What mechanical problems can occur if you drive REALLY low on gas, like ABOUT to finish but just made it to the gas station empty? I was driving my car the other night back from work, it was pretty empty when i left work, and when i got close to my house all of a sudden my gas peddle started to vibrate MORE than it usually does, and my car doesn't pull the way it should. I looked at my cluster and it read empty, made it to the gas station, filled up, and car still doesn't pull the way it should, it struggles. Also, it started to idle low (about 800 rpm), lower than it usually does. Anybody have any ideas what the problem could be, cuz i have absolutely no clue? Though it hit me today could i be driving on 3 cylinders? Is it my alternator? If it helps any more, before this happened i could easily shift from 1st to say 3rd, pretty smoothly, but if i tried doing that now it struggles like crazy, and if i skipped from 1st to 4th it would prolly stall on me, which before i could also do with a little bit of gas. Any idea of what could possibly be wrong would be greatly appreciated. If it makes a difference, ive got a 95 integra LS vtec. LOL and sorry for the long post. If i can think of any other symptoms my car is producing i'll add it.

 

It can burn up the fuel pump. Which just happens to fit the symptoms you've mentioned.

 

Running out of gas won't usually hurt your car. Make sure the fuel pump is priming. Check/replace the fuel and air filters, check your grounds and test the ignition at all four wires. If you can't find the problem, borrow a gauge from a parts store and test the fuel pressure.

 

That's one of the usually parts. When the fuel pump runs without any liquid it spins faster and heats up faster. Usually a good pump can survive this because the motor will stall quickly if there's no gas. You can jump right to the fuel pressure check if you think that's the problem.

 

i have a high compression ratio (i always fill with 94 octane), would that make it more vulnerable to burning out my fuel pump? Is it even related? And thanx for all the replies so far this is extremely helpful but im at work right now haha

 

A turbo car can lean out under boost with low fuel and hurt the engine also. I think I read that the car is n/a but just wanted to throw that out there.

 

ya its n/a

 

Compression wouldn't have anything to do with making it more likely. It is simply the fact that once there is no more fuel around the pump it will begin pumping dry and get hot. Fuel pumps use the fuel to cool the unit. It's not like running out once is going to mean instant death, but it happens.

 

I ran low and it was like a small explosion. A cylinder detonaded and aint firing. Not worried about it because i am doing a swap, Real soon. I think you may have ran low enough to pull some sediment or some of the Lower laying CRAP on the bottom of the tank. You would be suprized what you would see in the bottom of a tank, Even a fuel filter. Some of the more moisture ridden fuel could be down at the bottom. If a tank has air/room to sweat it will. When its cold out, and everything else is cold. so is the gas tank as well as the inside. I am a strong believer in some sort of condensation inside a low fuel cell will create a diluted fuel mix, ontop of this 10% ethanol were pumping into our tanks. As far as burning out fuel pumps, i have no idea never ran into this problem. Could be sediment.

 

so weather is also a factor? It was the coldest night i've driven in to date. -18 degrees celsius.

 

I think so. I work outside seasonally. We use all honda engines for our work. I fill tanks to top at all times. Allowing no moisture to get in. Something getting cold and thawing would make me believe there is some trace of liquification going on after some warming up. I have put isopropyl alch. In the tanks of my engines (larger 13hp honda industrial engine) Have also seen this happen. Draining the fuel bowls is a common pratice after a rain. Cold weather low tank? Just think about it and keep it in mind. Im not reccomending to put isopropyl alch in tank. That is something i do at work, and not on my car. Good luck

 

thanx alot

 

No.

 

Iso HEET is sold as a gas line anti-freeze for cars, and is made with isopropanol (isopropyl alcohol), methanol, and other additives.

Isopropyl alcohol is fine in a car's gas tank, and helps remove water, just be careful how much is added.

Also, it can be used to help pass emissions tests, since it burns cleaner (HC) and cooler (NOx) than gasoline.

 

Amazing what we and other can learn by some intrests or problems

 

i know, even if the problem is completely different than what any of us thought it would be (which i will hopefully find out tomorrow), i've still gained something from this....and ftw my problem is getting worse every time i hop in, i had to get to work today and on my way back i seriously thought my car was going to stall, and all this started on friday night.

 

so lets say i sucked up all that crap when i drove on a pretty much empty tank...does ISO HEET help dissolve that as well?

 

Doubt it. Anything that doesn't dissolve in gasoline, probably won't dissolve in alcohol.

Consider changing the fuel filter. If crap was sucked from the tank through the fuel system, any blockage would (hopefully) end up there.

 

Usually true but water is one of the exceptions.

 

any cels? problem could be completely unrelated to you running an empty tank

 

no cels, everything seems to be fine. And the problem happened like all of a sudden, as i was running out of gas so i figured it was related. I drove on the highway last night to go to school for the first time since this happened, and im smelling a burning smell through my air vents (i mean asides from all the power loss, which i can feel a HUGE difference). Ring any bells? Again im going to guess that burning smell is possibly because my fuel filter could be blocked?

 

ok so this is just getting more complicated now and stressful, but i guess above all its a learning experience for me. So i took it to my mechanic, told him i've lost a lot of power. Timing seemed to be fine. We checked the fuel pressure, i don't remember what it was reading at idle but when we give gas it read 50 psi...which they figured it was too high, but now im thinking its high compression anyways shouldn't it be a little higher than LSV standard? So we set it at standard, 40 psi. I believe acura's range is 39-40 for this particular motor. After changing that, gave some gas, still didnt feel right. Still haven't gained the power i've lost, and just does't run the same. So finally we checked the fuel regulator. Fuel regulators supposedly *** up alot. I had an aftermarket one. Things changed when we switched it with an oem fuel regulator. But my car is STILL messed up. WHY ! should i play around with the fuel pressure? Could it be that my aftermarket regulator was in fact good, but something is clogged and causing the fuel pressure to read high before we changed anything? Any input will be greatly appreciated.

 

anybody with some experience on fuel regulators?

 

What motor are you running?

 

LS vtec