Help please! Need advise. Thank you ahead of time.

[Coops Dad]

Not at stations owned by big companies. More often it happens at independent stores where the owner simply recalibrates one, two, several or all of the pumps to dispense only a percentage of the fuel displayed. The usual scam is to have the pump faithful up to the 5-gallon mark then have the thing dispense less fuel per unit of cost. That's because people will come in with 1-, 2- and 5-gallon containers, and it's easy to catch a cheating pump if the pump shows 5 gallons but your 5-gallon can has only a little over 4 gallons in it. Or you filled your can to the 5-gallon mark but the pump shows almost 6 gallons were dispensed.

In a car, it's easy to get cheated when you're down to 1/4 of a 20 gallon tank and you top it off with 17 gallons. "Wow," you say, "it was thirstier than I thought!"

 

[nao57]

Not at stations owned by big companies. More often it happens at independent stores where the owner simply recalibrates one, two, several or all of the pumps to dispense only a percentage of the fuel displayed. The usual scam is to have the pump faithful up to the 5-gallon mark then have the thing dispense less fuel per unit of cost. That's because people will come in with 1-, 2- and 5-gallon containers, and it's easy to catch a cheating pump if the pump shows 5 gallons but your 5-gallon can has only a little over 4 gallons in it. Or you filled your can to the 5-gallon mark but the pump shows almost 6 gallons were dispensed.

In a car, it's easy to get cheated when you're down to 1/4 of a 20 gallon tank and you top it off with 17 gallons. "Wow," you say, "it was thirstier than I thought!"

Very useful information. Thank you so much. What you said makes a lot of sense.

I really love the do it yourself culture in the US. They are trying to get rid of it because its hard to get money out of do it yourselfers but man its so amazing how when you get together and talk to DIY people how many interesting things you can learn!

 

[nao57]

So on the car usage side... if you had more... 'fake fuel' or ethanol in the tank, and let's say your tank is full... the heavier fuel would go to the bottom. So wouldn't the car use the heavier stuff first? And would that mean your car would have a tendency to be using the fake fuel or the corn ethanol first? I would think that while they would mostly mix since both are non-polar that if you had a big tank that either one or the other would have a tendency to settle and get burned first? And maybe this could also affect the gas guage readings...

 

[tlcmurphy]

So on the car usage side... if you had more... 'fake fuel' or ethanol in the tank, and let's say your tank is full... the heavier fuel would go to the bottom. So wouldn't the car use the heavier stuff first? And would that mean your car would have a tendency to be using the fake fuel or the corn ethanol first? I would think that while they would mostly mix since both are non-polar that if you had a big tank that either one or the other would have a tendency to settle and get burned first? And maybe this could also affect the gas guage readings...

The fuel is mixed, it does not settle out in any way.

 

[Coops Dad]

Part of the additives in gasoline are chemicals that keep water in suspension but, under certain conditions, it can separate and settle out or react with components in the fuel system. For the most part, petroleum distillates of different densities will easily mix to form a homogeneous mixture.

 

[LaurenRitz]

A fuel gage can also stick. My gas gauge in my car shows full until it gets down to 3/4, then drops to 1/2 and stays there until the tank is nearly empty. If you put in a dollar amount rather than running the pump until it cut off, you might have had less in the tank than you thought.

There are other mechanical reasons why this might happen. Pumps are required to be inspected and calibrated officially. Anyone messing with that risks massive fines.

 

[EagleEyes]

Can everyone identify these?
View attachment 3779850

I kind of wonder if the outdoor in town still have those.

 

[nao57]

I kind of wonder if the outdoor in town still have those.

Those are drive in theatre speakers. You'd go in and pay for a car of people. Then you'd pick up the speaker and set it in your car window (which is why they have cords on them). But if you were to ask me which maker made them I can't tell you that.

 

[jillybeansisme]

More than likely when you got the first gas there was air in the tank making the pump think the tank was full when it really wasn't. This can happen sometimes due to air pressure and air temperatures. Then when you went driving, the gas sloshed around and the air bubble dissipated causing the fuel gauge to register much lower.

 

[Panamom]

Well you are right. It would do that if there was enough of it. But couldn't they have figured out how to reduce it to ... just small enough that you couldn't get caught? Or use something else instead of water that's a volume filler also?

I'm just asking, not disagreeing with you. Its a natural follow up process to sort of think about a question in more than 1 stage.

And thank you both for responding.

One station may not have a reliable pump. In Florida there is quite a lot of oversight for that, but nothing to stop price gouging after natural disasters.