How to put 14.6 gal in a 13.2 gal tank!

[Z28WTW]

I went by my friendly Citgo station last night for my first fill up since joining this sight. I'm really trying hard to focus and really pay attention to how I'm driving. Well I was filling up and talking to my wife and really not paying attention until my Honda Civic Hybrid held 14.6 gallons of gas. I told my wife to get the owners manual out of the glove box and see how big the tank was. The manual says 13.2 gallons. I promptly go inside and ask the friendly guy behind the counter (his eyes looked like he was drunk/high) how do you think I could put 14.6 gallons in a 13.2 gallon tank. He said I would need to talk to "management". I said well give me a number and a name. I called her just a little bit ago and she said she would have someone come out and look at the tank. In the mean time she would bag the pump to keep people from using it. We're going right by that station in just a few minutes and I'm gonna see if they bagged it or not. I say all this to tell all of you if you don't already to pay attention at the pump. It's bad enough with prices as high as they are without being ripped off by greedy people like this. I don't know if they did it on purpose or not. It may just be a simple mistake. I asked the manager lady about getting my money back and she said "if somehing is wrong we will reimburse you". I'll keep you guys informed. Thanks for letting me vent.

[SVOboy]

Haha, you do know that you can fit like 2 gallons into the fill neck of the tank, right? I've always been able to squeeze more in than the manual says...probably not pump error, just the oddities of cars most of us don't know about.

You can prolly call honda to double check, but I'm fairly sure this is the most likely cause of the "overfill"

[Z28WTW]

Well here's a little more info for you guys. I had like 3 or 4 clicks left on my fuel gauge. I'm guessing that equates to 2 or so gallons. I've run my car almost to E several times and never put more than 12 gallons in it. I know my car won't hold 14.6 gallons of gas no matter how far up the neck I go. I cram it to the top every time and it's never gone over 12 gallons.

[Lazarus]

Originally Posted by Z28WTW

Well here's a little more info for you guys. I had like 3 or 4 clicks left on my fuel gauge. I'm guessing that equates to 2 or so gallons. I've run my car almost to E several times and never put more than 12 gallons in it. I know my car won't hold 14.6 gallons of gas no matter how far up the neck I go. I cram it to the top every time and it's never gone over 12 gallons.

WOW that does sound way off. You ought to contact the Office of Weights and Measure there is SC. and report it. I think there is also a number on the pump to report rip offs.

[trikkonceptz]

Yeah in Florida its Charles Bronson ... I always think its the actor when I see that ...LOL

[JohnnyGrey]

I'm sure you were ripped off. It would have to be one hell of a fill neck to hold that much fuel. Also, unless you towed your car to the gas station, it probably wasn't bone dry to begin with. You should have called the W&M office first. They get big fines for doing that!

[Lazarus]

Curious what ever happen when you went back Z28WTW?

[dremd]

Similar discussion over on TDI club

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread...212727=newpost

I've definitely seen pumps be off before . ..

[COMP]

Originally Posted by Lazarus

WOW that does sound way off. You ought to contact the Office of Weights and Measure there is SC. and report it. I think there is also a number on the pump to report rip offs.

first thought

[Z28WTW]

Well I drove back by there today on my way to play a little golf and guess what....no bag on pump. So I called my friendly staff at the Citgo and said there still isn't a bag on the pump. The lady told me she was waiting to see if anyone else came in and said anything about it. Sounds to me like she was just trying to rip a few more people off and see what happened. We came back by just a bit ago on our way home and guess what one bag on the 87 octane and no bag on any of the others. I will be in contact with someone about this issue whether I get my money back or not. On a better note I'm doing really well on this tank. I've put 60 miles on it since the fill up and I'm getting 53 MPG.

[Ryland]

I had something like that happen to me a while back and they gave me a refund for about 3 gallons, it is however a good reason to pay with cash inside after you fill if you can, but it's also a good idea to keep track of this tank and the next one and see if the two even each other out.

[BBsGarage]

Here is an article I saved about this very thing.


Saturday April 26, 10:19 am ET
By Michael Gormley, Associated Press Writer
Common glitch in gas pumps can give consumers less gas, can also cheat gas stations

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- Angry about the price of gas? Just imagine paying for gas you don't get. Some alert consumers have noticed it over the years:

A pump that seems to hesitate a second when the lever is squeezed. Anywhere from 2 to 6 cents tick off before the rush of gasoline starts. That's what happens with a common, hard to diagnose and mostly ignored problem with the "check valve,"which is supposed to make sure gas flows at the same time the price meter starts.

But even if your gas pump works, it can still be off as much as $5 for every fill up. Tests by local regulators allow a pump to charge as much as 6 cents more than the gas delivered in a five-gallon test.

Don't blame the gas guys.<br><br> Even consumer advocates say retailers may be losing as often as consumers and no one appears able to rig the meters.

But the small "check valve" at the end of the multibillion dollar industry just wears out, and often goes unnoticed for months.
Regulators' records show short staffing, particularly for financially struggling counties that try to inspect pumps every six months, but too often don't even meet the one-year requirement in states like New York.

