andy levy <andy-dml@levyclan.us> wrote:
: On 11/7/2004 9:28 PM, Matt Sweeney wrote:
: | I'm thinking of taking a 5 gallon can and driving till it
: | actually runs out.
: To what end? To figure out how many miles you can go? Instead, just
: track your gas mileage using the time-tested pencil & paper "fill up
: tank every time, miles driven divided by gallons pumped" method. Then
: take that number (your MPG), multiply by 18, and use that as your miles
: possible.
: I say 18 because you want a safety margin.
I think Matt's thinking was to be able to determine exactly
how big the tank is - to determine wether he accidentally got a
15 gallon tank (or whatever) instead of the 22 it is supposed to
have. I did the same thing when I first got my '96. It didn't
have a "low fuel" light, and I wanted to know how low I could let
the needle get before the tank was empty.
I agree with Andy (and others) who have said that its healthier
for the fuel pump to not make a habit of driving around low on
fuel, since the fuel is used to cool and lubricate the pump.
However, I don't think any harm would come from putting a 5 gallon
can of gas in the bed and running out of fuel once, especially on
a new truck that has not yet had an opportunity to build up much
of any crap in the tank which could potentially clog the injectors.
Matt, you might also be able to get a rough estimate by getting
under the truck and measuring the physical size of the tank to get
a rough estimate as to its volume. (1 cubic inch equals ~0.00433
gallons, 1 cubic foot equals ~7.48 gallons.)
--
-Jon-
.-- Jon Steiger ---- jon@dakota-truck.net or jon@jonsteiger.com --.
| 1970 Barracuda - 1990 Dakota 'vert - 1992 Ram 4x4 - 1996 Dakota |
| 1996 Intruder 1400 - 1996 Kolb FireFly - 2001 Ram QC 3500 CTD |
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