A chicken or egg question....sorta

[Sundowner2]

Fellow Forumees, lend me your ears. We all know that the question of which came first, the chook or the egg has no answer...so read on and ponder the following and lets hear what you think:
In one recent 'Ask Smithy'* item in the paper Smithy handled a question from a Ford owner who got dudded on a warranty claim for faulty injectors 'cause the dealership reckoned he had allowed the vehicle to get too low on fuel and dirty stuff was sucked from the bottom of the tank...Smithy said 'too bad, you shouldn't let your fuel level get below 1/8 tank ever'. Now I reckon that answer is crap, fuel pickup pipes, out of necessity, are located so they pickup from the bottom of the tank which is where any crap is gunna be regardless if the tank is chocka-block or near on empty, and any crap picked up should have been collected in the fuel filter.....to say that the driver was at fault because he allowed the level to get too low is actually nonsensical...and guess what?, in my D40 User Manual Nissan actually warn me against letting my fuel level get to low too...what do ya's reckon?.

*"Ask Smithy' is a question/answer column in the cars section of many Aussie papers.

 

[TigerST]

It's been one of those things for years and is a true point. But to voild a warranty clam on it is bloody silly...

 

[jjohn]

How the hell does stuff get through a filter unless it's liquid? I call bullsh1t. Block the filter, yes. Get to the injectors, bull. Ford like Nissan are like insurance companies, finding a way out.
I'm with the op. Crap in the tank is picked up full or empty. "Don't let your tank get low", because you'll run out and have walk n prime.
I keep mine full as much as possible because air = condensation.

 

[tweak'e]

the not letting fuel get low is about fuel temperature.
even with a fuel cooler the tank volume still does a part of the fuel cooling.

low fuel has nothing to do with faulty injectors.

 

[Old.Tony]

I call bullsh*t on it too. The pickup isn't in the top of the tank!!!

 

[tweak'e]

i should add,
its nonsense that there is dirty fuel at the bottom of the tank. modern diesels pump huge amounts to/from the IP (as fuel is used to cool it). the entire tank of fuel gets pumped through the filter repeatedly. some can be the entire tank with 5-10 minutes.

 

[04HUG]

G'day

Everyone that runs out of fuel has voided the warranty.

If everyone that drives the vehicle hasn't read the owners manual from cover to cover that also voids the warranty.

I suspect the warranty will be voided when the vehicle is removed from the dealers yard. Probably even gets voided on receipt of payment of vehicle.

PS. It was the Chicken.

 

[bods]

Or maybe the "crap" is floating on top of the fuel, then when the tank gets low it gets sucked into the pickup... Depending of what ford we are talking about though, falcons have a sock type setup on the end of the pickup which prevents anything big getting in there anyway....

In saying that warranty shouldn't be voided by that happening, how would they prove it...?

 

[jjohn]

I think he was saying it was not considered to be claimable under warranty, not that it voided his warranty.

 

[Old.Tony]

I smell avoidance on the warranty and still call bullsh*t. Call them out on it.

 

[Sundowner2]

Yeah well, you are all right...'cept Grumpy...the egg came first....I didnt say it voided the warranty just that they reckon dirty fuel buggered the injectors and that is like tyres and brakes; not covered..the story has a happy ending, the Ford owner (it was a Ranger) called in the Auto Club legal eagles and the dealers caved, fixed in under warranty....and by the way...the chicken crossed the road 'cos there was a KFC on the side he was walking.