Safe to run a 2006 D4D out of fuel ?

[AdamO]

Hey,

I hope you guys could help.

I am going to run my 2006 D4D Hilux out of fuel to see fuel economy etc. I will have a jerry can of fuel.

What is bothering though is how will I go for trying to start it up?

Will I break anything. How much cranking should it take??

Cheers I appreciate advice.

Adam

[aandy]

I would recommend you do not do this, although you will probably be fine and not the first one to run a car out of fuel, it is no good for the fuel pump.
Seems a funny way to check your economy.

You would need to prime the fuel system as per owners manual after you tip in the jerry can.

[fracturedranga]

why do you need to run it empty to see economy? just run it till the fuel light comes on. fill it up, record your k's. then its KM's travelled/ liters used for Km's per liter. Or go (liters used / kms travelled) x 100 to get liters per 100KM
If you then wanted to find out how far you would get until it stopped just subtract the amount of fuel put in from your tank size to work out how much you had left then then multiply it by your km per liter result then add it to your trip meter reading
Example:
travelled 570km
fuel added till it clicks out 59L

570/59=9.66KM/L
(59/570)x100= 10.35L/100KM

tank size 76L
76-59= 7L remaining
7x9.66= 67.62km until empty

total range
570+67.62= 637.62km

hope that helps but if your totally set on running the tank dry you should be right youll just have to hand prime the fuel back up to the filter using the primer on top of the filter assembly. I also wouldnt make a habit of it as when you run to empty itll be picking up all the crud out of the bottom of the tank and i also imagine you'd get cavitation in your fuel pump as it starts to suck air which couldnt be good.
personally id just do the maths

[mattwhite]

Not good for the pump to run dry. More likely to suck the crud out of the last of the fuel in the tank.

[stevessss]

Adam

I was astounded when one of my mates said he has run his D4D out of fuel at least 12 times (who knows why) and nothing has gone wrong with anything on the vehicle. It has 340,000km on it.

As to how he got it started each time I don't know. Maybe one of the guys on here can help with that.

[AdamO]

I would like to see how much I can get from a full tank, and exactly how much is left when light comes on. I am curious and I do a fair bit of remote driving.

[scratcher]

i use an app on my phone (road trip) which tells me my economy and how far I can get from a full tank (based on capacity).... also tracks overall economy and you get individual per tank economy figures. There's so many variables even running your tank dry could be +/- 100km on how far you go on a given tank.

As far as how much fuel you need for a trip i would go by your worst economy figures.

How much is left when the light goes in is easy. Fill up when the light goes on, then subtract how much fuel you put in from the tank capacity.

[dino12]

mate quite simply a diesel injection system needs to be lubricated to run efficiently and stop the parts coming in contact with each other and wearing out, if you run the tank dry all the diesel system is running with no lubrication as diesel is an oil, if you run the tank dry you may get away with it, you may do thousands of dollars of damage, your choice as to whether you want to take the risk or not.
cheers.

[mitch_893]

I would like to see how much I can get from a full tank, and exactly how much is left when light comes on. I am curious and I do a fair bit of remote driving.

Well you know what size the tank is, so just fill up as soon as the light comes on and work it out

[dazzah]

tank size 76L
76-59= 7L remaining
7x9.66= 67.62km until empty

You need a calculator

I have only ever had the fuel light come on twice...usually head straight for the servo when it's just below 1/4 of a tank...I would be using the maths!

[bob14hilux]

AdamO,

I agree with all the replies here, if you run your car out of fuel you may or may not (probably not) do some damage. People run out of fuel all the time without damage, but you dont know how much wear has been caused without lubricant.

Do you want to risk this on purpose?

Simple maths will solve the problem.

Start with a full tank.
Drive until light comes on.
Fill up again and take note of how much it takes to fill.
Subtract this amount from tank capacity.

This will let you know how much fuel you have left.

[AdamO]

Thanks for the advice.

Then if I do run out of fuel along the way, while I have problems getting it going? How much cranking and priming does it take to get it going again?

Regards, Adam

[bob14hilux]

Keep priming at the hand pump on filter housing until it becomes harder to pump, i would keep pumping more even. Then it should start reasonably quickly, much like when you change your fuel filter.

[gtsteve]

I just ran my long ranger dry to see exactly how much of it I could really use and it started again with no priming (because I forgot to) after half a dozen medium cranks. I 'm not recommending this, I'm just saying that's how much cranking it takes.
And for the record the long ranger 145l goes another 230k after the light comes on for a total of 1280k. I'm glad that I know that now.