Fuel Price/Volume Verification

stesaurus

Okay so basically wondering who's responsibility it is to ensure that consumers are not being ripped off at the fuel pump.

I'm asking as a week ago my car was running on fumes, I know stupid mistake but it was a once off.
I filled up and the price was 116.9/l and I filled to the brim. Not sure how many litres the reading said it delivered but it cost €55 in total so must have been about 47 litres. I thought that was strange as I thought I had a 65 litre tank.
Anyhow I filled up again last night, different station. I had about 2 bars left on the gauge. The pump said I put 52 litres in at 115.9/l and it cost me €60.

So what's going on? Has my car got a tank which changes capacity at a whim or are the fuel pumps just merely rough guidelines:p

CJhaughey

They are the officials charged with making sure that all the pumps in the country are pumping correctly.
There should usually be a little Black and silver sticker on the pump somewhere that records the date it was checked etc.
Did you fill your car to brimming both times?
Sometimes the nozzle will cutout when the fuel bubbles back up the filler pipe.
you are talking about a difference of 5 litres, most fuel gauges don't read in a linear fashion.
full tank is 100%
half tank could be 30%
quarter tank could be 20% ,etc etc.

alias no.9

In the first case, you probably underestimated the size of the reserve, when you say you were running on fumes, had the low on fuel light come on? It's possible also that the tank was airlocked, which could have made you think the tank was full to the brim when it could have had a few litres extra capacity. Fuel gauges are rarely linear and many have a large variance. Was your car parked on level ground in both cases? There's a multitude of factors in play here but the one thing that does get checked is the pump calibration.

Del2005

There department of weights and measures, not sure what they are called now, do it. Have seen them at a few places with their cans.

Do you just fill till the pumps stops or brim it? If only till the pump stops you could have hit an airlock and thought the tank was full.

But in saying that I've been to a couple of places where only air came out for the first Euro or so. Now I always leave the nozzle out a bit when I first start pumping to make sure it is pumping

L1011

Weights & Measures is done by the Legal Metrology division of the NSAI now I believe.

Bandara

MYOB wrote: »

Weights & Measures is done by the Legal Metrology division of the NSAI now I believe.

they are a bit of a myth outfit in my experience, I've only ever been visited once by them in the last 7 years and thats across 2 sites.

sicruise

I was in an Esso garage a few weeks ago and it had a system on it where I could enter the amount of litres I wanted to fill my tank with. A bit pointless if your filling her up but otherwise a nice feature.

stesaurus

alias no.9 wrote: »

In the first case, you probably underestimated the size of the reserve, when you say you were running on fumes, had the low on fuel light come on? It's possible also that the tank was airlocked, which could have made you think the tank was full to the brim when it could have had a few litres extra capacity. Fuel gauges are rarely linear and many have a large variance. Was your car parked on level ground in both cases? There's a multitude of factors in play here but the one thing that does get checked is the pump calibration.

The low fuel light had been on since the previous day. Then I drove to and from work the next day before filling up.
Level ground in both stations.

There department of weights and measures, not sure what they are called now, do it. Have seen them at a few places with their cans.

Do you just fill till the pumps stops or brim it? If only till the pump stops you could have hit an airlock and thought the tank was full.

But in saying that I've been to a couple of places where only air came out for the first Euro or so. Now I always leave the nozzle out a bit when I first start pumping to make sure it is pumping

Normally I would let the pump just cut out. I assumed that brimmed it. Obviously not!
So what's the best way of doing that without spilling petrol all down the side of the car?

Berty

What time of day was it?

What temperature was it?

Was your engine warm or cold?

There is a bit of science behind it. Liquid changes its mass in different climates. The colder it is the more fuel you can put in the car basically!

L1011

s.welstead wrote: »

Normally I would let the pump just cut out. I assumed that brimmed it. Obviously not!
So what's the best way of doing that without spilling petrol all down the side of the car?

Listening - you can hear the last air being pushed out of the tank. Its far easier on a diesel than a petrol I've noticed...

stesaurus

quirke_folder wrote: »

What time of day was it?

What temperature was it?

Was your engine warm or cold?

There is a bit of science behind it. Liquid changes its mass in different climates. The colder it is the more fuel you can put in the car basically!

Yeah I watched Top Gear that day too.

Car was warmed up to normal operating temp both times.

First time morning around 11am prolly around 5-10 degrees. Second time was evening around 8pm last night. Similiar temp maybe a degree or so cooler.

But surely that wouldn't account for 5+ litre difference???

S.I.R

the best way to do things boys is buy then best fuel.... not the most expensive, but the one with the highest octane/ron count, more power, smoother running, more mpg....


Simple eh ?

L1011

Theres no more power from higher RON fuel if your car was not mapped for it or has adaptive mapping.

javaboy

S.I.R wrote: »

the best way to do things boys is buy then best fuel.... not the most expensive, but the one with the highest octane/ron count, more power, smoother running, more mpg....


Simple eh ?

Completely unrelated eh?

This thread's about whether the amount of fuel delivered actually corresponds to the amount shown on the meter. We could be talking about any liquid.