nav[aria-label="Primary Navigation"] { padding: 0; & ul { list-style: none; width: 100%; display: flex; flex-direction: row; justify-content: start; align-items: start; gap: 30px; padding: 0; & li { margin: 0; } & ul li { list-style: none; } } }

Child Item

Full tank vs frequent visits to petrol station

FrankC21

Hi,

One of my mate at work - a big car enthusiast - gave me an advice against puttin €20 each time I go to the petrol station, he said that I should fill up the tank up to the brim. I usually put €20 and when it nearly gone put another €20, I kinda think I will save money this way.

His reason is that if I do not do this, I keep releasing the built up/gas pressure each time I visit the petrol station and that pressure/gas is the actual diesel i paid for, evaporating out into the air.

Is that an actual fact? He recently change his car from 2007 petrol RAV4 AWD to a nissan 1.5 dci deisel and a full tank will last him 2-3weeks.

Find more posts tagged with

Quick Links

Comments

maestroamado

Larbre34 wrote: »

70 litres of diesel is 60 kgs. Or the size of a decent sized wife. That's not negligible.

there must be a big difference between water and diesel.
1 litre of water = i Kilo = 10x10x10....

Whocare

Know man who is always running around with tank nearly empty the reasoning for it he running on green diesel and if he ever get dipped he will say he out of diesel just put few litres to get to petrol station .he said he will still get fine but look better than running around with full tank of it

punisher5112

Whocare wrote: »

Know man who is always running around with tank nearly empty the reasoning for it he running on green diesel and if he ever get dipped he will say he out of diesel just put few litres to get to petrol station .he said he will still get fine but look better than running around with full tank of it

My brain hurts.....

CoBo55

Bass Reeves wrote: »

The fumes come out of the tank

Not on modern cars it's not allowed anymore. The Americans started clamping down on fuel vapour venting directly into the atmosphere in the 70's.

antodeco

One of my car's doesn't have a working fuel gauge so I fill up every 160kms!

Del2005

Whocare wrote: »

Know man who is always running around with tank nearly empty the reasoning for it he running on green diesel and if he ever get dipped he will say he out of diesel just put few litres to get to petrol station .he said he will still get fine but look better than running around with full tank of it

The fine is for using marked gas oil. The quantity is irrelevant, once the marker is detected you get hit with the fine, its the amount of times that you are caught that counts.

FileNotFound

Filling full at a cheap pumps will actually save you cash in the long run.

Otherwise more weight may mean more consumption.

All pennies talk really.

Odyssey 2005

WOW.

vintagevrs

Jesus I'm annoyed I spent a few minutes reading some of this....

Tell him to fold in his mirrors, put his tyres up to 40psi, turn off the AC, turn off the radio, make sure the boot is empty and always, always take a big shíte before going on a journey. Well that's what I do and so far over the last 15 years I'm up 4 euros.

[Deleted User]

Larbre34 wrote: »

Fuel is heavy. Why would you carry more of it around than absolutely necessary? All it does its increase its own consumption.

20 quid on a typical Irish diesel is good for 300-350 kms, loads.

57+mpg is typical?
Using your 300km, €20 & €1.355/litre.

lausp

Some saying fuel is heavy and shouldn't be carrying around more than you need? In reality filling up might only be 30kg more than messing around putting in 20 euro a time.

Your car is most likely 1.5 tonnes. That "extra" 30kg is nothing. What you do gain filling up is not having to go to the petrol station every week messing around with fuel and paying. If you pay by card doing this you are most likely paying more in bank charges than you'd gain from any perceived savings by not carrying that insignificant weight around.

Not to mention how much you value your own time and stopping and starting the car extra times, maybe using the gloves at the petrol station etc.

Some people can't afford to fill up which is fair enough but I suspect others are just a bit tight and are the same types that would put off servicing or buy the cheapest tyres.

You would actually save money on fuel worrying about maintaining the car properly and using better driving techniques such as smooth acceleration, anticipating stops and braking gently.

