Finding Diesel
Hi folks. We purchased our first diesel truck in February. A 2014 Sierra 3500 HD. I've been reading a lot about diesel trucks as it pertains to pulling a trailer, but what I haven't found is info...
Forum Discussion
agesilaus wrote:
I've only had a problem once when I was out in rural eastern Oregon on a late Saturday afternoon. It was getting desperate when I finally located an open station with diesel. I found out when my F-350 warns you it's low on fuel and says you are XX miles from empty it is not joking. When I filled it up I estimate that I had less than a gallon in the tank based on tank capacity.
On every gasser I've had there is always some reserve when the needle gets to empty, 5 gallons or so. Not on this truck.
There's a reason for that, my friend. Gasser drivers tend to get sloppy about it because they know they can actually go farther, and that results in many of them running dry from time to time. Back in the old days, running a diesel dry meant you had to replace the injection pump and injectors, a very expensive proposition. While it no longer destroys those parts if you run dry, it certainly doesn't help prolong their life, and given the gigantic fuel filters on diesels, they are very hard to get properly primed and restarted should you run dry. So the fuel gauges tend to predict with pretty good accuracy when you are getting close to the limit. This makes diesel jockeys pay attention, not a bad thing in and of itself.
