Thread: From Panic to...Phew :)

Its incredibly bad for a diesel engine to run it out of fuel. The fuel pump in a 300tdi relies on fuel to cool and lubricate it and the Unit style injector system on the TD5 uses fuel to cool and lubricate the pump AND injectors...5 seized injectors would be a nasty surprise..... I wouldnt recommend running any diesel lower than aprox 1/8 to 1/4 of a tank. Obviously the less fuel you are using for cooling the hotter the fuel stays and of course this causes the rest of your fuel system to run hotter, not to mention the crap you tend to suck up out of the tank when the fuel level gets that low........

Originally Posted by FenianEel

Stevo,

You're a lucky boy. You can shag your fuel pump by running dry in a TD5, as I found out, thanks to a 'mate' that did it in mine.
When the light comes in you have 9 litres left by the way

you allegedly have 9 litres left.. thats 9 useable liters theres still more in the tank that you can use but the slightest slosh or inclination will starve the pump after youve used that 9l and thats all assuming that your sender reads correctly

had one of those moments at work last week, had a V8 landcruiser up on the display ramps, cranked it over for the monday morning run, left it idling, came back after cranking everything else over and thought it was a bit quiet..... checked the tacho for signs of life..... nada..... crank, no go, hit the changeover switch and she fired.....

grabbed the fuel card, jumped in and nipped across to the servo across the road and whacked some fuel in the main tank (was running on the sub tank) paid, left the servo, got 30 feet intot he back gate and the sub tank ran dry!

talk about cutting it fine! lol