How do you fill up a car?

corblimey

I've not been driving that long (about 5-6 years), but in all that time, I've never once filled up my car. I don't mean I've never got petrol, I should be so lucky, but it's always been a fixed amount (started at e30 per week, has gone up over the years, up to e45 recently), so I'm not quite sure how to fill a tank to the brim.

I was under the impression that petrol will stop flowing when the tank is full, but both my local petrol stations, their pumps are 'contrary' to put it one way. You can't depress the 'handle' totally, as they just turn off, and the position of the nozzle inside the tank seems to have some effect. So I end up with the nozzle resting half in half out and trying to keep the lever about half way pushed in, I've a feeling that this method will just lead to overfilling the tank and ruining my shoes.

Is it me, or is the petrol station? I'm taking a long car journey this year, and want to be able to "fill up" whenever I can rather than getting fixed amounts, so any tips would be helpful.

keithclancy

corblimey wrote: »

I've not been driving that long (about 5-6 years), but in all that time, I've never once filled up my car. I don't mean I've never got petrol, I should be so lucky, but it's always been a fixed amount (started at e30 per week, has gone up over the years, up to e45 recently), so I'm not quite sure how to fill a tank to the brim.

I was under the impression that petrol will stop flowing when the tank is full, but both my local petrol stations, their pumps are 'contrary' to put it one way. You can't depress the 'handle' totally, as they just turn off, and the position of the nozzle inside the tank seems to have some effect. So I end up with the nozzle resting half in half out and trying to keep the lever about half way pushed in, I've a feeling that this method will just lead to overfilling the tank and ruining my shoes.

Is it me, or is the petrol station? I'm taking a long car journey this year, and want to be able to "fill up" whenever I can rather than getting fixed amounts, so any tips would be helpful.

Depends on the Angle on the nozzle, some cars are more awkward than others.

I just jam nozzle in, press lever, stick on clip and go clean bugs off the Windows until I hear a click.

Zubeneschamali

keithclancy wrote: »

I just jam nozzle in, press lever, stick on clip and go clean bugs off the Windows until I hear a click.

I haven't seen a pump with a clip on it for years.

Generally you know it's full because the petrol nozzle/tank will make a gurgling noise, and the nozzle will click off.
Some petrol stations have tempermental nozzles which will click off if you use more than the lightest pressure, but try and keep it at consistent pressure and listen out for the gurgling and you'll be grand

Max Power1

Zubeneschamali wrote: »

I haven't seen a pump with a clip on it for years.

More common on the LPG & Diesel pumps.

ronkmonster

Hate when pumps are like that :mad:

You'll hear it when it's getting full(take it slow the first time) and it should stop itself but may not if you are not inserting it fully. I don't know how it stops when it's full, maybe it detects the pressure of pushing into an almost full tank. You can usually get a little bit extra in when it starts stopping to get an even euro amount, but that's probably not recommended

corblimey

bluewolf wrote: »

Generally you know it's full because the petrol nozzle/tank will make a gurgling noise, and the nozzle will click off.
Some petrol stations have tempermental nozzles which will click off if you use more than the lightest pressure, but try and keep it at consistent pressure and listen out for the gurgling and you'll be grand

Hmm, "gurgling"? Sort of like the noise you get when a bottle fills up from the tap?

ronkmonster

corblimey wrote: »

Hmm, "gurgling"? Sort of like the noise you get when a bottle fills up from the tap?

Yes.

Zubeneschamali

Max Power1 wrote: »

More common on the LPG & Diesel pumps.

One of our cars is a diesel. I seem to remember a poster here (hammertime?) who ran service stations, who said they removed the clips as people were inclined to forget to remove the nozzle before driving off, damaging the pumps and costing the station a fortune.

CiniO

Zubeneschamali wrote: »

I haven't seen a pump with a clip on it for years.

I never seen one in Ireland.
The same in UK.
Strange, as you have them almost everywhere on the Continent.
I hate to have my hands frozen, when I'm filling up my tank, and have to keep the nozzle pressed all the time with my fingers.

Danbo!

If a pump seems temperamental, ie keeps clicking off, take it out and put it back in again, its usually caused by an air lock or the pump being at the wrong angle so it thinks the tank is full. If you look into the nozzle, you'll see a little tube at the bottom of it which is the sensor for knocking the pump off when the tank is full.

Never fill your tank with the pump upside down. I've seen people do this when they park the wrong side of the pump and stretch the line across their car. This usually results in the pump not knowing the tank is full and wont click off and you'll ruin your shoes.

