Gas went down to $1.99 in my area

[Callaway]

I filled my car up again in Spokane for $28. something. I was on empty. I usually don't let myself get that low. I don't want to take chances of being stranded. Oh well I was in a city and I can just take a bus to a gas station and buy a can and put gas in it and go back to my car and put some in it and then go to a gas station and fill it up.

If you let your car run completely out of gas, you shorten the life of your fuel pump if you have one inside your gas tank.

[TheoK]

I think the unleaded petrol also shortens the life span of the entire car engine, at least for cars meant to be driven on leaded petrol from the beginning. 

[Natalia Evans]

I filled my car up again in Spokane for $28. something. I was on empty. I usually don't let myself get that low. I don't want to take chances of being stranded. Oh well I was in a city and I can just take a bus to a gas station and buy a can and put gas in it and go back to my car and put some in it and then go to a gas station and fill it up.

If you let your car run completely out of gas, you shorten the life of your fuel pump if you have one inside your gas tank.

I wonder why?


My parents have done that with their cars a few times. One time my dad coasted into a gas station. It was a fortunate there was a gas station down the road when he ran out and it was hill he was on.

When I was 17 or 18 I had to pick my dad up because their minivan ran out of gas when he was going to town.

There was a time when my dad forgot to tell my mother his car needed to be filled up, so my mother never looked at the gauge and when she realized she was below the big E, we almost ran out and we pulled into a gas station. It was just luck we were close to it or else we would have ran out right after. My dad calls it "Running on fumes."

[Natalia Evans]

I think the unleaded petrol also shortens the life span of the entire car engine, at least for cars meant to be driven on leaded petrol from the beginning. 

I remember at work, a woman there told me she lost her other job because her car stopped running. The piston stopped working so it blew out her engine.

What sucks is, she wasn't allowed to take a bus to work or get a ride. She worked on the highway directing traffic during construction.

[TheoK]

I have had several older Volvos, not status cars, but very reliable if you take good care of them. At least three of them had their engines destroyed, most probably from unleaded petrol. 

[Parts]

I think the unleaded petrol also shortens the life span of the entire car engine, at least for cars meant to be driven on leaded petrol from the beginning. 

It does they make replacement additives that don't contain lead to better lube the pistons

[DirtDawg]

The lowest price for regular gasoline I saw on our long drive to school this morning was $1.52/gallon, but the cheapest price here where we live is $1.59/gallon.

I rarely go on the interstate these days, but I saw it advertised for $1.56, two days ago - ON THE FUCKING HIGHWAY!!

[Callaway]

The lowest price for regular gasoline I saw on our long drive to school this morning was $1.52/gallon, but the cheapest price here where we live is $1.59/gallon.

I rarely go on the interstate these days, but I saw it advertised for $1.56, two days ago - ON THE FUCKING HIGHWAY!!

This wasn't on the interstate, it was on one of the roads we took to avoid the interstate, because the interstate was a parking lot.

[Callaway]

I filled my car up again in Spokane for $28. something. I was on empty. I usually don't let myself get that low. I don't want to take chances of being stranded. Oh well I was in a city and I can just take a bus to a gas station and buy a can and put gas in it and go back to my car and put some in it and then go to a gas station and fill it up.

If you let your car run completely out of gas, you shorten the life of your fuel pump if you have one inside your gas tank.

I wonder why?

If the fuel pump is designed to go into the gas tank, the gasoline in the tank cools the fuel pump.  If you let the tank get completely empty then the fuel pump overheats and this shortens its life.

[DirtDawg]

The lowest price for regular gasoline I saw on our long drive to school this morning was $1.52/gallon, but the cheapest price here where we live is $1.59/gallon.

I rarely go on the interstate these days, but I saw it advertised for $1.56, two days ago - ON THE FUCKING HIGHWAY!!

This wasn't on the interstate, it was on one of the roads we took to avoid the interstate, because the interstate was a parking lot.

Ours was clear that day, but yesterday morning, it was a parking lot as well, due to black ice. Do you use that expression in Colorado? It means ice that has formed overnight that is so pure that it is optically perfect and almost totally invisible. I slipped on black ice going across the parking lot when I got to work. You can't even see black ice when you walk up on it.

I hurt my hip and smashed my other knee on the pavement.



I did not have to be involved in that rush hour mess, though, since I am doing "Learnings"  for my new job at work these days.

[DirtDawg]

I filled my car up again in Spokane for $28. something. I was on empty. I usually don't let myself get that low. I don't want to take chances of being stranded. Oh well I was in a city and I can just take a bus to a gas station and buy a can and put gas in it and go back to my car and put some in it and then go to a gas station and fill it up.

If you let your car run completely out of gas, you shorten the life of your fuel pump if you have one inside your gas tank.

I wonder why?

If the fuel pump is designed to go into the gas tank, the gasoline in the tank cools the fuel pump.  If you let the tank get completely empty then the fuel pump overheats and this shortens its life.

Don't forget, being a submersible pump, it uses the liquid it pumps as a lubricant during operation. Once the pump runs dry there is no lubrication on the internal parts and dry running a submersible pump kills it quickly!


BTW, this is true of externally mounted, electrical fuel pressure pumps, as well, such as those used in almost all cars, without fuel tank mounted pumps, which have manifold injection systems for engine fuel control.

[Natalia Evans]

In B&J Ruthie's car stops running because her fuel pump gets shot. I wonder how many times did she let her car run out of gas. Oh well it was an old car. Everyone had old cars in the movie. There are no 1990's cars. But you do see a modern jeep in the background in one of the scenes.

[punkdrew]

I go by my trip meter not my gas gauge

QFT. Gas gauges are notoriously inefficient. When the light goes on on mine it means (ostensibly) I have about 1/2 gal. left. I hie myself to the nearest station anyway.

[Callaway]

The lowest price for regular gasoline I saw on our long drive to school this morning was $1.52/gallon, but the cheapest price here where we live is $1.59/gallon.

I rarely go on the interstate these days, but I saw it advertised for $1.56, two days ago - ON THE FUCKING HIGHWAY!!

This wasn't on the interstate, it was on one of the roads we took to avoid the interstate, because the interstate was a parking lot.

Ours was clear that day, but yesterday morning, it was a parking lot as well, due to black ice. Do you use that expression in Colorado? It means ice that has formed overnight that is so pure that it is optically perfect and almost totally invisible. I slipped on black ice going across the parking lot when I got to work. You can't even see black ice when you walk up on it.

I hurt my hip and smashed my other knee on the pavement.



I did not have to be involved in that rush hour mess, though, since I am doing "Learnings"  for my new job at work these days.

Yes, we use the term 'black ice' in Colorado too.  I think we also used it in Alabama on the rare occasions when we had freezing weather, so it must be fairly common usage.

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2016/is-there-really-such-a-thing-as-black-ice

[Parts]

I go by my trip meter not my gas gauge

QFT. Gas gauges are notoriously inefficient. When the light goes on on mine it means (ostensibly) I have about 1/2 gal. left. I hie myself to the nearest station anyway.

My truck th light means 5 gallons left