Federal standards require all gas pumps to start pumping gas as soon as the price meter starts, said Ken Butcher of the National Institute of Standards of Technology, part of the U.S. Commerce Department.

Bob Wolfram knew something was wrong when the pump he used in Davenport, Iowa, showed he put two more gallons of gas into his tank than the tank holds.

"I was low, but it wasn't negative," said Wolfram, a 54-year-old engineer.
He reported it to a consumer Web site then took it to the government regulators, who acted promptly. But even then, the test showed the pump was only off a quart.

"I just kind of said, `What will they do next?'" Wolfram said.<br><br>
Correcting the problem depends on alert, well-informed consumers like Wolfram. It also depends on honest retailers who choose to pass along reports to regulators who must confirm the problem before an authorized repair company is called to fix it.

"There's one Mobil owner, he tells clerks that if there's a discrepancy within $5 to reimburse the customer," said C. Todd Godlewski, director of the Schenectady County Bureau of Weights and Measures in upstate New York, the agency that inspects pumps.

"Yes, it can be that much," he said.
A bad valve can also work against retailers, freezing the price gauge for an instant after gas starts. No one's sure who gets gored more, or how deeply.

"Even one penny on the amount of petroleum pumped annually or weekly at a station would be several thousand gallons of fuel, and add that up," Godlewski said. "If you have a meter that is costing a customer, it adds up quite a bit."

The problem compounds the aggravation of record high gas prices. On Tuesday, the national average hit a record $3.51 per gallon, according to a survey of stations by AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. That's nearly 66 cents higher than last year, and rising.

"We'll hear complaints about this quite regularly, usually several each week," said Jason Toews, co-founder of the independent nationwide Web site GasBuddy.com that tracks prices and complaints.

"It's mostly about the principle of it," he said. He said the problem usually only costs a consumer pennies per fill-up, but that's more than enough these days.

Toews discounts the conspiracy theories that blame the problem on retailers or the oil industry. Most retailers, he said, wouldn't know how to alter the pumps to their benefit.

A New York Comptroller's Office audit in 2000 found "many municipalities" statewide failed to inspect their pumps once a year as required (the best practice is two inspections every year) and that meters were corrected during testing, which could mask overcharging. Four years later,
a follow-up audit found only partial resolution, partly because of too little staffing.

Bob Renkes of the Petroleum Equipment Institute based in Tulsa, Okla., has heard about complaints, "mostly when gas prices are high." He said meters "get looser over time," which could make them malfunction and start to count pennies before fuel starts pumping.

"I think our industry would love to replace anything that wears down," Renkes said. But the check valves aren't a high priority when the industry is dealing with issues such as preventing identity theft when swipe cards are used, static electricity discharges and the 5 percent of retailers whose old mechanical equipment can't register a price of $4 a gallon.

State and local regulators doubt any but the most ambitious consumers would contact them in case of a problem, even though the phone numbers are on inspection stickers. More likely, consumers fume and wonder if they were cheated, or report it to the manager of the gas station or convenience store.
"That's what's tough about this," said Jessica Chittenden, spokeswoman for New York's weights and measures office that oversees local inspectors. "The two cents or whatever would go to the retailer."

Even when a report is made, and a local inspector is dispatched, the problem might not be fixed. Chittenden said a faulty valve would likely work sporadically: "It's very difficult to find it unless you are there every day several times a day."

Godlewski, the upstate New York inspector, said he's found pumps off by as much as three times the 6-cent threshold. Because of it, his county this year is tracking pump problems and hopes to quantify it for the first time.
"You ask yourself," he said, "`If nobody said anything ... and it's run like that for six months, how many were taken?'"

[Z28WTW]

Interesting article.

I got off work at 5 today and guess what...no call from my "manager". I will call her tomorrow and see why she didn't call. More to come...

[COMP]

Originally Posted by Z28WTW

Interesting article.

I got off work at 5 today and guess what...no call from my "manager". I will call her tomorrow and see why she didn't call. More to come...

you gave them to much time to re-set the pumps

[Lazarus]

You're giving the manager to much credit. They are going to have to call someone to come out and re-certify the pump. If you want to keep other folks from getting ripped off if the pump is screwed up then you need to complain to the Weights and measure folks. That's they only way that the problem will be resolved in a timely manner. Everyday they stonewall you 100's if not 1000's of gallons of fuel are being pumped. Who knows, all their pumps might be off not just the one you were at. YMMV(your mileage may vary)

[elhigh]

I had the opposite happen once. I took the van (long gone, good riddance) in for a fuel pump replacement after driving it empty; the service guy said I'd just about squashed him in absentia when the tank with its 6-or-so gallons of fuel surprised him with its weight.

"No, that's a 14 gallon tank."

"No way, bud. All those caravans had 20 gallon tanks."

"Huh. I drive it down to the E and it never takes more than 14, maybe 15 if I keep squeezing."

"Your float must be saturated."

And sure enough, it was. A 20 gallon tank, who knew?