AndyBoBandy

Leonard Hofstadter wrote: »

Life's too short to be spending lots of time at petrol stations re-filling a car all the time. This is one of the reasons I don't like EVs, even the ones with decent range still need at least half an hour to recharge when low on battery.

I drive an EV, and in the 54 weeks I’ve owned it (24,500km driven), I’ve needed to charge it mid journey away from home on 2 separate journeys. The 2nd of which was about 6 weeks ago when I did a 686km trip in 1 day, and made 4 (fast) charging stops (though 3 would have sufficed), I was glad of the stops on each occasion as it allowed me to have toilet/snack breaks, as well as catch up on work/emails etc..... 1 of the stops I wouldn’t have needed to charge, but as I was stopping for a break anyway, and a charger was available, took the opportunity get some charge (the weather was absolutely crap that day (wind/snow) so I was being extra cautious). Each stop was about 30-40 minutes...
Other than those 2 trips where I needed to stop for a charge mid journey, all my (slow) charging takes place while I’m at home asleep. So like someone coming to your house at night and slowing filling your petrol tank over a 3-4 hour period. I can live with the slightly extended duration of ‘fast’ charging stops mid journey as its outweighed by never needing to waste time stopping in petrol stations for the other 360 days of the year or so I’m doing normal driving...

I also (still) have a diesel car, and the philosophy was to always fill it when it needed a fuel stop. Diesel pumps are manky enough as it is, so the less times I need to use them the better (the next time you pump diesel, smell your hand). In the last year I put diesel into it twice, and I don’t miss going into petrol stations to pay for fuel.

[Deleted User]

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

I....... (the next time you pump diesel, smell your hand)......

Oh wow, is that why decent service stations have been providing gloves for a decade ➕ :pac:

whisky_galore

Augeo wrote: »

Oh wow, is that why decent service stations have been providing gloves for a decade ➕ :pac:

Have a pair of your own workgloves, they're not expensive, sheesh.
Not every place has gloves, and where they do, guranteed like the sanitiser no-one bothers their arse refilling when empty.

Wesser

Seriously.... how much does the weight of a few litres of fuel actually cost???!!!

Oink

Bass Reeves wrote: »

OP friend is fairly right. First starting and stopping a car uses more fuel.

That might be old news. The owner’s manual for my 2014 diesel specifically says it’s a good idea to turn off the engine if you’re going to stop for more than 30 seconds, in order to save diesel. It also has the auto start/stop thing.

Gerry

Alright, here it is.
Fill up to the neck, every time.
The extra hydrostatic pressure will cut down on fuel pump cavitation - translation - less air going into the engine and more lovely fuel.
The extra weight will keep more weight on the rear wheels of the car, if your car is rear wheel drive, this helps on snowy mornings with traction. If its front wheel drive it wont help with that at all.
But that's not all! When going around bends the extra weight will keep the back of the car stuck to the road, this is a big help on motorway exits, roundabouts and deadmans curve.
Regards/Thanks as appropriate.

vintagevrs

Gerry wrote: »

Alright, here it is.
Fill up to the neck, every time.
The extra hydrostatic pressure will cut down on fuel pump cavitation - translation - less air going into the engine and more lovely fuel.
The extra weight will keep more weight on the rear wheels of the car, if your car is rear wheel drive, this helps on snowy mornings with traction. If its front wheel drive it wont help with that at all.
But that's not all! When going around bends the extra weight will keep the back of the car stuck to the road, this is a big help on motorway exits, roundabouts and deadmans curve.
Regards/Thanks as appropriate.

If anyone can explain the benefits of carrying around extra fuel, Gerry can.

Wishbone Ash

Larbre34 wrote: »

Fuel is heavy. Why would you carry more of it around than absolutely necessary? All it does its increase its own consumption.

20 quid on a typical Irish diesel is good for 300-350 kms, loads.

