keirravn wrote
you should try to avoid running on reserve as much as possible also as when the petrol gets this low you run the risk of getting the normal crap that lives in your tank into your fuel filter and clogging it up, which will slow you down at the very least lol!
But the fuel pump sits in the tank and always takes fuel from the bottom of the tank, whether it is full or empty.
like i said its just what a mechanic told me, but a 5 minute search found these - (bottom one particulary interesting i thought)
http://www.bankrate.com/finance/auto/bad-driving-habits-can-wreck-your-wallet-1.aspx
http://www.caranswer.info/maintenan...s-tank-to-less-than-a-quarter-in-the-sum.html
http://cr4.globalspec.com/thread/2942/Water-Contaminated-Petrol
in summary for anyone who cant be bothered looking, here are the main points as to why you should try to stay quarter or more full -
1 the emptier your tank is the more chance there is for condensation to form inside the tank leading to water contamination.
2 there is rubbish in the bottom of just about every tank, even brand new cars can pick this up from the pumps, when your petrol/diesel gets low it is more likely to 'slosh' around the bottom of your fuel tank, swirling up the rubbish which is then more likely to clog up your fuel filter, or even, in extreme cases, lead to internal engine damage.
3 (not sure if this applies to leon?) if your pump is inside the fuel tank then keeping it surrounded by fuel keeps it cooler which leads to longer pump life, do the opposite and ...
4 lots of fuel helps to protect your tank from internal rusting, its why some motorcyclists (like me) fill up their tank for winter.
5 some of the rubbish in your tank may float on top of the fuel and this might be sucked into the filter when running low.
6 you should always have loads of fuel for when the zombies attack!
im not personally vouching for any of this (apart from 6 lol) but it seems to make sense to me in so many ways to just keep a bit, especially with the occasional fuel strikes etc