How do you decide whether its time to top up petrol?

[Mageswaran_g]

It just an issue of rust settling.It is not about the entry of air.

Your carburetor/fuel injector would take care of the air/fuel mix in the right setting.

Sensibly,even when you pump your petrol,you are incorporating air only to later drive it out when your tank level rises.Your petrol tank has an overflow drainage that would allow a non vacuum like environment so that the petrol drops as you use it.If not for this feature, air pressure would build and something would give way(your hose /cap or the rust weakened areas.)

Rust and carbon does cause abrasive damage if your bike has these particles due to long term storage or inactivity.(long period of time in presence of moisture).The will hurt your injector system(the needle) and also the barrel,where scouring would take place.

 

Do not neglect your bike.Take good care of it.Use it and love its company.Trust me it will love you back.

 

Just like my 14 year old sweet heart.

[DM]

what about EFI bikes ? if the tank no more oil then the fuel injectors will need to be primed or not?

[biting_point]

what about EFI bikes ? if the tank no more oil then the fuel injectors will need to be primed or not?

 

my fren's FZ06 tried empty on NSHW, just after the toll.. totally cannot start.. push all the way to pump petrol.. then started with a few push..

 

i dun think need to be primed.. they are controlled electronically right?

just my views and experiences, never had a EFI bike before..

 

 

and to add to TS's qns, it will not harm the bike.. reason: just like what Gangster mention.. :sian:

maybe your friend is saying that there might be particles at the bottom of the tank, thus making your carb dirty if you are low on fuel..

so far, for me, i always pump when i'm almost finished, so far so good..

IMO, matter what the partical still need to come out..

 

the matter is when?

[chadoops]

Had that experience before, rust and some particles got choke in the carb... mechanic took out fuel tank and showed me the carb, brownish residue. So now I try not to go too empty, the hassle to save a few dollars may not be worth it.

 

I believe all tanks will have some particles in it, rust etc. so it might be a good idea not to go too empty.

 

just my preference...

 

Doops

[retro]

so you mean if you pump the tank full the particles wont go into the carb???? gravity works...

[testamant]

my fren's FZ06 tried empty on NSHW, just after the toll.. totally cannot start.. push all the way to pump petrol.. then started with a few push..

 

i dun think need to be primed.. they are controlled electronically right?

just my views and experiences, never had a EFI bike before..

 

 

and to add to TS's qns, it will not harm the bike.. reason: just like what Gangster mention.. :sian:

maybe your friend is saying that there might be particles at the bottom of the tank, thus making your carb dirty if you are low on fuel..

so far, for me, i always pump when i'm almost finished, so far so good..

IMO, matter what the partical still need to come out..

 

the matter is when?

 

 

I knew that EFI engine would be harder to start ,due to injection system connected via electronic make it confuse during the empty fill up start.yet carberutor is the still the effecient.dun always let ur bike burn ample of fuel, cause if you run all the way empty ,it's gonna hurt ur money...

[Mageswaran_g]

Rust is a natural phenomenon(inevitable,there will be moisture;eg when you pump petrol in a humid environment).It is meant to occur unless a fuel tank is made out of carbon fibre(like Honda VTR 1000 SP1 and SP2).Very small amounts of rust would pass and settle.

As for EFI,the electronic ignition should take care of the starting.No priming required.Unless the system itself has no residual petrol till the rust or carbon is caked and obstructing the jets.that would be when priming is necessary.

[WildCard]

Running on near empty tank for extended periods hurts more for EFI bikes.

But not for engine.

Most EFI bikes have a fuel pump inside the fuel tank.

With no access to outside ventilation, the only way for the fuel pump to cool itself is using the petrol itself to cool it, thus being immersed in petrol.

Continuously running in reserve (near empty) prevents the fuel pump from being immersed, thus preventing itself from cooling.

Worse case scenario: burnt out fuel pump.

 

Speaking from personal experience coz I'm guilty of burning out one and still does ride on reserve occasionally although I try to minimize it by topping up the tank about 2-3 litres everytime it hits reserve until my next refueling run into JB.

[danielburgess]

Here is a engineering point of view,

 

1) it may damage your fuel pump if you have one, cause it may "burn it out" if it is just pumping air.

 

2) Leaving your tank empty most of the time may inhibit the formation of rust in the tank.

 

But for damage to the engine? I don't really think so.

 

Cheers!

[Demon]

Hi,

 

Is it really true that its bad for engines when we go in almost empty tank to pump in m'sia?

 

Some of my colleagues were saying that it will "hurt" the engine in some ways..

 

F1 cars run their engines at almost breaking point with minimal fuel, and there is never a problem.

 

In fact there is absolutely no problem to the engine even you run it till your last drop of petrol.

 

When the engine consumes the last drop of petrol, the engine will suddenly run stronger as it leans out feeding on fume in the tank, it will sputter, and even backfire before dying out. The engine is robust enough to handle all these. It will not hurt the impella in the pump when it is operating without fuel in the system for a short while.

