how often do u change ur fuel filter? time-wise & distance-wise?

has anyone ever seen sediment/dirt at the bottom of their fuel tank?

i'd like to replace my fuel tank to see just how dirty it gets down there.

 

oops my bad, i only put in 13.398 gallons insted of 13.986, read it wrong, so i guess thats almost 14.4 gallons though.
i usually dont let it get down that low, during the school year i fill at half a tank, but during the summer i've been doing mostly extra urban driving and highway driving so i let it go longer cause im getting better mpgs, that and i was in boston at 11:15 and i was suppose to be back at my summer place in maine by 11:30 sooo i didnt want to waste anymore time. hahahaha, i left with 3 bars and got to portsmouth with the 1 and filled up.

 

Gas gallons in the tank can vary by temperature as much as 6%. I have put 14.4 in mine on a very hot day.

Gasoline volume changes approximately 0.125% for every 1ºC change in temperature (0.058%/ºF) .

Good Reading on this subject:

http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-08-1114

http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/reso...lUSAJune07.pdf

http://www.nh.gov/agric/news/documents/fuel.pdf

 

Current record: 8 miles to empty when I saw the first gas station -- after 30+ mins uphill on the last indicator alone.

 

Why do you guys run it so low? I don't get the appeal... Someone please explain it to me.

I'm sure 95% of us pass a gas station on our drives, so it can't be a convenience thing. My mum and dad told me never to let it go below 1/4, or below 1/2 in the winter because you never know when you might get stuck in, say, a 6-hour traffic jam, or get stranded somewhere and need the gas to generate heat, etc...

 

Or, have to run from the men in black. No good if you run out of gas and they catch you.

I've never understood waiting until empty, either. It wasn't such a big deal with cars from 50 years ago, but with fuel injection and electric fuel pumps, it is a risky habit. A miscalculation (by you or the car) can be very expensive.

When gas prices are rising, it also costs more to wait longer. Fill it up at 1/2 tank and that half will cost less than if you wait until almost empty.

 

I do not know of anyone including myself that has had a problem running the tank down all the way but it is generally not considered a good practice. The thought is that some contaminants may lay in the bottom of the tank. Also, with a mostly empty tank, maybe the tank is more prone to moisture settling out of the air that is in bulk of the tank. What I do know is that at my marina, when they get low in their tank used to fill up boat tanks, they will stop selling gas and wait for the gas truck to fill them back up. That means loss of business for them but their experience has been that sediment, etc settles in the bottom of the tank and when they get low, they do not want to be the cause of screwing up the boats getting the last drops. believe they stop selling ags when their tank is down to about the last 20%.

Just in case anyone is interested, the 2009 Clubman operators manual indicates not to go below a certain reading on that mileage counter...believe it was not to go below 40 miles left on the counter.

 

Running on empty, especially when it gets cold, is a surefire way to have water condense in your tank. Plus, walking sorta stinks.

if I remember correctly (sorry if this was said already) the trip computer figures "miles to empty" on the last 30 miles driven.

*shrugs*

 

I ran mine out of gas with 31 miles showing on the Tach Guage. One of those mornings where I didn't have time to fill up and I needed to get my niece the the airport. I got her there all right but I noticed there were no gas stations anywhere and the gauge still showed 55 miles so I hopped back on the freeway. Pissed me off because I was stranded on a freeway interchange with my daughter in the car and the gas station was only another mile away. I think you should be able to rely on the guage a little better than that. Thank you AAA.