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Andrew
Dodge Dakota
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10/17/2002
05:18:01
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 Subject: Gas tank pressure?
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I have a question, is it me or when I try and get that extra good gas miles and run it down to just above E, then I go fill up, when I try to take the gas cap off it is tough to get open. And there sounds like a large rush of air into the tank. Does anybody else have this happen, is it normal with bigger tanks (22 gal)? Just wondering that's all.
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street guy
Dodge Dakota
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10/17/2002
20:54:16
|  RE: Gas tank pressure?
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Happens on all newer Daks. The tank is not vented, so a vacuum forms as the fuel is used up and the tank empties. Some on here have claimed that if your tank does not build this vacuum a MIL will trigger your check engine light. It is not vented to keep hydrocarbons from escaping into the atmosphere and reduces air pollution.
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Steve
Dodge Dakota
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10/17/2002
21:13:21
| RE: Gas tank pressure?
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i've had that happen a few times on my 01 with a 22 gallon tank. i question the size of it, i have run it down to E, but the most i can put in it is 17, so either our gas pump is off, and i'm not getting 18.5 MPG, or it can run on E for a long time.
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Andrew
Dodge Dakota
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10/18/2002
03:47:55
| RE: Gas tank pressure?
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I have seen the exact same thing, the gas light dosent' come on till it is really close to E, so either our tanks aren't really 22 gallons, or we are filling up too soon, and still have 5 gallons of gas? I don't know.
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Dan Gruber
GenIII
10/18/2002
05:13:07
| RE: Gas tank pressure?
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The gas gauge reading low is probably intentional on Dodge's part. Think of the lawsuits idiots would file against Dodge if the gauges read accurately and "E" actually meant empty...I absolutely believe that somebody would try to sue Dodge for millions of dollars when their truck ran out of gas on the freeway and they got hit from behind by a bus. "But it just hit empty and I thought empty meant there were five gallons left..." Given the bloodsucking personal injury lawyers in this country that would jump all over a situation like that, it seems to be a prudent protective measure on the part of the automakers.
The gauge reading low also serves a couple of other purposes: If my gauge hits 1/8 of a tank, I'm going to stop for gas ASAP. So it keeps more fuel in the tank than people think they have. That's a good thing because the fuel pump is cooled by the gas itself, so keeping more gas in the tank helps lengthen the life of the pump...no gas, no cooling for the pump. Also helps prevent all the garbage that collects in tanks over the years from getting sucked into the pump and clogging the filter, extending the life of the filter and the pump. And since the pumps and filters on our Dakotas are located IN the tank, replacing either one is a costly and time consuming process.
Dan
2000 CC SLT 4.7 4X4 Auto 3.92 LSD
3 inch Performance Accesories lift & 32 inch BFG MT KM's
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sandman
Dodge Dakota
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10/18/2002
18:15:34
| RE: Gas tank pressure?
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Message:
Yes, The tank is design not to read accurately on purpose. They are designed to drop realy slowly from full to half to creat an illision of good gas miliage then they have to catch up from half to Empty so they drop faster. To compound this their is an unsable portion of fuel that must be accounted for and a reserve. The reserve is their to protect the stupid from themselfs. It gives you that 3-5 gallon buffer so you do not run the tank dry sucking debring into the full system and possable running the fuel pump with out fuel. If you run the pump for 20 seconds with out fuel you have effectively runined it even if it still function it will not funtion properly. So when you put all of this together you get very non-linear operation of the needle!!!
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