I have heard from people that it isn’t good to go “as low as you can go” towards an empty tank as it has a possibility of sucking in sediment or debris from the bottom of the fuel tank and introducing it in your fuel injectors which will cause them to clog. Not sure if there is truth to this but I try to refill my tank once it gets near 1/4 tank.
I typically run my F-250 down to dangerously low. Did so for 130,000 miles. I heard the same thing as you, so I changed out the fuel filter, which turned out to be a waste of time. The old one was as clean as could be.
A full tank has less risk of exploding in a wreck. An empty fuel tank is a sort of crude fuel/air bomb.
From the beginning, my old man taught me to always refill at 1/4 tank or at very least look for a gas station at 1/4 tank. I only ignored this advice once in my driving lifetime and I very nearly ran out of gas in the middle of rush hour traffic. I was literally sputtering on fumes and my car engine shut off as I was coasting up to the refill station. Never again.
I had a 1990 Plymouth Grand Voyager. Just before it reached 200,000 miles the fuel pump gave out so I emptied and dropped the fuel tank. I completely wiped out the interior of the tank and there was no sediment whatsoever.
Also, some bottom-of-tank fuel pumps can overheat when uncovered.
I used to have a 1962 Fiat 600 D that would do that. It clogged the main jet which I had take out and blow out.
Water, sediment and separated ethanol are all heavier than gasoline (and diesel) and hence will be nearest the fuel pick-up (which is close to the bottom of the tank) regardless of the fuel level.
It is still a good idea to keep the tank full as practical to exclude moisture-laden air. But you don’t need to make a fetish of it.
Fuel cools the pump—too little fuel reduces heat transfer away from the pump. Running dry of fuel can result in pump failure due to overheating of components.
I’ve watched a lot of youtube videos and read a lot of articles about this and there seems to be no small amount of voodoo going on about running your tank close to empty. Some of it has been refuted and some has not. The one thing that is irrefutable is that once you run out, you don’t want to try to start the car until you’ve gotten some gas in there to lubricate the pump. Regarding the sediment, it is always there and that is what the fuel filter is for.
Some argue that running too low affects lubrication, but I’ve not seen that position effectively supported with evidence or a reasonable explanation for why.