The clips on the pumps were removed for reasons stated above, people driving off and ripping the pump out, and also because if the auto-off failed the pump would keep pumping.

I used to work filling cars and really wished they had of kept the clips on freezing rainy nights.

keithclancy

Zubeneschamali wrote: »

I haven't seen a pump with a clip on it for years.

They still exists here on the continent, just not on the motorway stations (except for LPG / Autogas pumps)

Fanta bottle works just as well though

biko

Jam nozzle in the hole and pull the yoke. If it clicks off immediately pull nozzle up a bit and try again. Keep it at a steady flow until it clicks off.
You can keep an eye on the counter and see if it the drawn amount of fuel seems reasonable.
Go in and pay, once you start the car you can see meter needle go to full.

corblimey

biko wrote: »

Jam nozzle in the hole and pull the yoke. If it clicks off immediately pull nozzle up a bit and try again. Keep it at a steady flow until it clicks off.
You can keep an eye on the counter and see if it the drawn amount of fuel seems reasonable.
Go in and pay, once you start the car you can see meter needle go to full.

Are you honestly trying to tell me that the best way to determine if your tank is full is knowing how much petrol you needed to put in it before you started? There are people who can look at their fuel gauge and work out how many litres are missing? Apart from "rainman"?

Danbo!

corblimey wrote: »

Are you honestly trying to tell me that the best way to determine if your tank is full is knowing how much petrol you needed to put in it before you started? There are people who can look at their fuel gauge and work out how many litres are missing? Apart from "rainman"?

If you're running on fumes and the pump clicks off at €3.64 then you know its not actually full.

Also, my car has a 60 litre tank so you get a general vague idea of how much it might take to fill it up judging by the gauge

Matt Simis

Danbo! wrote: »

Never fill your tank with the pump upside down. I've seen people do this when they park the wrong side of the pump and stretch the line across their car. This usually results in the pump not knowing the tank is full and wont click off and you'll ruin your shoes.

I sometimes do that to stop the hose rubbing the car paintwork and have never seen the handle not click off when fuel.

corktina

keithclancy wrote: »

They still exists here on the continent, just not on the motorway stations (except for LPG / Autogas pumps)

Fanta bottle works just as well though

i beleive they are actually banned.

Matt Simis

corktina wrote: »

i beleive they are actually banned.

On that note I saw a woman smoking while walking around the station the other day, prolly filled her car that way too.

Matt Simis

LIGHTNING wrote: »

While I dont advise people doing it, its not stupidly unsafe. You could drop the cig into a bucket of petrol and nothing would happen.

People say that about he bucket o' petrol yeah, but what about dropping it onto a thin, hazey splash of petrol... Its the fumes that ignite.

cython

Matt Simis wrote: »

On that note I saw a woman smoking while walking around the station the other day, prolly filled her car that way too.

Best one I heard along those lines was a woman who gave out to someone because he was on the phone while filling his car, and she puffing away on a cigarette all the while that she did her own! I know which one of mobile phones and burning substances has been proven to routinely ignite things....

GTE

LIGHTNING wrote: »

While I dont advise people doing it, its not stupidly unsafe. You could drop the cig into a bucket of petrol and nothing would happen.

I would imagine it would be more likely something to do with the vapour coming from the tank and not dropping ash or a cig into a pool of fuel but that is just an uneducated guess and even at that, as you say, it has to be the correct condition.

I am also told by my boss that the clips are gone because in the USA they would use the clips, do other things around the car, gather static and cause a fire when they return to the nozzle. That is more towards petrol pumps I think. The new diesel pumps dont have the clip because of what Hammertime said about people forgetting about them or the air detection system not working for a car.

It is policy at the garage I work at to stop the pump when someone sees it being used with the aid of bottles etc. forcing the pump to stay on.

Tabnabs

It's the vapour with petrol that ignites so whilst the cigarette may not cause a fire, lighting a cigarette is a whole different theme.

Also, on the subject of mobiles

Phil Thomas, a trading standards officer, adds: "The main hazard is that you may drop the phone, the battery becomes disconnected, causing a spark which could ignite the vapour around the car."

Long article here
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/3986509.stm

no1beemerfan

It was surprising to me how many people never fill the tank fully but then not everyone does a lot of driving to justify it. I'd to show my girlfriend how to fill up properly too when I met her as she just used to throw in 20 at a time no matter how far she was driving!

Danbo!

Theres also the issue of the cigarette igniting something else, and a forecourt is the last place you want a fire.

