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-   -   When to fill up the tank (https://www.fuelly.com/forums/f8/when-to-fill-up-the-tank-8402.html)

101mpg 05-15-2008 03:29 AM

That is one distinct advantage that Canada has over the US, another being that Canada is required to post price increases a week or two in advance. (At least British Columbia, last I heard) Implementing these two things would seriously help the US and stabilize gas prices.

fumesucker 05-15-2008 03:34 AM

Speaking of overfilling the tank..

I remember on the old "Candid Camera" show they took a VW beetle and connected a huge tank to the fuel filler. This was back in the days when your gas was pumped for you and VeeDubs were the smallest thing on the road.

Anyhoo, they pulled into a station, told the pump jockey to fill it up and then went around to the bathroom. The pump just kept going and going, the pump jockey started to freak at about 25 gallons or so and by the time it got to 30 he was looking under the car.. Funnier than all get out..

R.I.D.E. 05-15-2008 04:03 AM

The candid camera show I will never forget was the one (black and white) where they had Dolly Parton pretending she had a leg injury and she would ask men to carry her into a store.

regards
gary

fumesucker 05-15-2008 04:44 AM

It's amazing what an attractive woman can get men to do, eh? :D

palemelanesian 05-15-2008 08:40 AM

2 Attachment(s)
This is data from my daily commute over the last year+. 560 entries.
125% is filled above the full mark on the gauge.
My car has a bad stumble when it's really low, so don't put too much stock in that reading.

Attachment 1282

Q1 and Q3 are the 25th percentile and 75th percentile. Think of it as halfway between average and max or min.

AMX 05-15-2008 10:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 101mpg (Post 99915)
That is one distinct advantage that Canada has over the US, another being that Canada is required to post price increases a week or two in advance. (At least British Columbia, last I heard) Implementing these two things would seriously help the US and stabilize gas prices.

Here in Nova Scotia we don't know that much ahead of time what the price increase will be. Each week the price changes, you can usually hear on the radio the day before whether it will go up or down. And usually an estimate of how much. But other than that, you just have to wait and see.

ihatemybike 05-15-2008 11:01 AM

Having replaced high mileage fuel pumps in both my vans recently, I can say that GM did do something right with the design. Both have the actual pump in a little cup that fills with fuel and stays filled when the tank is low to keep the pump cool.

For my good van I bought a Delphi unit from GetGMParts.com $260 + $15 shipping. For Grumpy I bought a fuel pump assembly rebuild kit for $30 on eBay, little bit more work but Grumpy runs for now.

If your vehicle has a fuel filter be sure to include it in your maintenance schedule, definitely helps to extend the life of the pump.

monroe74 05-15-2008 02:16 PM

jad: "Then you're EOC for real"

That's funny!

I did actually run out of gas once, on purpose, because I really wanted to know my true capacity (and even though I've heard lots of reasons why it's considered a bad idea). And I managed to be heading downhill toward a gas station at the time (although I also had a gas can in the car), and literally coasted to the pump in EOC mode. Just like you said.
----------------------------
cems: "the pump usually stopped at 9.5 - 9.8 gallons for the 10 gallon tank"

Wow, you really were running close to empty. When I did my dry-tank experiment, the pump stopped when it reached 10.138. Of course, even when you had only 0.3 gallons left, that was still worth about 15 miles, since it was a VX.

"I also used to overfill it with 3 - 5 gallons extra"

You must mean 0.3-0.5.

I once did some very stupid overfilling, and realized (too late) that I was paying for fuel that was being vacuumed into the pump's vapor recovery system. Those little holes at the end of the nozzle carry a vacuum. Now I'm done as soon as the pump stops.
----------------------------
1993: "At times, I've put 11 gallons into my gas tank"

I've seen confusing information about how big the VX tank is. Some references indicate that all VXs have a 10 gallon tank. Some other references indicate that it was 10 in certain years, and 12 in other years.

Maybe you have a 12 gallon tank. If you have a 10 gallon tank, and paid for 11 gallons, I'm pretty sure you were sending gas into the pump's vapor recovery system. I learned the hard way.

I once looked at all the VX gaslogs, looking for very large fills. I found only a very small number of fills over 10 gallons. The record (at least as far as what I could find) is 11.174, here: https://www.gassavers.org/garage/viewgaslog/796. I think the only other car with a fill over ten (10.236) is here: https://www.gassavers.org/garage/viewgaslog/217.

Those cars are a '92 and a '93. I think somewhere along the way I got the idea that those years had a 12 gallon tank, and then they switched to 10. Not sure, though. But I'm darn sure that my tank ('95) is 10, not 12.
----------------------------
fume: "by the time it got to 30 he was looking under the car"

When I did my stupid experiment involving overfilling, I did literally look under the car, because I was surprised at the fact that it seemed I could keep squeezing more and more gas into the tank. I really thought I might be forcing it out onto the ground, somehow. It was only later that it dawned on me about what those little holes at the tip of the nozzle were doing.

I knew that pumps have some kind of vapor recovery system, but I didn't realize how subtle and effective it is. It's different from a few years ago, when the nozzle had that large bellows over it. Those were easier to defeat, if you were determined to fill to the very tippy-top.

dosco 05-16-2008 07:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PaleMelanesian (Post 99973)
This is data from my daily commute over the last year+. 560 entries.
125% is filled above the full mark on the gauge.
My car has a bad stumble when it's really low, so don't put too much stock in that reading.

What do "Q1" and "Q3" refer to?

8307c4 05-16-2008 07:34 AM

I don't know specifically as per mpg concerns but what I do know is I don't play the stupid fuel gauge game anymore lol... 1/4 tank and it's high time, fill'er up and now, never do I let my cars fall below 1/4, it just ain't worth running out of gas someplace.

Better off letting the car sit for all that, just don't drive.


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