Gas tank empty or full?
06-19-2011, 06:31 PM
#1
Rennlist Member
Thread Starter
Gas tank empty or full?
Which is better if the car will be parked for a week or two? I've heard full to prevent H2O condensation in an empty tank...but you always see brand new cars at the dealership sometimes sitting for months at a time with just a thimble full in the tank.
Jim
Jim
06-19-2011, 07:00 PM
#3
Nordschleife Master
Dan is correct, but I prefer keeping tanks full.
06-20-2011, 05:03 PM
#5
Drifting
A week or two.. does not matter. But in the longer term: full. Less air means less air to interact with and thus more stabile. For significant storage, there are fuel stabilizers you add as well as filling the tank.
06-20-2011, 07:37 PM
#7
Race Director
However, brimming full should be avoided.
A full fuel tank keeps the fuel system hardware in the tank covered with gasoline.
My concern about having the tank full to the brim is if the fuel gets warm it will expand and could put raw fuel in the charcol canister which can damage it.
This is one reason why one wants to avoid 'topping off' the fuel tank. Not only does this waste gas and put gas fumes in the air it can soak the canister and shorten its life.
The activiate charcol in the canister is intended to aborb gasoline vapors only and gives these up when air is passed through the charcol (which 'activates' the charcol, hence the name activiated charcol).
Sincerely,
Macster.
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06-21-2011, 05:20 PM
#8
Drifting
It was my understanding the charcoal is called 'activated' because of how it is manufactured - created such that the charcoal elements have a very large surface area. That process is only done at manufacture time. That surface area gives the charcoal a huge capacity to attach to molecules. So would activated charcoal that has been saturated no longer be called activated charcoal?
06-21-2011, 05:54 PM
#9
Race Director
It was my understanding the charcoal is called 'activated' because of how it is manufactured - created such that the charcoal elements have a very large surface area. That process is only done at manufacture time. That surface area gives the charcoal a huge capacity to attach to molecules. So would activated charcoal that has been saturated no longer be called activated charcoal?
Activated (or active) charcol is active due to its large surface area and as a result can absorb a considerable amount of some gases (and some fluids IIRC).
These gases are given up as air is passed over/through the charcol material.
If the charcol becomes saturated with a vapor it is still active as long as it manages to retain/hold on to this vapor and I guess to give this up and thus allow itself to perform this function again, at least in the case of a vapor canister in an automobile.
If charcol becomes saturated with a fluid, in the context of this discussion gasoline, if it becomes saturated repeatedly the charcol can over time lose its ability to give this fluid up and regain its active characteristic.
Like a lot of other out of sight and out of mind devices in a modern automobile, the active charcol canister is a pretty amazing device.
For instance, I wonder how much gasoline vapor the charcol in my 02 Boxster's canister has absorbed and given up over the years?
Sincerely,
Macster.
06-22-2011, 02:05 AM
#10
Rennlist Member
Thread Starter
Very informative. Thanks to all.
Jim
Jim
