Full tank vs first click

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Cyborg

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How do you fill your petrol?

I fill a full tank every 2 or 3 days depending on the amount of driving I have to do. I use an app called fuelio to record my fuel consumption etc and came up with a rather weird result. I know it's definitely not my imagination because stats don't lie right?

I've seen that thing on Facebook a million times about how fuel pumps supposedly have some sort of feedback thing for vapours where the vapour gets fed back into the tanks and you get charged for it. I always thought that even if is true it's a negligible amount.

By first click I mean they put the pump on auto fill and it fills till the cut off sensor cuts in and it stops.

By full tank I mean that after the first click they still fill and fill and fill more till your tank is absolutely full.

In my experience they fill an extra 5 to 10 litres when they do the full tank thing.

Yet my mileage per tank is more or less the same when filling in either manner. In fact it's a little less when filling to first click. I know that for a fact as my overall consumption has been dropping combined with my consumption per tank.

Has anybody else had a similar experience that can corraborate it?
 
I generally stop the petrol attendants from filling to full, rather asking for first click, because I've read before that it can actually be damaging for the car to have it filled all the way to the brim. Some petrol attendants also push it way too far, literally rocking the car to get the extra few rands-worth into it. When 'extra' petrol starts sloshing out down the side of your car, you can't pretend it's a 'good' thing anymore.

First click is fine for everything except returning a rental car to Avis, when it really needs to have a full tank or you'll get charged ;)

Regarding consumption, I've often wondered about the relative weight advantages of driving with a half-full tank vs a full tank, as that will definitely impact fuel consumption too ... the whole car is simply heavier and will require more fuel to accelerate up to the same speeds as quickly. Kinda makes you think about the people who rush to the petrol station just before a fuel price increase to fill their cars up to the brim, when they're likely to be spending more money in real terms on their heavy car than they're saving on the 'cheaper' fuel.
 
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The correct term for first click is autostop. All attendents understand when it because its the industry term.

I always tell them "fill to autostop".
 
I fill to the brim. Starting the car drops it down to auto fill level anyway
 
supersunbird said:
The correct term for first click is autostop. All attendents understand when it because its the industry term.

I always tell them "fill to autostop".
Click to expand...
And then explain that's "first click"?
 
Foxhound5366 said:
Regarding consumption, I've often wondered about the relative weight advantages of driving with a half-full tank vs a full tank, as that will definitely impact fuel consumption too ... the whole car is simply heavier and will require more fuel to accelerate up to the same speeds as quickly. Kinda makes you think about the people who rush to the petrol station just before a fuel price increase to fill their cars up to the brim, when they're likely to be spending more money in real terms on their heavy car than they're saving on the 'cheaper' fuel.
Click to expand...

Im sure that the effect on fuel consumption from adding a few extra kilograms would be negligible.

How much better fuel economy do you expect from carrying one adult instead of two?
 
Ah HA! At long last a 'droid fuel app that works here (you know how it is: so much choice, which to choose given that you *really* don't want to be saddled with, say, five different fuel apps...) And now I can capture that pile of fuel slips I have lurking in there, to see what kinda consumption I get, because I basically always tell the jockey "fill up 93 autostop" so I (should) have a good long baseline. But then I so don't want to do the amaclickclick thing to top all the way up, it freaks me right out.

Foxhound: given that even a small car (let's say a Yaris) weighs in as near as dammit to a ton (so, for the sake of convenience, 1000kg), how much of a weight penalty do you think that adding 40lt of petrol will make for when it adds a whole ~30kg to the car's weight? ;)
 
If you want accurate Stats you want to always stop at the click so the baseline remains the same.

If you are going to rely on every attendant filling up differently your stats will always be off.
 
Whatever the guy doing the filling up decides
 
What about cars that can release the air from the tank?

I know VW's have that little lever in the neck of the filler pipe that you push down with the filler nozzle. This gets you a few more liters before another click.
 
Autostop (or first click) is the limit the tank is designed to use, you can exceed it at your own risk. An over filled fuel tank is more likely to rupture in the event of a crash. So imagine pulling out of the filling station after brimming the tank and another car crashing into you at speed, the tank rupture and you all die in a ball of fire.

Enjoy.
 
Auto-stop(first click).

Unless I'm going on a long journey then it's brim it but still plan the next fuel stop on auto-stop distance, I've been stuck on the side of the road too many times;)
 
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