Re: RE: Mirrors and Gas Tanks

From: Terrible Tom (SilverEightynine@aol.com)
Date: Sat Nov 25 2006 - 11:12:59 EST


andy levy wrote:

> Out of the 257 times I put gas into my '99, I put 17 gallons or more
> into it 115 times. I doubt that dozens of gas stations all over NY, PA &
> NJ cheated me regularly over the course of 4 years.
>
> Can't use the last 5 gallons? Hardly.
>
> On 11/23/2006 15:51, Barry Oliver wrote:
>
>>Yup, the 22gallon tank that you can't use the last 5 gallons out of...
>>
>>
>>
>>Gabriel A. Couriel wrote:
>>
>>>pretty much if you have anything but the base dakota, you have the
>>>optional
>>>gas tank. sports and slt's all came with 22 gallon tanks standard.
>>>
>>>Gabriel A. Couriel
>>>

>>>
>>>Next, The owner's manual mentions a standard 15 gallon gas tank, and an
>>>optional 22 (I think it said) gallon tank. I got my Dak used (it used
>>>to be my Dad's), so how can I tell for sure which tank is installed? I
>>>just put 18 gallons in it yesterday, so I'm fairly certain I've got the
>>>larger tank, but I want to make sure the gas station doesn't have a pump
>>>that overcharged me.

Well - guess I should throw my two cents worth in.

The reason you are not supposed to run an electricl fuel pump dry -
whereas you could sit and do it all night long to an old carbed engine
and a mechanical pump, ie because the electric pumps use the lubricating
properties of the fuel - to keep all its peices working right. Even
more critical for diesels.

The pumps themselves do not need to remain submurged - however they DO
need to have fuel moving through them. The pick up filter (sock) on the
bottom are what need to be submerged. Also keep in mind that when the
engine stops, the fuel pump will(should) stop. Continuious attempts to
start and drive a car or truck that is at empty (true empty) will damage
a pump over time. But the odds of frying a fuel pump by running dry
once or twice over he life of the pump, is remote. If you have a 22
gallon can and run it down to where you pump 20 gallons of gas in - I
would think you had little to no chance of damaging the pump.

IF you are concerned about "oh the last gallon of gas or so will have
all the nasty stuff in it!" - also a false. YOur fuel pump is picking
up fuel from the bottom of the tank 100% of the time regardless.
Running down to a gallon or two of gas will not subject the pump to any
more particulate or debris than if the tank was full.

When it comes to fuel gauge accuracy, I was just down this road. The
sending units in our trucks are rather inacurate and the margin of error
between two random trucks is probably high.

They are a simple resistor, prone to manufacturing variances. If the
sending unit float arms are bent even in the slightest, or for that
matter not manufactured with exact tolerances... two trucks rolling off
the assembly line at the same time will read different. It is SO easy
to damage the sending units when installing and removing them from a
fuel tank. Ask me how I know... I've done said procedure more than a
couple of times.

Ok - I think I should step off the soap box...

-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------
"The word, is no. I am therefore going anyway." - James T. Kirk

75 Honda CL360, 89 Dakota, 89 Dakota 4x4, 95 Dakota 4x4, 96 Neon, 01 Ram 4x4 http://members.aol.com/silvereightynine/ AIM & Yahoo: SilverEightynine



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Dec 01 2006 - 10:33:47 EST