Most fuel at fill-up?

Man,I hate arguing car stuff with people that have minimal knowledge of how things work.

When you over fill you are forcing gas into the charcoal canister by pressure and off roading or regular driving can't slosh fuel into it (that's where I knew you didn't have a clue to how the system works) but with normal expansion due to outside temps can force the charcoal canister to become saturated and fail and even reduce your MPGs so you'll just be filling up sooner anyway not realizing that the system isn't working properly.
You get better fuel economy by overfilling your tires but you wouldn't do that or would you?

It's kinda sad that some people ignore facts (and there's plenty) and will take a chance of harming their expensive vehicles but then again I already stated ignorance is bliss..........along with denial.

Ricky,I can see why you might have a bridge for sale since you already were the sucker that bought it first.
 
RonMAIDEN said:
Man,I hate arguing car stuff with people that have minimal knowledge of how things work.

When you over fill you are forcing gas into the charcoal canister by pressure and off roading or regular driving can't slosh fuel into it (that's where I knew you didn't have a clue to how the system works) but with normal expansion due to outside temps can force the charcoal canister to become saturated and fail and even reduce your MPGs so you'll just be filling up sooner anyway not realizing that the system isn't working properly.
You get better fuel economy by overfilling your tires but you wouldn't do that or would you?

It's kinda sad that some people ignore facts (and there's plenty) and will take a chance of harming their expensive vehicles but then again I already stated ignorance is bliss..........along with denial.

Ricky,I can see why you might have a bridge for sale since you already were the sucker that bought it first.

I find it hard to believe that Toyota would design a fuel system that would get damaged by overfilling. Also Ricky has been overfilling the tank for over a year without any problems. Maybe there could be some type of check valve that only allows vapors. I have not done any real research on the subject so I would not start using words like ignorance and sucker. Lets see the FACTS!

Koz
 
I've posted facts as this is common knowledge among mechanics. Post some info that debunks mine. This wasn't just discovered yesterday.

Call you dealer right now and talk to a mechanic and ask him his opinion.
It is ignorance to ignore warnings of overfilling.

http://www.epa.gov/donttopoff/


http://www.innerauto.com/Volkswagen_Parts/Volkswagen_Gas_Tanks/

This is from an '01 throwing a CEL and guess what the codes were for?

http://www.yotatech.com/showthread.php?t=84957&highlight=evaporative+system

He didn't reply back but most likely a saturated charcoal cansister as this is the most common part to fail and it's almost always due to overfilling which overpressurizes the whole system which adds undue stress to all associated parts.


This is a PDF covering all you'll need to know about the Evaporative system

http://www.autoshop101.com/forms/h62.pdf

:biggrin2:
 
You make such statements and are so convinced of your position that you won't even listen to anything anybody else has to say.

Here is a list of the vehicles I either have previously or still do own; ALL of which have been topped up to the filler neck on nearly every fillup:

1988 Honda CRX Si
1990 Honda CRX Si
1991 Honda CRX Si (by the way, in all of these CRXs, the charcoal canister is in the ENGINE BAY, far away from the gas tank, at a height that is ABOVE the tank)
1993 Mazda Miata
1993 Acura Integra LS
1998 Acura Integra GS-R (OBD-II car; put over 53k miles on this car in 3 years, topping up at EVERY fillup with not a single problem)
1997 BMW M3 (OBD-II car, topped up on every fillup, no problems in 11k miles before I sold it)
1998 Chevrolet S10 Blazer (biggest POS on the road, topped up on every fillup, not a single problem related to how I filled this vehicle up)
1994 Acura Integra GS-R
2002 Honda S2000 (Two different S2k's.... the first one was my daily driver for 16k miles, the one I have now is a garage queen with <13k miles on it; they both are/were topped up at every fillup)
2003 4Runner V8 (I've put over 25k on this vehicle now; bringing it up to ~74k miles, topping up at every fillup with no problems).

Since we don't have any vapor recovery systems where I live, that part of your argument is moot.

As for the argument about fuel expanding... Let's think about this for a minute. When I fill up with gas, I typically drive at LEAST 2-5 miles immediately after filling up to get to where I'm going... Sometimes it's more, actually. If I drive 5 miles and am getting a conservative 20mpg, that's a quarter of a gallon (a quart) that has been burned. Don't you think that is plenty space for the fuel to expand? It takes less than 5 minutes to burn that quart of fuel and I can absolutely positively guarantee that the temperature of the liquid fuel inside the tank does not heat up quickly enough to cause an expansion problem when you are burning it and creating empty space in the tank at that rate, even if it's 100F ambient.

Being that I still get OVER 20mpg on the highway out of my V8 4Runner at 70-80mph, you also cannot make the argument that my vehicle runs 'poorly' because of what I do. It has the same power as the day I bought it, now with over 74k miles on the odometer.

As I said before, prove that it causes problems and I will stop debating with you... I have evidence that it has not caused any problems in any of the vehicles I have owned; as you can see that list has been quite extensive and I'm sure I've probably missed something in there. I added it up about a month ago and I've logged a combined 300+k miles on the vehicles I've owned. That's a lot of fillups.

Oh, and yes, I do overfill my tires above what Toyota recommends. I find that running closer to the TIRE'S maximum pressure provides better handling. I run 40psi cold all the way around; when the tires are at 37psi or lower, I find that they tend to squeel a lot more easily going around corners and do not grip as well due to the large/flexible sidewalls; so yes, I have also tested different tire pressures to find what works best for my driving style and found it to be different than what Toyota recommends to the soccer moms that want the cushy ride and won't take any turn faster than 2.7mph because of the soccer balls rolling around in the hatch.

