy to anyone else who sends me an email. You can do so via my profile.

I'd post the tip here, but I don't know how to post the entire article with photos. It is over 400k compressed in the zip file. Lots of pics.

-Mike

hi there mike,
thanks for the email you gave me r.e repairing fuel tank sender!
really appreciate it very much mate!
cheers
glen
sxyvet
australia

 

[safety_match]

don't forget that it's also down in the last couple of inches of fuel that the sediment is in and you don't want to be sucking up any of that...also, an empty fuel tank develops water condensation on the metal sides...keeping it topped up is good for many reasons