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Why You Should Never Run Your Car Low on Gas

Photo:  David Tracy / Jalopnik
Photo: David Tracy / Jalopnik

It’s springtime! Time to start working on your project car, learn a new wrenching skill, learn how things work under the hood, or just spruce up your daily driver.

All month, we’ll be looking back at our best informative, maintenance and DIY articles from Jalopnik’s near 20-year history to get your ride ready for the road. Welcome to the Jalopnik Spring Tune-Up.

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Sometimes it’s tempting to try to eke out as many miles as possible from a tank of gas. But you shouldn’t do it. This video showing the innards of a fuel pump will help you understand why.

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(Note: We’re gonna focus on gasoline-powered vehicles here; diesels use a different type of fuel pump, but it’s still not a great idea to run a diesel down to dead-empty. And here’s how far you can go when your gas light comes on.)

In case you missed it:

Your car’s fuel pump sends gasoline from the fuel tank to the engine. It’s a crucial component in getting your car running, but it has a tendency to fail and leave you stuck on the side of the highway — especially if you like to run your gas gauge all the way down past “E”.

You can see why running a car low on gas might cause problems by looking at YouTuber speedcar99's tear-down of a fuel pump module: