Before you heckle me - no I’m not stupid, and under normal circumstances I usually would turn the car off. In this particular instance, however, my car battery died because I was away for 6 weeks, and there’s not enough gas for me to take it on the highway and get to where I need to go tomorrow (after I try jumping the car). Since if i turn the engine off there’s a large likelihood that the car will die and won’t turn back on again, turning the car off while I fill my tank isn’t a very viable option. Can I get away with it one time, or will I ruin my engine or blow up my car?
If it makes a difference - 2020 Land Rover discover (sport). If that’s not viable, what are my other options for charging my car up enough with only <30 miles in the tank so that I’ll be able to also refuel my car without the battery going out?
Thanks!
Yes you can, I have seen it done. The real world risk of a fire or explosion is pretty limited, modern cars don’t give off a lot of sparks. One issue may be that if you have an electric gas door release, there’s a chance it won’t open when the engine is running, if that’s how the car is programmed.
10 minutes of running the engine will probably charge the battery enough to start the car again, so unless the tank is really dry this might be less of a problem than you think.