Do you not value your time? Let's say you are worth €40 per hour. With unnecessary visiting of filling stations, you're probably wasting €5 to €10 per visit in an attempt to save a few cents.

Bass Reeves

Oink wrote: »

That might be old news. The owner’s manual for my 2014 diesel specifically says it’s a good idea to turn off the engine if you’re going to stop for more than 30 seconds, in order to save diesel. It also has the auto start/stop thing.

No it's not old news you owners manual is after telling you you use nearly 30 seconds of idling fuel to stop and start. You also have the physical act of slowing the car down and getting it back up through the gears to driving speed.

As for extra fuel over the use of a fill it's 20 kgs average compared to a person that fills a quarter full every time. That about the equivalent of carrying a small grocery shop in the car. it's effect on your fuel efficiency will be less than 0.5%. extra, 0.3l of fuel or 40cent in cost. Against that you will use at least the equivalent stopping and starting at fuel stations.

Finally you are more price away if completely filling a car. One cent on a fill the s worth 60 cent

barneygumble99

If you do more than 500km a week brim it every time, if you do 5km a week just put €10 in. Fairly logical no

Darc19

barneygumble99 wrote: »

If you do more than 500km a week brim it every time, if you do 5km a week just put €10 in. Fairly logical no

Stop being sensible

[Deleted User]

whisky_galore wrote: »

Have a pair of your own workgloves, they're not expensive, sheesh.
Not every place has gloves, and where they do, guranteed like the sanitiser no-one bothers their arse refilling when empty.

I was more alluding to the fact that there being a smell off diesel is well known, not a new revelation whereby folk need to go sniffing their hand to ascertain

CIP4

I have always just filled the tank in my car since I started driving. Unless you do really really low miles I wouldn’t see the point of doing €20 fills. If you put a value on your time you will fill the tank each time. As for the weight saving fuel argument I think if you fill the tank carry the extra weight. Then spend some of the time you’ve saved on fuel station stops checking and ensuring your tyre pressure is correct. You’ll save a lot more on fuel over the course of the year that way IMO.

zg3409

Here is a good reason to fill up a diesel

The DPF will not regenerate if
■ There is less than 20 litres of fuel in the fuel tank

From:
http://www.techtalk.ie/technical_articles/causes-of-dpf-failure-and-how-to-perform-a-regeneration/

Thus if you are always running on 1/4 tank then your DPF may be permanently damaged.

kaahooters

Jesus lads, lock down has hit yall feckin hard with this one.

StonedRaider

MrMusician18 wrote: »

I wouldn't think there is much difference but certain cars use a fuel additive called Eoly's and that's delivered to the fuel tank every time you open and close the fuel door. While the amount added depends on the quantity of fuel in the tank, more frequent fuelling results in this rather expensive additive being used faster.

This is absolutely correct. Almost all the earlier Hdi's had eolys pouches that were a bastard to remove/refill. To replace, bill was apprx €200+ labour. The later models then came with a refillable tank. So it was always advised to brim it when refuelling. Plus as was mentioned somewhere that the dpf doesn't regen when the fuel level is below 20 litres

padyjoe

I'm not sure: whether I fill myself to the brim or not, I still release pressure regardless. I think I should stop eating because some stuff evaporates into the air, I kinda think I will save money this way.

The J Stands for Jay

padyjoe wrote: »

I'm not sure: whether I fill myself to the brim or not, I still release pressure regardless. I think I should stop eating because some stuff evaporates into the air, I kinda think I will save money this way.

There's an automatic pressure release valve at the bottom that stops most hasses from escaping from the refueling orifice.

ectoraige

So many answers given to the physics of it, not many pertaining to the human factors.

How disciplined are you at the petrol station? Do you ever pick up a cup of coffee or a cheeky bar of chocolate that you would have gone without had you not stopped?

If you do even once a month that extra cost is going to have the biggest single impact on your expenditure.

If fewer visits means less ancillary spending then brimming it is going to win out, all other factors aside.