Dear Otto,
I ran out of gas in my 2004 330ci. After getting a couple gallons of gas and pouring it into the tank, the engine would not start. I went and got two more gallons and added it, but the engine will still not start. How much gas do I need to put in to get it started? This seems really odd, since I can normally run it for 10, 20 or 30 miles after the reserve warning light comes on, before the “range” shows 0-miles.
A
We suspect that you may now have a failed fuel pump. The fuel pump on later model BMWs and MINIs (as well as most other cars) is mounted inside the fuel tank and actually uses the fuel to cool and lubricate the pump. Consistently running the fuel very low, will limit the amount of fresh cool fuel to keep the pump cool and lubricated …… accelerating the wear and shortening the life of the pump (this also applies to earlier models that have external in-line fuel pumps). It’s likely that this last episode of running out of fuel was the “straw that broke the camel’s back”. This ends up being fairly common, especially if the pump has a lot of miles of use or is often run with less than 1/4 fuel level.
We recommend replacing the fuel pump and this will likely cure your no-start issues. Remember to replace the pump seal ring and have fresh hose clamps available to replace the original factory crimp clamps or rotten old hose clamps. The Bentley Publishing repair manual (for the applicable BMW or MINI model), will cover the fuel pump replacement.
I ran out of gas in my 2004 330ci. After getting a couple gallons of gas and pouring it into the tank, the engine would not start. I went and got two more gallons and added it, but the engine will still not start. How much gas do I need to put in to get it started? This seems really odd, since I can normally run it for 10, 20 or 30 miles after the reserve warning light comes on, before the “range” shows 0-miles.
A
We suspect that you may now have a failed fuel pump. The fuel pump on later model BMWs and MINIs (as well as most other cars) is mounted inside the fuel tank and actually uses the fuel to cool and lubricate the pump. Consistently running the fuel very low, will limit the amount of fresh cool fuel to keep the pump cool and lubricated …… accelerating the wear and shortening the life of the pump (this also applies to earlier models that have external in-line fuel pumps). It’s likely that this last episode of running out of fuel was the “straw that broke the camel’s back”. This ends up being fairly common, especially if the pump has a lot of miles of use or is often run with less than 1/4 fuel level.
We recommend replacing the fuel pump and this will likely cure your no-start issues. Remember to replace the pump seal ring and have fresh hose clamps available to replace the original factory crimp clamps or rotten old hose clamps. The Bentley Publishing repair manual (for the applicable BMW or MINI model), will cover the fuel pump replacement.
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