Fuel In Your Tank

[sunny-dave]

Two questions :

Q1: How low do you let your tank get before re-fuelling - and how full do you fill it?

I get seriously twitchy when I'm at around 1/4 and will then brim the tank - it just seems the easiest way to do things. How about you?


Q2: I know several, otherwise entirely competent, women who would rather run out of fuel than actually fill the tank themselves . One was a a director of my local bit of the NHS & (at least twice) was late for meetings because (and I quote) "My useless effing husband didn't fill up the car, even though I kept telling him, & so I ran out of petrol on the motorway".

Is this a common phobia? If so what is it all about?

petrolhead dave xx

[pixie374]

I let it get to just above nought... no phobia, though- it's just laziness...

[Tilly2]

I fill mine when the orange light comes on and I get a message on my screen saying, 'Please refuel'.

I only ever put £20.00 worth in the car. I don't use the car that much nowadays.

[pixie374]

I've never done oil or water though:-)

[Old_Geezer]

I tend to need to fill 'er up once a week, and do so. How close it is to empty when I do, varies.

[barney4444]

Just bought a used citroen picasso and unlike me actually read bits of the hand book and it says in there when filling do not let the fuel pump nozzle click off more than 3 times or damage can occur. Never heard that before and can`t imagine what it could damage..

[Tilly2]

I've done oil and water in previous cars, not sure how to open the bonnet on this one.

[bhg481]

I do the same as you Dave. Once it gets down to 1/4 ours seems to empty very quickly, making me believe the gauge is over-reading at that level. My wife would fill the car if she had to and did in the days when she took herself to work but nowadays, being retired, we travel together for the most part and I tend to fill it.

[baza]

When it gets to about 1/4 full then £20 or to the top if going on a long journey.

[Captain2]

Q1 Tilly's answered for me to the word. No more than £20 at a time. Why carry all that extra weight around; it surely reduces your mpg.

Q2 The good lady and daughter put their own petrol, but ask them to check/fill water and oil or check tyres and the onus falls onto muggins here.

[Buenchico]

When I started 'trade plating' (delivering vehicles around the country), I didn't initially have a fuel card, so I had to put fuel into vehicles at my own expense and then claim it back. As I'd been unemployed prior to that, I had barely enough money to buy food so (obviously) I wasn't going to put fuel into a vehicle's tank unless I really, really had to!

I soon learned that there was no problem driving a vehicle for at least 30 miles after the fuel gauge showed 'Empty' and the warning light had come on. Other drivers told me that they'd often got away with driving more than 50 miles with the warning light on.

Manufacturers know that their vehicles will be driven in, say, the highlands of Scotland (where it can be dozens of miles to the nearest filling station) or in far remoter areas, so they have to ensure that the fuel warning lights on their vehicles come on well before the tank is actually anywhere near to empty.

[Prudie]

I always wait for the light to come, adds a bit of spice to life as I live at least 8 miles from the nearest petrol station. Usually put about £40 in if it's at Tesco or £20 from a local expensive place.

[sunny-dave]

Ah - but how long has the light been on for, Chris? :+[]

[silliemillie]

My car has a countdown display so when it gets to about 25 miles to empty I fill up. Usually fill up to near the top cos I hate filling up ( don't know why) so the longer it is before I have to re fuel the better.

[Islay]

I wait till the red light comes on and then fill up - if hubby happens to be driving all the better!

[gness]

Evening, Dave.....never let it go down further than 1/4 full because, like Bhg's, it empties really quickly after that.....then I fill to the top.

I do my own oil, water and tyres and I can change a tyre if needed......but I think that's all now........once I would do minor things under the bonnet but I no longer recognise...under the bonnet...x

[stuey]

I don't use any fuel; however, I do use up a lot of shoes with the constant peddling.

[chrissa1]

I let it get to 1/4 full before I top up.

[Berniecuddles2]

can never understsand how you can run out of petrol

[jno]

the price of petrol is on the up again, so why not fill up now rather than just get £20 worth and have to do it again more expensively in a few weeks?

[ummmm]

I'm useless even though I lived opposite a petrol station...