Has anyone ever ran a prime completely out of gas and then added a little to get to a station?

I seem to recall reading that if you ever allow the fuel pump to gulp air, it may require a lot of effort to re-prime it again.

 

I haven't heard of anyone doing this, personally, but it can, also, burn out that fuel pump motor which is inside the gas tank because they are liquid-cooled by the fuel so if no fuel....bad stuff and can require replacement...NOT a cheap fix.

 

It's been reported here you need to add at least 3 US gallons. Just curious, were you in that scenario, you ran out of gas? Or?

 

I haven't but have read a couple of threads about it. I know on mine, when the fuel lamp stops blinking - I still had at least a gallon of gas. I'm pretty sure 0.25-0.5 of that, was in the fuel plumbing. So when you say, "add a little bit more", I hope your referring to at least a gallon. Not only does the fuel system need to re-prime itself - it needs adequate pressure to fire the injectors properly.
If you retry starting too many times without enough fuel, the car will "lock-down" and will not allow you to start it (ready mode). At this point, you'll have to put in enough gas to light-up one fuel bar, disconnect the battery for 10-15 minutes, to release the ECU lock-out or someone with a scanner can reset it. Using a scanner will allow you to keep all your settings, otherwise you'll be reprogramming them all back into your car.

Hope this helps....

Bottom-Line, DO NOT run it dry and try it keep at least a quarter tank of gas in it at all times - easier on the fuel pump (I think the part alone is around $600), but they don't fail too often.

 

The warm part of this year I have been able to make it home without any gas on my daily commute except for an occasional day where the gas engine turns on for the last mile or two. Thus, I have been leaving my tank with about 60-80 miles left on the dash display. About once a month I will have a trip that will require about 30 - 110 miles of driving in hybrid mode. Before the trip I fill up at least the amount of miles I think it will take to get me back to 80 miles left at the end. I have been doing this to prevent the gas from going stale and to always have a little bit of fresh gas before significantly working the ICE. Do you think this practice is bad for the fuel pump? I figure there is always at least 2, maybe 3 gallons in the tank, since it is not really empty when the dash says their are zero miles left.