Consistency in fill ups.

My wife and I have each only filled up once with our Cs. (Purchased 1/12/2014). I had driven more miles so I filled mine at the end of the first 3 weeks. I "topped off" the tank because I thought that the pump was faulty. So I squeezed the handle two times before I realized that the car was really full. (7 gallons pumped and over 56 MPG calculated). My wife's car made it to 5 weeks before needing gas. I did the pumping and decided to stop when the pump handle first popped. (Seven gallons pumped for an average of 51.3 MPG). We decided that we will follow a policy of not topping off from now on. The idea is to get more accurate data through a more consistent fill up procedure.

The problem is the pumps themselves. There are certain pumps at our favorite gas station that like to stop well before a car is full. My VW had a 14 gallon tank and one particular pump would stop after pumping about 5 gallons. The car was almost empty when I started so I knew that the pump was flaky. Filling that car at that pump required pulling the handle again and again after each fraction of a gallon. Other pumps at the station require just one, two or even no top offs. The station would fix one pump and then a different pump would misbehave. This was true of other gas stations as well. Part of the problem is the vapor recovery system that the state of California mandated years ago. It is not the "one size fits all" cure that they intended. I often see people having problems and over filling to the point where gas is spilled on the ground.

So I guess the best thing to do is to try the no topping off technique but use your knowledge of your cars' normal consumption. I.E. if the car has only one pip on the gauge and the pump stops after 4 gallons...pump on!

 

Good to know. Thanks!