 

[arsie]

I believe one of the reasons for this habit comes from diesel engines. It is quite bad to go below 1/4 tank for diesel vehicles because there are a lot of sediments in the fuel tank.

 

The logic is very simple, the more diesel, the lower the amount of sediments enter the fuel pump. The less diesel, the more sediments get picked up by the pump. Drain out an diesel fuel tank and you'll know what I mean, the bottom part looks like old EO.

 

Another reason mentioned above is that sucking in air will damage fuel pumps. At low fuel levels, the chance of the pump sucking in air is higher.

 

Probably fine it if happens once in a while, but I would not suggest doing it regularly.

[Sensible]

Hi Peeps,

 

Thanks so much for sharing!

 

Appreciate your views.

 

Btw, EFI means Electronic Fuel Injection right?

[muddyxr]

Hi Peeps,

 

Thanks so much for sharing!

 

Appreciate your views.

 

Btw, EFI means Electronic Fuel Injection right?

 

Thanks for starting this topic. I was clueless about this until I bumped into this thread.

[Guest stages]

it might hurt yr Heart only ..... Is ok la, I also almost empty then go in .....

[JbAtRaCeR]

For petrol engines no need to prime,coz the ecu will handle all those stuff. Diesel engines yes,need to prime.But then this does not apply to all the diesel engines. New ones works abit the same like petrol injection system.

[skyscorcher]

Hi,

 

Is it really true that its bad for engines when we go in almost empty tank to pump in m'sia?

 

Some of my colleagues were saying that it will "hurt" the engine in some ways..

But others some said its ok...

Yet even some ppl go to the extent of telling me that if your fuel tank is empty, it allow some "air" to seep into the engine which might be bad for the engine la...

 

Any bros here can share your experience or side of the facts?

 

Thanks!

 

 

Bro, if tank not empty why we go m'sia for?

for me if possible i try go once a week when nearing empty.

If near empty go in will hurt engine then never go will hurt my pockets

[barefoot]

but then hor hurt engine in the long way also burn pocket haha

 

how baout placing those harddisk magnet at fuel tank there, maybe can attract all the rust residue to it

[DM]

For petrol engines no need to prime,coz the ecu will handle all those stuff. Diesel engines yes,need to prime.But then this does not apply to all the diesel engines. New ones works abit the same like petrol injection system.

 

diesel and petrol are both liquid state fuels. if fuel pump suck in air, it will cavitate and thus need to be primed before it can deliver it's load.

correct?

[zac__]

diesel and petrol are both liquid state fuels. if fuel pump suck in air, it will cavitate and thus need to be primed before it can deliver it's load.

correct?

 

from what i know, diesel and petrol engine systems are not the same.

 

maybe petrol engines uses self-priming pumps. not too sure on this.

[jack_knight]

petrol petrol.. man can go wo food.. bike muz go with petrol... haha

Cheerzzz

[JbAtRaCeR]

diesel and petrol are both liquid state fuels. if fuel pump suck in air, it will cavitate and thus need to be primed before it can deliver it's load.

correct?

 

enfat:Yup... you are correct.

 

Diesel engine and petrol engines are not the same in terms of combustion,one uses high compressed,hot air to ignite its fuel and the other using spark. Its fuel delivery system is also different,the diesel engine injector injects diesel directly into the combustion chamber or pre-combustion chamber whereas petrol ones injects at the intake manifold.End of the days,who among us wants to really run dry our tanks?.

[RAO]

There was once my tank had 0.3L(4.0L tank) left before I topped up. Reason? Wanted to use up brand A petrol as much as possible before trying brand B. Hmmmm.. Just to side track, Is it bad to mix petrol?

[dinie]

there isnt anything wrong with mixing petrol.. dun worry man. jus dun mix diesel with petrol can liao. anyways, i din noe tt the fuel pump needs to be cooled as well... interesting..

[spaiduhz]

but then hor hurt engine in the long way also burn pocket haha

 

how baout placing those harddisk magnet at fuel tank there, maybe can attract all the rust residue to it

 

 

Iron oxide (rust) is not a magnetic conductor.

 

better habit is to not leave your tank empty more than a few days.

 

If you think that the fuel tank is leaving rust/dust particles around, what you can do is open up the tank when it is 1/4 full or so and slosh the fuel around. rust particles hanging around in the sump will flow. you see it, then its high tide for you to spray the inside of your tank with high pressure air. or spray the inside of your tank with a layer of anti rust spray. its not pretty, but it helps.

 

more directly on topic, its always a good idea to calculate before hand how far your bike can travel before it runs dry. not because of any damage or whatnot, but rather because its a royal pain in the ass to push your bike to a pump station when it goes dry. not to mention there might be a few elements who are interested in helping out. to your bike, mind you, not pushing it.

 

if that happens to be the case, and you managed to reach a pump station without incident, you might notice that it would be harder for you to start your bike. shake your tank for a while before smoking your one stick of ciggies. by the time you are done smoking the bike would be ready to start. let the petrol flow, yo.

[Dafanshu]

i alway shake the nozzle to have many drops of free petrol. Every cent counts even though I might be getting less than 10 cents worth of petrol.