Yes, you should keep your gas tank full. Don’t make the mistake of assuming you’ll save money if you make your car, crossover, SUV, or truck use every last drop of gasoline before you fill it up again. You’ll spend more money in the end, actually. Trinity Auto Care explains why below, so please keep reading.
It’s All About Your Fuel Pump
The gas gets from your tank to your vehicle’s engine via the fuel pump. The fuel pump is a crucial automotive part. Without it, you won’t be able to start your car or maintain an idle. Driving on fumes directly affects your fuel pump in ways it shouldn’t, which is why it can be expensive to stretch your dollars by refusing to fill your gas tank until absolutely necessary. Here’s what we mean.
When your tank is nearly empty, your fuel pump draws air instead of gasoline through to the engine. While this doesn’t cause excessive harm to your engine, it does damage your fuel pump’s motor. Because the pump is drawing air instead of liquid, i.e. gas, the fuel pump motor overheats. It’s the fuel in your tank that prevents the fuel pump motor from running too hot. Strange but true.
The Fuel Pump Can Damage Your Engine
If your fuel pump gets too hot, because of where it’s located in your engine it will pass that heat off into the engine. You can guess what happens next. Your cooling system is designed to handle engine heat generated naturally by the combustion system. Any excess heat will bring your engine temperatures up too high for your cooling system to handle. Now, you have an overheated engine, too.
But that’s not all. Your engine will also be exposed to damaging sediment unnecessarily if you push your vehicle to its empty-tank limits. The sediment is found at the bottom of your gasoline tank, and if the fuel pump doesn’t have gas to draw out of the tank it will draw out sediment instead. This can damage the engine, as the sediment dirties the engine parts as it passes through.
Now you see why, yes, you do need to keep your gas tank, or at least half-full. Trinity Auto Care in White Bear Lake, MN, can inspect your gas tank and fuel system if you think you have pump motor or sediment damage. Give us a call today to set up an appointment for an inspection.
