[Travel] When do you top up the fuel in your car?

[Worried Man Blues]

I once had a Cortine which read fuel full for ages before it started to go down. Then at about a quarter full it dived down to empty within 20 miles. Caught me out a couple of times, and of course no low level fuel lights in those days.

Ha, yes it all adds to the excitement...............

 

[zefarelly]

As I drive a fossil fuel guzzling, ancient smoke box, I lumber up to a pay at the pump every couple of weeks...or ten days maybe.
There's another thread to start a poll on, supermarket fuels

All fuels are the same ( for us commoners) and come from only a handful of refineries. The difference is the additives, which accounts for some of the cost. I recently designed an injector stream cabinet . . . .when the tankers fill up they get BP/Shell/Stressco etc options, press the button and it adds different additives to the standard 95/97 or diesel. THere are also additives for anti corrosion now, to offset the effects of piss, sorry, ethanol, in your fuel.

I will usually mentally calculate range/journey and fill accordingly . . . For general daily use the light is there for a reason and accurate enough. Have never had an issue with crap/low fuel. Even pushing my luck and doing 20-30 miles past the zero range in my SUbaru I only ever got 60 odd litres in . . . 3-4 less than a full tank

Lambrettas you have a look and take a punt, I ran out for the first time since 1997 a few weeks ago, 1 mile from work! Only an 8 litre tank.

 

[Elbow750]

How do you find the time to put petrol in? Surely you’re too busy topping up the oil?

All joking aside, fantastic car. Had one for about three years, loved it.


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I've had plenty of old british motorbikes where that has been true too. 150 miles per pint of oil was quite good for a 1971 Triumph T120R

 

[WATFORD zero]

I once had a Cortine which read fuel full for ages before it started to go down. Then at about a quarter full it dived down to empty within 20 miles. Caught me out a couple of times, and of course no low level fuel lights in those days.

I had the same problem with a Rover 3500 I had recently bought. Unfortunately I discovered this 'foible' sitting on western road (when you could) at the Churchill Square traffic lights heading East.

Having to get a few buses and various other vehicles to back up so that me, my girlfriend at the time and various onlookers could push it back onto the pavement and release the traffic jam took some organising. Bloody heavy it was too

 

[Audax]

Other: every day from my solar panels.

 

[carlzeiss]

I've had plenty of old british motorbikes where that has been true too. 150 miles per pint of oil was quite good for a 1971 Triumph T120R

My Triumph T140V would,refuse to start if the fuel in the tank was over 3 weeks old so would have to drain and refill after time off the road .

 

[Elbow750]

My Triumph T140V would,refuse to start if the fuel in the tank was over 3 weeks old so would have to drain and refill after time off the road .

Yep I had one of those too. Very finicky and hard to start if I recall, but it did do 250 miles to the pint of oil...

 

[Official Old Man]

My local garage, Applegreens, are cheap on fuel. But somehow their prices are linked to my empty light. As soon as it comes on they put their prices up! So I got to filling up on quarter tank.
That said, I took my car out on Thursday for the first time in months as it has been sorn off the road since Christmas. It had a full tank that may have cost around £1.19 litre when filled up.

 

[ady1973]

Just on a side note is there any real difference between regular/Super Diesel ?

 

[Brian Parsons]

Just on a side note is there any real difference between regular/Super Diesel ?

Only the "price "

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[Jeremiah]

I've had the low level fuel light scare come on a few times (usually about 25 miles left when it comes on) so I try and avoid it nowadays.

 

[Madafwo]

I ran out of Diesel on the way to work at 5am one morning on the A259, I managed to push the car to the entrance of the Marina and had just enough momentum to get over the hump when I opened the door and started skating the car over it. Once I got it on the downhill I got it in gear to make sure I had assistance for the brakes when I got to the roundabout, wrong way round and straight into the ASDA petrol station.

That's the day I learned 2 things. How to prime a modern Diesel engine and never drive past a petrol station with the fuel light on.

 

[Bry Nylon]

When do you top up the fuel in your car?

Whenever Jahanbakhsh's contract comes up for renewal.

