Gas Pump Shuts Off Early

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If you were to go to your local gas station and pay your $40 before you start pumping and the pump shut off at $39.65, would you go back and collect your 35 cents? Or would you squeeze the trigger again in hopes of getting another 35 cents worth of fuel in your tank? I've tried squeezing the trigger again, but the pump doesn't stay on all the way to $40. It'll stop again at $39.75 and I'm left there wondering if I got my 10 cents worth of gas or if I wasted it. Keep in mind the tank is nowhere near full, so I'm there wondering why it clicked off so early in the first place. What I've been doing is going back to the cashier and getting my 35 cents back. I know it's only 35 cents, but the idea of giving the gasoline company 35 cents more than I need to bugs me.
 
Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
Keep in mind the tank is nowhere near full, so I'm there wondering why it clicked off so early in the first place.

Assuming $4 a gallon, 35¢ is about a can of beer's worth of gas. That amount here or there won't make any difference to your fuel system.

Next time this happens, just pull the nozzle out of the filler-neck an inch or two from being fully-seated, then pull the trigger again. This should allow you to round up to your $40. Or is your area using those stupid bellows-type pumps?
 
Originally Posted By: Tegger
Or is your area using those stupid bellows-type pumps?


You mean that accordion sleeve thing that's suppose to catch the fumes? Yep, it's got that.
 
Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
If you were to go to your local gas station and pay your $40 before you start pumping and the pump shut off at $39.65, would you go back and collect your 35 cents?


I always look like a bumpkin when I go to the states and try to fill up my car and think "W.T.F is wrong with this pump?". Then it dawns on me that I have to go in and pay first...
 
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Local diesel pump, if I go out back with where the big trucks fill up, requires me to pre-pay. Annoying. I stopped going there because of that, no need to go inside twice just because they can't put a card swipe onto the pump itself. [Thankfully I found another station with more diesel pumps *and* cheaper diesel to boot.]

Between using a gas savings card and a credit card with cash back and not having to carry cash, I'm not sure what the need is to go inside.

Just to be sure: you guys aren't the ones who leave your gas-powered cars in front of the diesel pump so you can go inside, wander the isles, order takeout and pay 15 minutes later--and make us diesel powered cars go out back where the card swipe doesn't exist, right?
 
Originally Posted By: Tegger
Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
Keep in mind the tank is nowhere near full, so I'm there wondering why it clicked off so early in the first place.

Assuming $4 a gallon, 35¢ is about a can of beer's worth of gas. That amount here or there won't make any difference to your fuel system.

Next time this happens, just pull the nozzle out of the filler-neck an inch or two from being fully-seated, then pull the trigger again. This should allow you to round up to your $40.


+1
Gas pump shut-offs work differently on different vehicles. Most older cars have a vent tube on the filler neck. Works like the vent stack on house plumbing. They can get damaged or plugged. Even temperature difference between the gas and the outside air can make them click off early. And they said I'd never amount to anything working in a gas station! LOL
 
Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
If you were to go to your local gas station and pay your $40 before you start pumping and the pump shut off at $39.65, would you go back and collect your 35 cents?


If I prepaid for $40 and it only dispensed $39.99 I would gladly walk right back in for the penny they owe me. They didn't delivery the volume of fuel I prepaid for; why would I let them keep my money?
 
Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
Originally Posted By: Tegger
Or is your area using those stupid bellows-type pumps?

You mean that accordion sleeve thing that's suppose to catch the fumes? Yep, it's got that.

Could be tougher to pull the nozzle out, then. As I recall from the last time I used one of those, you need to keep the bellows fully-seated to make the pump work.

Can you keep the bellows seated with one hand while pulling the nozzle out slightly with the other?
 
we have clean air stage 2 nozzles ?? something like that here in NE ohio. They use a vacuum recovery system.
 
I use credit cards only for gas and get a $10-20 rebate every month. So, I pay no interest and get back $120-240 annually.
 
Originally Posted By: Doog
I use credit cards only for gas and get a $10-20 rebate every month. So, I pay no interest and get back $120-240 annually.


Same here. PenFed 5% cashback at any gas station. Always get the tank filled.

I have noticed after buying my Vue that it would stop early, so I started pumping gas on the slower speed setting and that seemed to fix it.

The 'bellows' are Phase II Vapor Recovery System nozzles. Certified to capture at least 95% of the vapor during fueling. Of course modern cars have ORVR (Onboard Refueling Vapor Recovery) for which VRS is a moot point. With a high enough fleet % of ORVR cars, Phase II nozzles would go away. Not sure if/when that would happen in CA, though.

If you think you're annoyed by them, imagine the station owners who have to pay for their maintenance and testing of all of these components!
 
Originally Posted By: surfstar
Originally Posted By: Doog
I use credit cards only for gas and get a $10-20 rebate every month. So, I pay no interest and get back $120-240 annually.


Same here. PenFed 5% cashback at any gas station. Always get the tank filled.

I have noticed after buying my Vue that it would stop early, so I started pumping gas on the slower speed setting and that seemed to fix it.

The 'bellows' are Phase II Vapor Recovery System nozzles. Certified to capture at least 95% of the vapor during fueling. Of course modern cars have ORVR (Onboard Refueling Vapor Recovery) for which VRS is a moot point. With a high enough fleet % of ORVR cars, Phase II nozzles would go away. Not sure if/when that would happen in CA, though.

If you think you're annoyed by them, imagine the station owners who have to pay for their maintenance and testing of all of these components!


The answer is. Not likely while gas stations exist. Go peoples republic of California!
 
I thought the on-board vapor only worked when the car was running? Also doesn't matter for filling gas cans or tanks lacking vapor system (boat tanks, OPE, etc).
 
Originally Posted By: supton
I thought the on-board vapor only worked when the car was running?

No. Onboard vapor recovery (Toyota calls it "ORVR") operates when the gas tank is in the process of being filled. The system directs vapors to the charcoal canister which would otherwise escape into the atmosphere. All '96-and-up gasoline road-going vehicles have some version of this.
 
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