We had some guy drive in, empty his ashtray into a bin, filled the car and left. Two minutes later, smoke billowing out of the bin right beside a pump. I've never moved so quick in all my life.

Zubeneschamali

Cigarettes as lighters: experiments at Insultingly Stupid Movie Physics

vincenzolorenzo

corblimey wrote: »

Are you honestly trying to tell me that the best way to determine if your tank is full is knowing how much petrol you needed to put in it before you started? There are people who can look at their fuel gauge and work out how many litres are missing? Apart from "rainman"?

Em, yes. Its fairly straightforward really. My tank takes about 45litres to fill so if the gauge was around the quarter mark i should be expecting to need ~35 litres to fill it.

Senna

Zubeneschamali wrote: »

I haven't seen a pump with a clip on it for years.

Plenty of them in Donegal, i'd say the vast majority have them on the diesel pumps, not sure about petrol.

GTE

vincenzolorenzo wrote: »

Em, yes. Its fairly straightforward really. My tank takes about 45litres to fill so if the gauge was around the quarter mark i should be expecting to need ~35 litres to fill it.

Yeah, it is good practice if you know how big the tank is. Especially if its one that airlocks from time to time.

pajor

Fairly auld station in Dungarvan, in Waterford that has clips on the diesel pumps

corblimey

vincenzolorenzo wrote: »

Em, yes. Its fairly straightforward really. My tank takes about 45litres to fill so if the gauge was around the quarter mark i should be expecting to need ~35 litres to fill it.

Well sure, but if it's ~35 litres, it might be 33 litres, it might be 37. If you keep pumping until it's ~35, you're will more than likely end up underfilling or worse overfilling. Not by 2 litres, but by some small amount.

It's not much better than my current method which is to put in 45 quid's worth which I'm reasonably sure will last me a week based on normal driving.

mickdw

I just stick €50 in at a time. I usually need to do that every 4 or so days.

Mr. Manager

I'm genuinely shocked at the amount of people who don't fill their car.

The only reason I can think of is because you're strapped for cash but surely that only happens every so often and you're not constantly broke, otherwise you wouldn't have a car.

Caliden

Is there a downside to not filling your car?
i.e. Does petrol evapourate in the empty space should you choose not to fill your tank?

inforfun

Dont know how to explain this well but i use the cap of my tank to jam the handle.
They can keep their clip.

Jagle

Cereal Rapist wrote: »

I'm genuinely shocked at the amount of people who don't fill their car.

The only reason I can think of is because you're strapped for cash but surely that only happens every so often and you're not constantly broke, otherwise you wouldn't have a car.

again why not fill it to the brim, i mean having a car full of petrol = more weight to carry around. just one reason not to have a full tank all the time.

would like to hear your reasons for having a full one

Mr. Manager

Caliden wrote: »

Is there a downside to not filling your car?
i.e. Does petrol evapourate in the empty space should you choose not to fill your tank?

To my knowledge there is no downside.

Jagle wrote: »

again why not fill it to the brim, i mean having a car full of petrol = more weight to carry around. just one reason not to have a full tank all the time.

would like to hear your reasons for having a full one

Convenience. Simple.

I always fill my car to the brim. Why would I want to go to a petrol station once a week or less?

What's the logic in not filling the car? Besides the aforementioned.

dr.fuzzenstein

Zubeneschamali wrote: »

I haven't seen a pump with a clip on it for years.

I carry a bit of a sturdy paperclip in my wallet because of that.
So, engage clip, check windscreen, etc... wait for it to click off and you're filled up.
Since I mostly run it to nearly empty and just fill it up to the top it's the easiest way.

mantaraver

Cereal Rapist wrote: »

To my knowledge there is no downside.



Convenience. Simple.

I always fill my car to the brim. Why would I want to go to a petrol station once a week or less?

What's the logic in not filling the car? Besides the aforementioned.

Way I see it is that if you fill the tank, then there will be less air for the fuel to evaporate into, as it's not sloshing about so much. Ever wonder why air escapes when you open the tank, especially after driving on any non-motorway roads in the country. Thats evaporated fuel vapour escaping, not air, and there seems to be more, when the tanks near empty.

One for Mythbusters I reckon ?? :)

Jagle

Cereal Rapist wrote: »

To my knowledge there is no downside.



Convenience. Simple.

I always fill my car to the brim. Why would I want to go to a petrol station once a week or less?