 

[jakarta]

I've had plenty of old British motorbikes where that has been true too. 150 miles per pint of oil was quite good for a 1971 Triumph T120R

After 5 years of trying to stop oil leaks from my 750 Commando Cafe Racer trying all sorts of works tips & breather devices took it past 120MPH one afternoon and it came home and floor stayed dry (well a bit of froth from the Timing Case breather probably dribbled down in time).

Nowt from Primary (dry belt conversion) or gearbox either.

For 3 years (single living at home 21-25) I spent ALL my spare dosh on it, engine had 4S Cam and I junked airbox for proper AMAL smooth bore bell mouths, had crank rebuilt and balanced & Superblend bearings installed. clip ons and rear sets, single race seat, Norvil front disc, electronic ignition, vernier adjustment for Isolastics, Needle Bearing square section swinging arm, new rear shocks and alloy rims, custom (2 gallon) alloy petrol tank and central oil tank, virtually every fastener dural. Blotted my copybook with the Norton Owners Club by using a TZ Yamaha braced front mudguard and dispensing with the indicators completely - fuvk them they used to turn up to club meetings in their cars with photo albums of their bikes, I remember them filing out into the Pub Car Park and pulling the one Norton that had been ridden there to bits, didn't go to any more Meetings...

Wasn't capable of keeping up with big Jap 4's at top end but would way out accelerate them due to junking all the clutter and Honda CB750's etc. didn't do corners. Got bored with having nothing to do but adjust the chain and polish it (only ex Brit Bikers will recognise this syndrome) and sold it 3-4 months later! Ah CJV367L where are you now?

Sold it and bought a couple of Kawasakis: Z650 (everyday bike rather bland but my first across the frame four) and H1B 2-stroke 500 triple Although quick in straight line petrol consumption was shocking - 25-30 mpg (not joking) glad to see the back of it when rebuild finished, clearly Japanese roads don't have bends.

Oh and back to the original question I refuel after monthly Sainsbury binge in Horsham when I can get double Nectar points at the petrol station next door...

 

[vegster]

Quarter full, normally. Don't like the idea of letting the tank get too low in case it starts sucking up the shite from the bottom....is that a thing or just urban myth?

I think it's an Urban Myth... What's going to get in there, dead leaves, grit, sand? Do the insides of petrol tanks corrode when containing petrol? Probably not.

There is alway this to think about too, if you have a motorbike the " shit at the bottom " is always going straight in to your carb the moment you turn your fuel cock on.... Do motorcycles splutter to a halt regularly with blocked carbs?

 

[Icy Gull]

I think it's an Urban Myth... What's going to get in there, dead leaves, grit, sand? Do the insides of petrol tanks corrode when containing petrol? Probably not.

There is alway this to think about too, if you have a motorbike the " shit at the bottom " is always going straight in to your carb the moment you turn your fuel cock on.... Do motorcycles splutter to a halt regularly with blocked carbs?

Most fuel tanks are plastic these days so “sucking up shit”, i.e rust, doesn’t happen any more I don’t think

Problem during covid is likely to be unused cars with fuel over a year old in the fuel tank. I used to always leave an unused car with a full fuel tank, will now be leaving no more than 1/4 and topping to the brim with fresh fuel as soon as I start using it again.

 

[Deleted member 2719]

Shocking scenes......................... over 50% wait until the light comes on.

There have been some polls that just don't make sense, and this is one of them, we are not driving around F1 cars.


I hope this poll result doesn't replicate across the UK.

 

[Billy the Fish]

Who the f**k has time to fill up every half tank!

 

[Knocky's Nose]

My car is packed with technology but when the whoop-whoop 'greedy light' comes on the bloody thing keeps it a secret how long I've got left unless I do about fifty button pushes to access the inner circle of information. Then, after a panicked twist and push-a-thon on the little wheel it usually tells me I've got about 70 miles left! Bloody thing...

 

[Wrong-Direction]

I wait until the light usually, someone once told me you have until the needle goes below the picture of the pump so effectively an extra 1/4 below empty..

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