Aren't most tanks anti-syphon nowadays ?
The last time I tried it was in my university days - the owner knew honest - he was lending me some petrol.
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They cut through fuel lines and into tanks around here as well.
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Assuming that the mass of fuel is approx. 1kg/litre, maybe actually a bit more, carrying 40ish Kg more weight may reduce your fuel consumption, but, how many extra miles do you do to fill up 2 or 3 times as often, plus how long to you spend idling waiting for a pump, plus the extra stop/start cycles that are less economic???
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None whatsoever.
I drive past a petrol station every day. Granted I probably use it every day but that's another matter.
I'll use the nearest petrol station in an emergency - i.e. if the light's been on for 40 miles or so. And in the time I've had the car that's happened about 5 times.
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if the light's been on for 40 miles
You're a very brave young man.
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>>if the light's been on for 40 miles
You're a very brave young man.<<
I do it because I get bored otherwise. When the light's on and you have no idea where you are it creates a sense of excitment when you think at any moment you might break down and have to walk for miles to get petrol.
I can't help but think that if I had a life, I wouldn't have to do things like that.
By the way - best I've got is 44 miles from when the light came on.
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> By the way - best I've got is 44 miles from
You sould like Kramer from Seinfeld...
www.tv.com/seinfeld/the-dealership/episode/2407/re...l
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>>www.tv.com/seinfeld/the-dealership/episode/2407/re...l
Genius, love the ending when Kramer just walks away leaving the over-excited car salesman in the middle of nowhere.
-- You know, it\'s not like changing toothpaste
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"I do it because I get bored otherwise"
You need to give it a few more revs mate, and listen to the beautiful sound of that Focus engine and the valves bouncing (do they do that these days??)
"at any moment you might break down " - a diesel might be more reliable and less stressful??
Multiple smileys!!
--
Phil
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a diesel might be more reliable and less stressful??<<
In terms of reliability I imagine it would be. In terms of sounding like a Transit van, however quick it goes, it wouldn't be!
;-)
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By the way - best I've got is 44 miles from when the light came on.
I've gone 75 miles with the light on before and *still* only been able to put 43 litres in on a 45l tank. Seems to depend on the car; mine seems to warn me when I still have a couple of gallons left, a good idea IMO.
I have to say though that I was extremely lucky on one occasion when I let the car run completely empty -- it started stuttering just as I was approaching my local Shell station. Relief is not the word -- when I stopped the car it wouldn't start again. I got the full 45 litres in on that occasion....
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Adam, I can't help thinking we must be related in some way. Am I your (slightly) older brother?
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"I do it because I get bored otherwise. When the light's on and you have no idea where you are it creates a sense of excitment when you think at any moment you might break down and have to walk for miles to get petrol.
I can't help but think that if I had a life, I wouldn't have to do things like that."
Adam, it's the apetite for self-destruction that's in all of us.
I have to fight the urge to throw my wallet and keys overboard when I'm on a ferry.
I can't resist touching a wire when I see one poking out of a wall.
I like to touch things that I know are hot.
When I moved house recently, it wasn't enough to transport my fish in the boot with the tank half full and no lid on them - I had to pack all my computer gear around it.
Don't get me started on top-loading spin dryers that you can open while they're on full spin...
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>>Adam, I can't help thinking we must be related in some way. Am I your (slightly) older brother?<<
It's possible. Do you like pies but somehow manage to maintain a trim and svelt figure? Are you stunningly handsome, witty, clever most importantly, modest?
>>Adam, it's the apetite for self-destruction that's in all of us.<<
I think you're right.
< snip >
[surely the scintilating Chronicles of Adam belong somewhere else, far, far away from here - PG ]
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Repeating what others have already said... In my experience, the best way to get the most miles from a tank is to go from brim full to runing on fumes in as few days as possible, ie. minimise the number of cold starts (other factors being equal). I have never experimented with half a tank, but I would imagine that twice as many trips to the gas station would negate any possible savings from not carrying a few extra kilos around. Plus I haven't got time to queue for petrol twice a week.
Suggest better way to minimise cost would be to use petrolprices.com and plan your fill-up to coincide with a visit to the cheapest station on your usual routes.
btw, I agree, wouldn't it be nice if the pump could spit out 45 litres in a few seconds - F1 style!
Ed.
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I personally fill up whenever most convenient ie passing a Shell station with no queues.There are 2 which I drive past regularly, and I normally run my van between 1/4 and 3/4 full.Now nine years old, with 102k on the clock, I do not know what sludge there is swilling around the bottom of my tank so I rarely let if fall below 1/4 full. Maybe I am just being ultra cautious. On the other hand I rarely fill it...no point in carrying extra 5 gallons around. The difference in extra mpg must be minimal,but there is a difference...like driving round with an unnecessary roof rack, low tyre pressures etc. This method gets me 350/400 miles between fill ups.