What's the logic in not filling the car? Besides the aforementioned.

well not sure where you live but i pass 3 stations o my way to work daily, one is about 20 seconds from the house so i dont see going to the station as an inconvenience as im more then likely going in there to get some small groceries.

well apart from better fuel economy, im gonna go with better performance, safer, from the view of that if i crash 60l of petrol wont spill everywhere, and the whole petrol evaporating into air, eh id like to see results of a test showing how much is being lost, minimal id say

pajo1981

Do'nt think I've ever not filled my yoke. i awlays pay by card too :P

On petrol evaporating: your tank is air tight, there aint no fuel goin nowhere!

Mr. Manager

Jagle wrote: »

well not sure where you live but i pass 3 stations o my way to work daily, one is about 20 seconds from the house so i dont see going to the station as an inconvenience as im more then likely going in there to get some small groceries.

well apart from better fuel economy, im gonna go with better performance, safer, from the view of that if i crash 60l of petrol wont spill everywhere, and the whole petrol evaporating into air, eh id like to see results of a test showing how much is being lost, minimal id say

I live in Dublin, less than 40 second drive from a petrol station. Doesn't mean I want to be going there unnecessarily. Fill it to the top so as I only have to go once every 13-15 days.

On your note of petrol spillages from a crash, how many times have you seen or heard of a car going on fire/exploding? My guess would be never.

Petrol does not evaporate from your tank. If it does, you have a problem. Maybe if you left it idle in the Nevada Desert.

shogunpower

filling the tank just loads weight on your car, half filling it everytime improves economy.every extra liter is an extra kilo.

rain on

I used to only get €20 or whatever at a time when most of my driving was short runs around town, but since I started going cross-country once a week I fill it till it clicks off every time - my tank is only 40 litres which *just* lasts me a week, so a fill every Friday suits me best.

(Though last week I did 100 instead of 120 on the M6/M4 the whole way up and down and now I have loads of petrol left instead of having to play fuel light bingo the whole week - here's hoping I have the time and patience to do that more often)

Shane Slv

shogunpower wrote: »

filling the tank just loads weight on your car, half filling it everytime improves economy.every extra liter is an extra kilo.

Petrol has a lower density then water so 1 litre of petrol actually weights around 737 grams,

mantaraver

pajo1981 wrote: »

On petrol evaporating: your tank is air tight, there aint no fuel goin nowhere!

Untill ya open the filler cap and vapour wooshes out under pressure. It wasn't pressurised when ya closed the tank before, was it? :rolleyes:

And if ya dont think fuel evaporates (ok, there may be a better word to explain that than evaporate??) Try filling a small mineral bottle with some petrol and then give it a shake (put the lid on first, obviously) See what happens ??

Shane Slv

Fuel tanks in cars are not air tight, their should never be a build up of fuel vapor

slave1

I used to fill her halfway, thinking anything more is just a waste as I'm paying to drive the weight around, now I fill her for convenience about once a month yes, I am talking about my car

Yawns

Only usually get about €20 or so at a time to do for what I need. If I ever fill it, the oh usually wants us all to go visit her family etc and I hate them

So my excuse is sry hun, not enough petrol in the tank, maybe next week

Stheno

Cereal Rapist wrote: »

I'm genuinely shocked at the amount of people who don't fill their car.

The only reason I can think of is because you're strapped for cash but surely that only happens every so often and you're not constantly broke, otherwise you wouldn't have a car.

I used to when I was driving 500 miles a week, now I use the car for very short trips and get about 4 weeks out of €20 worth of petrol.

If I'm planning on going somewhere long distance I fill it up.

vincenzolorenzo

corblimey wrote: »

Well sure, but if it's ~35 litres, it might be 33 litres, it might be 37. If you keep pumping until it's ~35, you're will more than likely end up underfilling or worse overfilling. Not by 2 litres, but by some small amount.

It's not much better than my current method which is to put in 45 quid's worth which I'm reasonably sure will last me a week based on normal driving.

But you can't overfill a car. The pump clicks off when its full.

vincenzolorenzo

shogunpower wrote: »

filling the tank just loads weight on your car, half filling it everytime improves economy.every extra liter is an extra kilo.

As Shane slv said above a litre of petrol is approx 737 grams. So say for arguments sake the size of the tank is 60 litres, half filling puts 30l in, full tank means an extra 30 litres. The extra fuel would weigh about 22kg, on a car that probably weighs at least 1200kg (conservatively). So in other words, the 'carrying extra weight around' argument just doesn't stack up cos the weight change is minimal