Four Things Never To Trust

[Muttondressedaslamb]

I had a 50's VW Beetle that had no gas gauge, but the fuel tank had a section that held about a gallon isolated from the main tank. When the engine began to sputter you would flip a lever that sent the reserve fuel to the engine. Gave me enough gas to get to the next station.

When the Vultures heard that sputtering, did they circle your vehicle on a lonely road

 

[Muttondressedaslamb]

Motor cycles use the same system more or less. The fuel valve has three positions off - on - reserve. When the motor sputtered you switched to reserve and got to a gas station.

At least you don't have to bleed a motorcycle if it runs out of fuel. I do suspect there is no fuel pump to worry about. Must be a gravity feed

 

[dLj]

I had a 50's VW Beetle that had no gas gauge, but the fuel tank had a section that held about a gallon isolated from the main tank. When the engine began to sputter you would flip a lever that sent the reserve fuel to the engine. Gave me enough gas to get to the next station.

Yes, the lever was down by the gas pedal. Had the same car. Ran a long time on the reserve. But then you had to remember to switch the level back to the other side when you filled it up. For some reason back then I would only remember to do that about half the time. I ended up always carrying a 1 gallon gas can in the car... I found that far more reliable...

dj

 

[Benny17441]

A fuel gauge can only be trusted to tell you that 1) you have a lot of fuel or 2) that you have very little fuel. Know your engine's average burn rate, the usable size of your fuel tank, install an hour meter and log your fuel fills. With the information you can easily calculate how much fuel you have remaining at any particular momemnt.

 

[Gene S]

I don't trust mine. I head for a marina when it says 1/4. I'm in the process of putting a gage in the water tank. I ran out once right before I shampooed. That would have been interesting. Standing naked in the galley, rinsing with beer.

 

[jssailem]

Standing naked in the galley, rinsing with beer.

Censor Gene. A bit too much info.

 

[Gene Neill]

Gene never needs censoring!

 

[DayDreamer41]

Standing naked in the galley, rinsing with beer.

Isn't that alcohol abuse?

 

[Ron20324]

...I ran out once right before I shampooed. That would have been interesting. Standing naked in the galley, rinsing with beer.

Uummm, Gene... you're supposed to put a head on the BEER, not a beer on YOUR head

 

[Justin_NSA]

At least he was below in the galley!

 

[Muttondressedaslamb]

Two weeks ago, I learned the hard way, how inaccurate the fuel gauges can be on most auxiliary sailboats. On my day off, I left Staten Island's Great Kills Harbor with 1/3 of a tank of diesel left, according to my fuel gauge, which should have meant anywhere from 5 to 8 gallons of fuel. As usual, I fired up the engine on the way back, then noticed that the gauge was reading empty. Less than 5 minutes later, Old Thumper went dead. We were stuck sailing back to the mooring against the wind and had to tack through a narrow channel. Lucky the tide was incoming. The moral of the story is never trust your fuel gauge. If you are wondering about the other things not to trust, they are a parachute or scuba gear bought at a flea market, or a business proposal coming anonymously from Nigeria.

And I might add something else one should not trust; A pit bull from an animal shelter

 

[Muttondressedaslamb]

Well done. A skill all should be able to demonstrate IMO. But, I get it with the fuel gauges.

And I plan to practice it regularly in the future; with a full tank and the engine running in neutral in case I have to steer away from trouble

 

[RoyS]

My fuel gauge has never been accurate in the twenty plus years I have had this boat. Tank holds 12 gal. 3/4 on gauge takes 2 gal. 1/2 tank on gauge takes 4 gal. to fill. 1/4 reading takes 7 gal. Tank is perfectly rectangular. Go figure! Always write down the engine hours, gauge reading, and gallons put in every time in the maintenance log.

Roland5048, you probably can rely on your gauge as it appears to be mis-sized for your tank depth. Given your data above I would bet that when your tank reads empty you still have 3 or 4 gallons remaining below the gauge sender. I have the same issue because my sender is for a 10" deep tank and I have a 12" deep tank. Works for me to have reserve.

 

[justsomeguy]

And I might add something else one should not trust; A pit bull from an animal shelter

Not necessarily true.

 

[SEMPERAVANTI41]

Many years ago in Navy flight school we were all trained as part of the "pre-flight" to visually check the fuel level in the tanks. We never trusted our fuel gauge.

 

[Justin_NSA]

Many years ago in Navy flight school we were all trained as part of the "pre-flight" to visually check the fuel level in the tanks. We never trusted our fuel gauge.

Was that a Sopwith Camel? How do you do that on a 'modern' jet? I worked on F4 Phantoms for reference.

 

[jssailem]

Justin. That’s because in the F4, pilots kicked the tires, lit the fires, catipulted into the sky - what a thrill- and immediately started looking for an AV gas station.

 

[Justin_NSA]

Justin. That’s because in the F4, pilots kicked the tires, lit the fires, catipulted into the sky - what a thrill- and immediately started looking for an AV gas station.

I loved the smell JP4 in the morning!

 

[jssailem]

Unless that smell is mixed with singed hair because your standing to close to the blast shield when the F4 kicks in the Burners

 

[Roland5048]

Roland5048, you probably can rely on your gauge as it appears to be mis-sized for your tank depth. Given your data above I would bet that when your tank reads empty you still have 3 or 4 gallons remaining below the gauge sender. I have the same issue because my sender is for a 10" deep tank and I have a 12" deep tank. Works for me to have reserve.

I wasn't present when the tank came out for cleaning when I repowered so I don't know the length of the sender but, it does keep me from running out.