[ds968]

I’ve always done this ( fill up the car anytime it gets below even the half mark )  simply out of a habit I picked up in the 70s,  but had no idea that running with little fuel in the tank is actually dangerous to the car .   

This is an article I was reading today on the Maserati forum ..so thought I’d share it here .

 


<div style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'-apple-system', BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Arial, sans-serif;font-size:13px;">https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news.../index.htm
 
 
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[J.Elenbaas]

So you never check if your lowlevel light still works 

 

It's an odd resume of points in the article.

Maybe there is a point for the fuelpump.

But your fuelfilter has to be changed every 40.000KM or 24.000 miles anyway.

Depending on who is driving any car can run out of fuel if the no-brainer doesn't pay attention to his indicators

 

Dirt, can always be in the tank, but even with a full tank and riding over bumps this can start floating around untill it's being sucked up by the pump.

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[ds968]

I have never changed the fuel filers in any of my cars  ..several over 200 K miles , the Porsches 968s over 100 K miles.   Never had a problem.   But until reading the article I had no idea about the possible issue with the fuel pump.   It does sound however that it’ll be a problem only if it’s subjected to a very prolonged m.o. of running on low levels of gas.    

Not to add fuel to the fire ( pardon the pun )  but near empty gas tanks have a higher risk of exploding ; the more vapors contained in there the greater the potential

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[Roboman]

I too hadn't thought of overheating, but surly the pump won't be running for long?  I wouldn't have thought the cooling effect of the fuel was built into the pump design, but I may be wrong.

 

Talking of no-brainers .... how many times have you seen someone pumping gas with a cigarette hanging from their lips? .... it's not the tank that's empty!!

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[Waylander]

On the Maserati the fuel pump is a submerged type, that means its in the tank in a well of fuel, the 968 is outside of the tank at the very lowest point, it has a filter on the 22mm gravity feed pipe into the pump, then a much smaller particle filter after the pump


Not really fair to compare the systems

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[Roboman]

On the Maserati the fuel pump is a submerged type, that means its in the tank in a well of fuel, the 968 is outside of the tank at the very lowest point, it has a filter on the 22mm gravity feed pipe into the pump, then a much smaller particle filter after the pump


Not really fair to compare the systems

 

You never fail to surprise Waylander - a mine of information!

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[J.Elenbaas]

On the other hand, last night i was going through parts.de and the pump is almost € 100,00.

The filter some € 25,00 so al together not that expensive to change.

 

Sure always better to prevent damage to the pump.

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[ds968]

I don’t think I was comparing the 968 pump with a Maserati pump at all, the article seems to be very general / generic pumps  ( it just happened to have been posted on a Maserati forum ) .. but yes,  different animals , different location ; and to my knowledge, the Maserati does not even have a fuel filter, it’s just a screen that’s a part of the pump which keeps out impurities .. 

As for cost, yup, you can find 968 pumps for anywhere between $ 100 and $ 300  , depending on where you get them ( from Porsche it’s going to be closer to the high end + )  but if you’re not a DIY-er,  as easy as it may be to change,  it’s likely going to add a minimum of two hours labor , and around these parts the average going rate for reputable independent shops runs about $ 200-$225 per hr.    So not all that cheap when you add parts and labor ..

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[MCL968]

Ford trucks had a problem with their fuel pumps failing because of the location relative to the fuel. The pump was designed to rely on the fuel for cooling, and when it gets low the pump overheats and dies.

 

The 968 pump is a different animal and such a problem really would hot apply.

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[Roboman]

"Fail-safe" .... engineering 101 .... it's amazing how often that lesson gets forgotten after graduation.

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[Rap]

So the cayman came with a quirk. The gas gauge sometimes doesn’t show the correct amount of fuel. I was low and decided that before I went to the next event this weekend I would put some more gas in it. Not easy because I had to find 100 % octane. Well I did and put in 10 gallons at $ 13.78 a gallon. The gauge still rests in the beginning of that warning light area of the gauge. The tank holds 16.9 gallons. The Glen is a long circuit and I’m not looking forward to dealing with an inaccurate gauge this weekend. The thread was the impetus to getting more gas. 

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[vliegwielolaf1234]

My car is running on it's original pump , sc installed , and pressure tested once a year , to see if it is still oke pressure wise .

Have had the light on for low fuel ,more than once .

 

i am not worried at all .

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[ds968]

The latest on gas prices 


 

   

 

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[Waylander]

Love that

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[ds968]

But still not caught up with UK prices are we ?   Last I heard from my friend in London, it’s approx  usd $ 7 per gallon ( also based on a US gallon, not imperial one  ) .   Is that about right ? 

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[gtolou]

SE USA - good to keep your car topped off w/ the pipeline issue. No premium and at times.....no gas!!

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[Roboman]

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Good one

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