First try at a Mega-Fill

It's the car out of "Minority Report". http://bestcars.free.fr/Mondial2002/Lexus%...0Report%202.jpg I'm hoping they make the Gen III Prius look like that.

dave.

 

1 I agree spilling gas is bad. But it has more to do with learning to do it right and the pumps than how much you put in. I had a big splash of gas pour out once. It was with some rental car and I was in no way trying to fill it full! The pump just didn't click off.

2 I don't believe that can be a problem with the Prius. The nozzle fits so tight there is a pretty good seal. And the boots we have don't really seal against anything. We don't tend to have the long accordian ones just a little short thing that can't flex aroud the bumps around the Prius cap area.

3 Never seen that problem. Shouldn't happen if the valves are working. Never had the mpg drop so I assume I have not had a charcoal contamination. No error codes either.

4 and 5 Can't really happen with a Prius. The gurgle happens when the tank is full.
Gas can't get to the recirc pump system till it is way up in the filler pipe. And I now
keep the recirc holes sucking air only since with the bladder there is no reason to remove air from the tank inside the bladder. So gas can't get into the pump. If it ever did
I'd really see a drop in mpg.

6 I think once the cap is on the only risk is the charcoal getting soaked, and then the car would do a purge to clean it out. But if you drive a bit before the temperature changes
this problem shouldn't happen. And I tend to fill in evening more so it is generally getting cooler.

I do worry about spilling! I just can't bring myself to leave 30% of my tank empty.
Plus, the closest I came to the car burping back gas at me was long before I ever tried for an extra full tank. I learned back then to listen for the gurgle always, because that day instead of my pump clicking off the first time at around 3 gallons from full, it ran all the way to the gurgle, and I almost did have a spill. That was the only time I actually saw gasoline in the top part of the filler tube.

So for these reasons I feel safer filling up than running out of gas on the low fuel end.
And I worry about that too. I remember when I needed really full tanks to complete a trip back when gas was short and we could only buy on alternate days. And I've come close to running out on trips where I come back at night and all the stations around seem to close at 9 PM and I got there at 9:10.

 

I have put 12.48 gallons in the tank using only the "automatic" click, without a second go round.

that was four months agao and now the tank will take 10 gallons limiting my effective range to 400 miles. When you drive 600+ miles a week that bites since I should get at LEAST 500 miles a tank. An extra day between fill-ups reeally makes a difference

 

my gauge starts blinking around 520-550 miles I never really push it and fill up soon after that. But I can only put in 9.7-10.1 gallons I would love to use 11-12 gallons and push 600 miles but I chicken out LOL

 

Here's one,

Filled up the tank this moring.
First click went of at 9.7 gallons.

I thought well lets see what is really left.

At approximately 11.5 gallons I heard fuel entering the filler pipe. You can kind of hear the gurgling sound the gas makes when going into the tank changes pitch.

I then pulled the nozzle out, letting any gas in the tip drain into the tanke.

THEN, gas started coming OUT of the tank for about five seconds. Acompanied by a lot of air. Kind of like when you empty a bottle too fast and the air entering the bottle to take place of the escaping fluid has to fight the escaping fluid to get in.

What the heck is up with that!!!

Remember this happend AFTER I pulled the nozzle out and CONTINUE for about 5 seconds. (probably lost about a cup (100 ml) of fuel)

 

Vincent:

I had the exact same experience as you did on my last fillup.
I won't let that happen again, I'll just stop more often for gas.

Charlie

 

I thought I take a stab closer to "mega filling". I waited till I got to one bar left on my fuel guage, so I knew my tank had roughly 1 gallon of gas left. Usually I get only 8.7 gallons on a fill. So I decided why not try for 9.7 gallons. It's probably not a megafill but it's still well below the risk of spill over. So when the pump stopped at 8.7 gallons, I pressed again and got to 8.75 gallons. Then again 8.8 gallons. Then again 8.85 gallons. Then again 8.86 gallons. I eventually got to 8.9 gallons and I decided this is ridiculous and quit.

With gas pumping, the more frequently you stop and start the pump the more likely there is a chance for error. Who knows my excessive clicking may have been so short to actually have added no extra gas, and so I just payed more for the same 8.7 gallons of gas.

Anyway, how can one do a mega fill. From what I saw you'd have to may 100 pump and clicks in seqeunce to fill up a tank, and you'd probably get overcharged for the gas that you got because of the frequent clicking.

 

I've found that some pump handles just don't work for this procedure as squeezing very slightly does nothing; there's sort of a detent in the trigger. Once I get past the detent, gas comes out much too quickly and the pump will just shut off completely.

So, I try to fill at a couple of stations close to home where the pumps are more "mega-fill friendly". After click-off, I can usually squeeze at least another 2 gallons simply with extremely slight pressure on the trigger without clicking on and off a million times. The downside, of course, is I fill a bit more frequently.......usually at around 2-3 bars.

 

i've got to agree with Devil's Advocate above.

The first and only time I tried to get a "real" fill (not even a mega-fill, just a decent amount of gas) I got a nice big ol' burp-back of gas. i don't think it has anything to do with "knowing how to do it" as some have posted. Look at what he did: nice and slow, wait until you hear a gurgle, remove. That's just what I did. Result: spilled gas all over the place.

No thanks. Mega-fill not for me.