My quest for 30 MPG - Ford Explorer Gas Mileage Tips

[Mbrooks420]

If they are that far out I suspect someone has tampered with them to rip you off. It’s not the pump itself being inaccurate. With a bargain basement flow meter you can easily hit less than a 3 gallon discrepancy in a 3,000 gallon batch, and at flow rates much much higher than the gas pumps deliver.

 

[CDW6212R]

If they are that far out I suspect someone has tampered with them to rip you off. It’s not the pump itself being inaccurate. With a bargain basement flow meter you can easily hit less than a 3 gallon discrepancy in a 3,000 gallon batch, and at flow rates much much higher than the gas pumps deliver.

I only called around to find a way to report one of those times, and it took a while to find the right number, agency to contact. They basically said they would have that station rechecked very soon. I just avoided those locations in the future. We've got many dozens of gas stations, like everyone does, so I have no trouble finding a place anywhere in town. Where I had issues were typically smaller places or had little traffic, not any busy stations.

 

[BrooklynBay]

I've had this happen many times. I think that the extra fuel is sitting in the filler tube. I'm sure that it can't be more than a gallon. Even then I doubt that it would be that much.

 

[CDW6212R]

I've had this happen many times. I think that the extra fuel is sitting in the filler tube. I'm sure that it can't be more than a gallon. Even then I doubt that it would be that much.

There's supposed to be an air space above the fill tube level, and the fill tubes, but the amount that can get in shouldn't ever get over 22 gallons by any notable amount. I'd be impressed by say 22.5 gallons, and ignore that as not important.

But hitting 23.5 on the pump should never happen, not ever. That's the pump being inaccurate, and overcharging the customer. You(I) don't mind if that happens once, it's only 2-3 dollars. But if you discover it happening once, then that probably means it happens a lot when you don't discover it. Criminals can get rich from a little at a time.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Another thing which I've noticed on most pumps is that it shows 0 when it starts then it jumps to 3 or 4 as soon as gas starts to pump. This means that the pump starts to charge you from 3 or 4 instead of 0. Maybe the pumps are calibrated in increments of 3 or 4 instead of showing a linear count like 1, 2, 3, etc?

 

[Mbrooks420]

If they jump they that they might be out of calibration, it’s called “pump jump”.