Don't Top Off Your Gas Tank!


HELP PROTECT THE ENVIRONMENT!
SAVE MONEY!

• Do you top off your gas tank and overfill it?
• When the gas pump nozzle clicks off automatically, do you add a little more gas to round off your dollar sale?
• Topping off your gas tank is bad for the environment and your wallet.
  
  Here's why:

Topping off the gas tank can result in your paying for gasoline that is fed back into the station's tanks because your gas tank is full. The gas nozzle automatically clicks off when your gas tank is full. In areas of ozone nonattainment, gas station pumps are equipped with vapor recovery systems that feed back gas vapors into their tanks to prevent vapors from escaping into the air and contributing to air pollution. Any additional gas you try to pump into your tank may be drawn into the vapor line and fed back into the station’s storage tanks.
Gasoline vapors are harmful to breathe. Gasoline vapors contribute to bad ozone days and are a source of toxic air pollutants such as benzene. Evaporation from the spillage of gas from overfilling can occur, contributing to the air pollution problem. Remember you pay for the gas that evaporates or is spilled on the ground.
You need extra room in your gas tank to allow the gasoline to expand. If you top off your tank, the extra gas may evaporate into your vehicle’s vapor collection system. That system may become fouled and will not work properly causing your vehicle to run poorly and have high gas emissions.
Topping off your gas tank may foul the station's vapor recovery system. Adding more gas after the nozzle has automatically shut off can cause the station's vapor recovery system to operate improperly. This contributes to the air pollution problem and may cause the gas pump to fail to work for the next person.



Smoke Machine
Pat Goss

A check engine light can drive you and your technician nuts, and one of the more common areas where we find problems is in the evaporative emission control system, or EVAP system as it's called in the industry. This is the system that collects fumes from the fuel tank, stores them in a vapor canister, and then injects them into the engine to be burned instead of expelled into the atmosphere.
Now these are pretty sophisticated systems, but one thing that you have to keep in mind: in order to isolate it to the EVAP system, somebody is going to have to read codes, and the next thing you have to remember is that codes do not tell you the part that has failed, it only tells you what is being affected by what has failed.
So, that means you're going to have to do some testing, and the number one thing you check whenever you have an EVAP problem is the gas cap. They fail quite frequently. Alright, next thing you're going to look for is liquid fuel in the EVAP hoses, like in this particular one, in the plastic elbow, it has liquid gas in there. That can set the code and it can also damage other parts in the system. What causes it? You cause it! You top off the tank, and when you top off the tank too much, liquid gas overflows into the EVAP system, and you've got a check-engine light and possibly some expensive repairs.
But many times that won't be the case, there may be a leak. Now, how do you find a leak? Well for that you use a smoke machine, such as we have here. We've got the machine turned on, we're feeding smoke into the EVAP system, and we simply follow along the tubing and so on to see where the smoke comes out. In this particular case, we have a pinhole right here that is leaking smoke. That means that little rubber elbow is bad, it has failed due to age and road debris, different things like that. .. needs to be replaced. Now, in many cases the holes will be so small you cannot see them without the smoke. So the lesson here is to be sure before you take your car into a repair shop, you ask them if they have a smoke machine, so they can properly and effectively check the EVAP system on your car.

 

x100000 I tell people this all the time. When the pump stops, you stop.

This is one reason I NEVER get gas in New Jersey, even though it is cheaper. You can't fill it up yourself, and all the time the attendants like to "round" the number so they don't have to carry so much change. I try to tell them I don't care what the price is, if I have to pay an extra 10 cents, I will. But half the time they don't understand what I am saying and do whatever they feel like.

 

I never top off...I always stop when the pump shuts off.

Unless the auto shutoff fails like it did 2months ago on me and fuel starts pouring out the spout and over the car.

 

I top off. Perhaps I'll stop.

 

i usually nvr top off unless im like 3 cents from a whole dollar

 

I've always topped off. Guess I need to stop. Will be kinda weird paying for an odd amount.

Me: "Yeah, pump #7"
Cashier: "Okay. That'll be...uhh... $27.52??? What's the matter buddy? Too stupid to even it out?"

 

I use my debit card at the gas station all the time. Odd amounts don't bother me that way :P

 

I do too, it would be nice to have that bank with "keep the change." Where they put the left overs into a separate savings account.

 

I usually stop when the pump shuts off, unless it shuts off @ 5 gallons and I'm down to a quarter of a tank then I know something isn't right. I got a Discover Open Road CC that pays me 5% on "car purchases" (gas, oil change and purchases at the nationwide auto part store, etc)

I never really understood this concept.... Your bill is $23.57, the bank charges you $24 and puts the other .43 in your savings??? ...ummm... why?

 

They don't "charge" you, from my understanding, they take it from your checking account (debit card) and place it into a savings account. Hence, keep the change. IDK. It seems gimmicky, but whatever.