I use Shell because using both a Shell Visa card and PlusPoints Loyalty Card gets me plenty of AirMiles, and I am fortunate in having the 2 local filling stations.
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From the respective handbooks, the reserve capacities in my cars are:
MB W124 9 litres/55 miles
MB W126 12.5 litres/68 miles
Capri 2.8i 10 ltires/58 miles
(now departed) Golf VR6 7 litres/45 miles
On the few occasions when I've really pushed my luck, I have found the reserves to be understated, i.e. there was fuel left even when the needle was at the end of its range and I was sweating. I've never worried about tank sludge and never experienced problems, trusting in the fuel filter and its regular replacement. Fuel weighs 0.74kg per litre, so half an average tank is equivalent to the weight of a six-year-old child (perhaps a four-year-old next year, if recent statistics are to be believed).
The Capri gauge is too unreliable to rely on the position of the needle, so after 300 miles from the previous fill-up I start looking for a Shell station.
Thanks for the reminder of Kramer, Jonathan. What a great comic actor Michael Richards is, especially in the physical dimension -- the door slide, etc. Time I went out and bought the whole set of DVDs.
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I use my local tesco. If the contents of my tank will get me to my destination and back, I drive there and back. If the contents of my tank wont do that, I start the via the tesco and fill up.
Does it really need to be any more complex than that?
MInd I have been known to get confused when my journey is bigger than my tank.
------------------------------
TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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The Mondeo does 500-600 miles a week, so I always brim it. Otherwise I'd be at the petrol station every couple of days.
The fuel gauge is very unreliable in the last quarter of its travel (caught me out once and I ran out - embarrasing), so I now work off the trip meter motorbike style. Start thinking about refilling around the 550 mile mark, and won't push my luck past 600.
Cheers
DP
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I fill up when the computer says I have ten miles left in the tank.
I dread it. It takes so long to get a VAT receipt here, you have to give three different numbers from your business and they always imput it freshly each time as opposed to calling it up on a database.
I've started to use the unmanned garages that post receipts to your home but they have one terminal for every two pumps. I always get nervous that I'll type in a fifty quid maximum and the bloke at the other pump will nick my petrol.
I love that euphoric feeling of driving away with a full tank. The thought that you can go anywhere you like, drive to the coast, head off into the sunset...
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The density of diesel is about 0.83kg per litre, so for me half a tank weighs about 25kg. Not worth bothering about IMO. Petrol is less dense at about 0.75kg/litre. With the mileage I do I prefer to fill up and get more range, and minimise the number of times I have to visit filling stations.
The handbook for my Saab TiD says the low fuel light comes on when there is 10 litres of fuel left. Which is silly, thats not low fuel at all, if I wanted to I could drive to work, back home, and to work again (75 miles) with the low fuel light on without any fear of running out. But I usually fill up when its convenient, when I've got around 30 miles left on the distance to empty readout.
Saab ones are claimed to be accurate, but my Dad had an Alfa 166 which used to run out of petrol when the computer still said 5 miles range! It happened about 3 times, then he decided he should watch the low fuel light and not the computer.
;o)
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The Accord is run from full to when the light comes on at which point it has 10l - or around 100 miles of fule left. Over 2 1/2 years it has proved to be as reliable as the rest of the car.
At present it has done 540 miles on this tank and the light is not on yet, will need filling tomorrow morning so a slight detour on the way to work tomorrow when it will have reached around 600. Rarely buy fuel anywhere else.
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I average about 400 miles per week in my 306TD, meaning a fill up about every 9-10 days so I always brim the tank. I usually get about 550 miles (driving fairly sensibly) before the fuel warning light comes on, but I know it will run to over 600 miles before drying up completely. I got 570 miles on my latest tankful before the warning light came on and stayed on, filled up yesterday and it took 54 litres to brim the 60 litre tank so there was obviously about 5 litres left and so it would have run for another 50 odd miles, but I'm not prepared to take chances!
Martin
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My car gives me some fun. On a tank it does 700+ miles but when the Range gets to 50 miles to go, it goes blank. So you then have to guess...
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I love that euphoric feeling of driving away with a full tank. The thought that you can go anywhere you like, drive >> to the coast, head off into the sunset...
And be forced to do an emergency stop in order to change a broken coil ;)
- - - - - - -
Free enterprise is the basis of western economy.
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if the light's been on for 40 miles or so.
My Kenari doesn't have a light but when the needle gets to the empty side of the red zone I watch the odo and do another 100 miles before filling (usually only getting 35L into the 40L tank)
At 400 miles + to a tank full this makes the bottom of the red zone the quater tank mark!
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