And I refuse to call a mechanic to waste time on this issue... Half the shop techs don't know their a$$ from a hole in the ground. There are some exceptions, but speaking about the majority... Most of the 'new age' techs that walk out with an OBD-II scan tool, read a code, and replace parts don't know the first thing about troubleshooting real problems. Very few techs will truly try to take a stethoscope or other device to track down the EXACT source of a noise, vibration, etc. Most of them will not look for the source of oil burning and will just R&R a short block when the customer may only need to replace valve guides.

I've done MANY engine swaps on both my own cars and my friend's cars; I've replaced fuel pumps and fuel tanks, I've pulled heads due to broken timing belts, stuck/bent valves, and put the engines back together. I've been called over to a friend's house because he had a box full of bolts and a head he just got back from the machine shop and had no idea how to put his Integra engine back together that was in his CRX. Two nights of about 2 hours each night after work and his car started on the first turn of the key WITHOUT me looking at a shop manual. The only reason the job took 4 hours was because he was too lazy to clean/prep the block surface of the old headgasket material before I got there; that took at least an hour with his lack of supplies. I know a little bit about mechanical things and have probably worked on more cars than you've checked the oil on. I also race cars, so I OBVIOUSLY have to know how to fix my own crap. I may not be as fast as some of the master techs, but I will get the job done and I will get it done right.

If you have a second thought about my knowledge of vehicles or mechanical things, I dare you to put your wrench where your mouth is.

Ricky


RonMAIDEN said:
Man,I hate arguing car stuff with people that have minimal knowledge of how things work.

When you over fill you are forcing gas into the charcoal canister by pressure and off roading or regular driving can't slosh fuel into it (that's where I knew you didn't have a clue to how the system works) but with normal expansion due to outside temps can force the charcoal canister to become saturated and fail and even reduce your MPGs so you'll just be filling up sooner anyway not realizing that the system isn't working properly.
You get better fuel economy by overfilling your tires but you wouldn't do that or would you?

It's kinda sad that some people ignore facts (and there's plenty) and will take a chance of harming their expensive vehicles but then again I already stated ignorance is bliss..........along with denial.

Ricky,I can see why you might have a bridge for sale since you already were the sucker that bought it first.
 
Last edited:
The charcoal canister is part of your vapor recovery emission system. It is designed to capture and filter gasoline VAPORS. Introducing raw (liquid) fuel into the system will indeed cause the charcoal in the canister to become ineffective. The easiest way to get raw fuel into the vapor recovery system is to overfill (or top off) your fuel tank. This is common knowledge among auto techs and informed drivers.

So what's the real harm? Well, you might end up with a MIL eventually, but only after the charcoal in the canister is totally saturated with raw fuel and will not able to clear itself with engine vacuum. If you understand the system, you'll realize that fuel vapors get trapped in the charcoal until engine vacuum sucks them back into the combustion chamber and burns them. This isn't an effective method for charcoal soaked with raw fuel, which is what causes the damage.

Will your vehicle run with a damaged charcoal canister? Sure it will, but the emissions system will be compromised. The moral of the story is that topping of your tank can definitely damage your charcoal canister.
 
Well.I'm glad your personal experiences were positive but it still doesn't debunk what has been proven in many cases.

All those cars have evaporative systems and it doesn't matter where you live so once again you show your limited knowledge.

Oh well,it's your cars and I don't really give a rat's butt but I did provide the info for those people who might care.

My point is made so I'm done wasting my time arguing with one person.
 
I`ve ran my 4Runner for about 20 miles past the gas light came on and pumped about 15 or so gallons of gas into it. It`s running bout $3 a gallon around here and I normally pay around $40 to fill my tank. I know it doesn`t really add up but I`m thinking in averages, not precise amounts. I ran it so long that one time because my tank was nearly empty when my clutch went out and the guy who fixed it lived way out in the mountains. I actually got to try out my 4 wheel drive to get my truck home and it was almost 40 miles to the nearest gas station.
 
MPG

I just bought a 03' V8 and I have filled up 5 times so far. I don't fill up until the computer says around 15 miles remaining. I have also noticed that the light on the fuel gauge is one too. With all this said I am only able to put 18.5 gallons into the tank. I have checked the computer and The computer has been right on with 19.5 MPG. Does this mean that I have another 3-4 gallons of fuel still left? I have a range of 315 miles per the computer. (on average)

I have just read that some poeple are getting much more than 315 mile per tank. Any thoughts?
 
RonMAIDEN said:
You guys shouldn't fillup the filler neck and should just round up after the handle does it's first "click". Your tank needs a little room for the pressure in the tank to expand and overfilling leads to failure of the evaporative emissions system and will cost you more than it's worth the little extra gas you're adding.

I repeat,don't overfill as this should be common knowledge.

I did not know this and learned the hard way. Cost me $430 because I just had to top it off all the time.

When that pump clicks off now I stop. I did it for about 3 years before the engine light in the dash lit up.
 
Well, ran the 4Runner down REALLY low today on gas to where the computer said it had 14 miles left. The fuel gauge was actually right on the line, if not a little below. I pumped 20.8 gallons before the pump clicked off on its own, then put in the extra ~2.5 gallons I always do... A record fillup of 23.2 gallons at one stop.

Ricky
 
The lowest I ran the truck was around 15 miles AFTER it read 0 on the range, and I only filled up just under 22 gallons.

Weird how some of you guys have filled up that much when you still have some range according to the meter.
 
^
|____ I agree with you! This is a non-issue topic as I put as much gas in my 4Runner as I can afford at the time. It doesn't matter whether it's 10,15, 20 or 23.2543563443451200 gallons.
 

Members online

No members online now.

Forum statistics

Threads
278,315
Messages
3,554,104
Members
248,016
Latest member
Advally Service

Trending content

Back
Top