Fuel capacity: 13.6 gallons!

Yep, I checked with the station manager today and he said all of the pumps were checked recently.

 

Checked by whom? In Washington the number of State inspectors for the whole state is in the low single digits ( I think 5) and they do not get around to some pumps for much more than a year! There was an article in the local paper about it. If I owned a station pumping say 11 gal. and calling and charging for 13 might be tempting. Just a thought.

 

I believe that the state checks them here in Tennessee as well, but the dude could have been flat out lying too. I plan on taking a small can in and testing for myself. I'll let you know of the results!

Cory

 

i live in Wa St and started a post asking people to post the inspection dates of the gas pumps they use and no one has posted anything, but i have been checking and despite the fact that WA St TRIES to inspect each pump every 3 years, i ve seen some as old as Augest 1998!

in fact, ive only seen two sets of pumps inspected in the past 3 years. the average seems to be 5 years. i started doing this in response to a survey that said that 11% of the pumps in the state were inaccurate. in fact it was estimated that 300,000 gallons of gas was paid for but not pumped each month in the state.

i really have major doubts as to your volume. unless you can duplicate that volume or something near that at least a few more times, i would have the station reported although reporting anyone in WA st wouldnt do much good.

 

I'll put any questions to rest shortly as I plan to visit the station again soon with a small gas can that I can accurately measure. Let's not overlook that even if the pump was nearly 10% optimistic and I only put 12 gallons in, that's still at least 12.6 gallons in the tank.

 

In VA the gas pumps are checked regularly and I've never seen an overage like the one described. On a recent trip to Indianapollis from near D.C. (average 48mpg., there and back) I stopped in Ohio for gas. I won't bore you with the details but the pump was registering at least 10% high by my calculation. Go figure. You are on the Interstate, almost all of his business is through traffic so they rip you off knowing that you probably won't be back. I complained but the owner said his pumps were recently checked. I couldn't find an inspection sticker anywhere. Which leads me to believe that all the guys who do a calculated mileage are probably just blowing wind. Why should that be more accurate than the display on the data panel when you rely on some mystical state inspection to give you an accurate input?

 

11.9 gallons

The tank only holds 11.9 gallons, this was confirmed with Toyota. I have filled my tank twice now both time when the low gas starts to blink. First Time I put in 9.8 gallons the other 10.2. This seems correct since when the low fuel starts to blink the tank should have about 2 gallons left.

 

I have put in more than 12 gallons twice. 12.5 and 12.1 Filling up that much past the auto shut-off is probably not a great idea unless you are going for a record of some kind. I usually fill it up a little too much, but not to the tippy top.

 

Hello everyone, THE VERDICT IS IN... I've been VERY careful about this to give you an accurate reading and I know people are skeptical, so I'll give you my procedure too.

I went back to the same Exxon station and bought a small gas can inside. I went to the same pump I used the other night and put in as close to 1 gallon (indicated on the pump gauge) as I could. I stopped at an indicated .998 gallons.

I went out and bought a gallon jug of water (which I then poured out on my plants). Then, I used a large pyrex measuring cup to measure out a gallon, pouring it back in the now empty water jug. When I had the gallon precisely measured, I took a ball-point pen and marked the top level so I knew where precisely one gallon was on the jug. Then I poured out the water.

I poured the .998 gallons from the jerry can into the water jug (not spilling a drop!) and much to my amazement, the level was slightly ABOVE the one gallon mark by maybe a tablespoon. So, if anything, the pump was spot-on or slightly pessimistic!

Bottom line is that there were at least 13.6 gallons in my tank after the fill-up!

By the way, this was TOTALLY an experiment so we can all learn. I've read so much about the rubber bladder, and fill-up procedures, etc. so I wanted to try it out in order to benefit all of us. I plan on sticking to my strategy of filling automatically on the slowest speed and then usually topping it off until I hit the next dollar up (meaning about 1/2 gallon past the pump stopping). Hope this helps!!!!

 

The article in the TNT showed the state inspector using a calibrated 5 gallon can. I don't know but is the amount important in the measurement, I would guess that % wise it would be better to use larger amounts to detect small errors. I don't think they weigh the container. I would think a good accurate scale would be better. Any other thoughts.

 

the greater the amount measured, the more accurate the results.

i guess 5 gallons is pretty much the standard.

for filling any container there is always a question of an error in reading the amount even if filling it to the "line".
the error could be say .01 gallons. in a one gallon measurement the error can be + or - .01 gallons or 1%

but if filling 5 gallons the error is the same but it would be .01 gallons in 5 gallons or .2% of the total.

for the guy who measured the water with the measuring cup. each time he has to refill the cup he is creating more error. say the error is .1 ounces for a cup ful. if he has to use 5 cupfulls to make the gallon, then the error of the measurement can be .5 ounces.

also you will find that household measuring cups would never pass a weights and measures calibration test. they simply are not made to measure things that accurately.

a better measure would be to get a very sensitive scale and weigh the water to determine the volume that way. will be much more accurate then the method he described.

 

Even if the method of measuring wasn't scientifically correct, it's a nice experiment. I think it shows that the pump meter isn't of by much.

 

A rip in the space time continuum! Call Steven Hawking. :mrgreen:

 

whoa this is getting ridiculous....

Unless the pump was more than 10% off, which is highly doubtful, my Prius held more than the advertised 11.9 gallons. That's my only point. Using the gallon water jug as a "reality check" showed me that the .998 indicated gallons indeed took up the entire volume of the container.

If anyone would like to wheel NIST-certified scales out to their local gas station and pump out 100 gallons and test the weight, be my guest!

 

Gas tank specs

Maybe someone can get a copy of the gas tank design documentation to see the actual capacity specs. Anyone know the phone number to the Toyota Engineering Department?

 

I don't know if I use the same Exxon station. With two fillups so far at the Exxon at Germantown & Poplar in a Memphis suburb, I added 8.8 gal. with 2 bars showing and 9.6 with one bar showing. This resulted in calculated MPG within a few percent of the display.

Does anyone know the capacity of the metal tank? Chartquist might have a tear or leak in the bladder which could give added capacity.