I heard from a friend that the fuel pump uses the fuel in the fuel tank to cool itself, so if you routinely run you tank close to empty, then you keep the fuel pump from being adequately cooled and can cause premature failure of the fuel pump. To me, this seems like an incredibly poor design. How am I supposed to know how much fuel is really necessary for the safe operation of the fuel pump? The fuel gauge only lets me know how close to empty I am. There is no indication of the safe level for the fuel pump.

Part of why I ask is that I tend to run the tank as close to empty as I can get (goal of filling up and putting in all but 0.5 to 1.0 gallons of the capacity) to minimize how many times I have to stop and get gas. To me, it's an efficiency thing. I want to minimize how many times I have to stop for gas. However, this isn't really efficient if I am going to cause the fuel pump to go out prematurely. I am only a couple weeks into a new 09 GLS I4, and don't want to blow the fuel pump. I would appreciate any wisdom/knowledge that you can share.

I tried doing a search on the fuel pump to see if this question had already been addressed, but the closest I found was http://www.hyundai-forums.com/index.php?sh...indpost&p=70789, which basically said what I had heard from my friend, but didn't really answer the question of how much is safe (1/4, 1/8, 1/2 tank?).
Thanks in advance,
Josh

How many stops are you saving in a year? I usually run KC until she's got less than 100 miles of gas left, or so her computer says ...

Once the "low fuel" warning light is on, you want to fill up your tank soon, even though there are still 2, maybe even 3 gallons in your tank. I don't think this is a Sonata thing, I think this is true for most cars.






This post has been edited by mamamia: Sep 5 2008, 02:45 PM

I always assumed it was just like a dummy light so that you wouldn't forget to fill up the car and to keep you from running it dry. Are you saying that they use that to let you know when the fuel pump needs more fuel to keep itself cool?

On our old car (a Dodge Neon) I wouldn't even start to think about stopping for gas until the light started blinking at me and beeping. The light on it usually came on when you still had a 1/4 tank (although it only had a 12 gallon tank) and could get another 150 miles out of the tank easily. The 2nd tier warning usually meant that you were down to 1 or 2 gallons.

No, the design is basically the SAME in most modern cars, I believe. The light comes on when the gauge inside the tank senses the level of fuel as being low to a certain point, just as in other cars. You can keep on driving, sure not another 150 miles, but another 15-25 ----- for sure (depends if it's city or highway driving, of course).

Beyond that, yes, you're running the risk of over heating the pump. But again, as much as I know, it's not a Sonata thing. Why take chances?

You also risk messing up the fuel pump by letting your tank get low all the time. Your pump will be pulling in impurities and sediments that sink to the bottom of the tank after time. While your car is new you may not have this issue for awhile, but I wouldn't do this often personally.

I get that it is a pretty common/universal design. I just didn't know that was how it worked until a friend mentioned it recently. That's why I'm trying to find out if I am risking damaging the fuel pump. If I am risking overheating the fuel pump, then it definitely isn't worth it. If the fuel pump really does need several gallons of fuel to be able to cool properly, then it just seems like a rather poor, albeit convenient design, since most car drivers don't know how the fuel pump is cooled and would just assume that they are being reminded that the fuel level is getting low and they need to get gas soon before they run out (not that they need to fill up pronto to keep the fuel pump from overheating).

I know that until my friend said something about it, that I had always assumed that it was just a personal preference thing. In other words, how full does the tank need to be to make you comfortable that you aren't going to run out. I had just assumed that I had a much lower threshold than others (I have known some that wouldn't let it get below 3/4 and got really nervous if they got in my car and it was only at a 1/2 tank) and hadn't even considered the possibility that the car was being damaged since I always made sure to fill up before it actually ran dry and stalled.

The threshold on the old Neon was way off, I could keep driving it for usually close to another week (100+ miles) from when the first low fuel light warning activated (and when I finally did stop to fill up I usually still had at least another gallon left in the tank--as measured by subtracting what I put into it from the capacity).

This post has been edited by new2009GLS: Sep 5 2008, 03:27 PM

That's a very good point. I hadn't considered that before. Like I said it's not worth it if I am risking ruining the fuel pump. I guess I will be filling up a little more frequently (although with the significantly larger fuel tank in the Sonata I'll still end up filling up less often than in the Neon).

This post has been edited by new2009GLS: Sep 5 2008, 03:31 PM

Those people should seek some :w00t: help.... Must be some kind of an obsessive phobia, I guess.

I worry about countless things, but overheating the Fuel Pump has never

been something I have given much thought to? And you have the 100,000

Mile Warranty which would take care of this. Chances are you'll blow your

Engine first! Just happened to two of my friends here, V33 & Sort Em.

Remember to maintain that new 09 :57:

No kidding. I just bit the bullet and filled up before I picked them up to put them at ease and keep the peace. Although, on the other hand at least I never had to worry about letting them borrow the car and getting it back on empty!

Not to be ignorant here but who is them?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2PLls02gOU

The fuel pump is only covered to 5 years/60,000 miles.

Of course! :thumbsup:

see the ongoing discussion with mamamia (them=friends who freaked out if they were in the car with me and the fuel tank was at ONLY 1/2 tank)

See that was what I thought at first, which is why I asked the question to begin with. It just didn't seem to make common sense from a user's stand point. But, from what I can gather, it seems to be a valid concern.

My Sonata was sold to me with _ _ on the Trip computer. I don't know if

you have seen that yet. When the Yellow Gas Pump comes on you still have

around 2 Gallons. However when the _ _ comes on, and I believe blinks, you

are running on the unknown? :innocent:

This post has been edited by MiamiLX: Sep 5 2008, 08:21 PM