How many clicks to fill up?

[tarheel8]

Just curious as to how many clicks you use to fill up your car? I do 2 in case the pump prematurely clicks as was the case for my old CLK. Also want to make sure to get as much cheap gas (per gasbuddy) in the tank as possible.

[MMUK]

I vent & brim (until the fuel laps at the top of the inlet, and the foam has died down). This gives a very consistent refuelling.

But this is not necessarily a good idea if you have a petrol car, since petrol turns into vapour while diesel doesn't.

[DTMAce]

I generally fill till its near the top. The nozzle clicks quicker and easier when its near the top. Either way, as long as you fill it the same way each time, you should maintain consistent filling. Keep in mind some pumps may click off early or later than others. Just takes practice, you can get it going good.

[Lagwagonlead]

First click for me. I doubt it varies at all since I go to the same gas station and same pump every time.

[Ciderbarrel]

If you fill past one click, you're just sending fuel back into the vapor capture system. I.E. you're paying for fuel that is going back into the tanks and that the station will resell to the next guest.

One click and done for me.

[DTMAce]

Ciderbarrel, that is ridiculous.

Where did you hear that? Have you ever looked at the end of a fill nozzle? There is only one tube.

And I have filled them too full. Guess what happens? The gas runs out onto the ground. Your car may have an overflow/vent tube as well, but when both it and the main tube is full, it will just run out on the ground if you keep trying to fill it, not go back into the station tank!

Each car and each station pump is going to be different. Which is why no one can rely on the same method every time. If I did that, there are at least 2 stations that I would never get any gas into the tank of the van as it pops off WAY early (like before I even get a gallon of gas in it) and I know its going to take more than 14 to fill it.

Best solution is trial and error, and simply try to fill it as full as you can without running it onto the ground. (it will NOT go into the station tank, at least at any station I have ever been to. Maybe its a California thing, they seem to have the weird gas out that way)

[Ciderbarrel]

I heard it from a few friends. One owns a station a few others worked at other stations in the area.

Next time I stop at a Sheetz, I'll snap a pic of sticker they have at the pump that says basically what I typed out. The jist is that after 1 click you're just wasting gas that you're getting charged for.

[DTMAce]

Well, I won't doubt the wasting gas part, as it would run out on the ground if you fill it too far, but then again, its hard to say. Never have been to a ... Sheetz? So maybe its just some stations that do that. None of the ones around here have anything even close to that, even with a label. Though many tell you not to top off. This was to prevent spills, not so it gets siphoned back into their tank though. As I said, each car and each pump is different. You may have to experiment a few times to learn how your car takes gas and gets full. Otherwise you will get inconsistencies, especially if you drive the exact same way each day and fill up, and you MPG goes up and down every fill up like a yo-yo. This is due to the inconsistencies. Get less than a full tank one time, the a full tank the next time, etc. It throws off the numbers. This is why I learned a long time ago to simply fill it as full as I safely can.

My beretta's, can hold a GALLON past the pop off in most cases. Funny but true.

The 03 Caravan however, is usually pretty darn near full when it pops, but I can usually round it up the nearest half dollar mark.

I will even give the vehicle a nudge sometimes, to shake any air bubbles out of the tank, just to get a bit more in it.

That of course is overkill. LOL

[lmcc007]

Just one click for me too. I sort of know withing a few tenths of a gallon how much it's going to take from the miles that I've driven and where the gas gauge is.

[bates]

First of all, I fill it to the next full dollar if it is less than $xx.75, if it is less than 25 cents shy of a dollar I fill it to the 2nd dollar. With gas at $4.00 a gallon I'm never adding more than 1/3 of a gallon past the click. Back when gas was $1.00 a gallon I'd almost always still be able to round up to the next full dollar on a car or truck tank. My motorcycles used to go up to the next even multiple of .25 so $xx.25, xx.50, xx.75, or $xx.00. This was due to the smaller tanks on motorcycles and me filling them pretty close to the top with no filler nozzle directly into the tank.

As for the vapor return nozzles, yes at least in CA they can return a little liquid fuel to the tank if you overfill it too much but in a sense you are both right. If you go past the click and give the vehicle tank a few seconds to settle down and let the bubbles pop, it will click again numerous times before any liquid gasoline will be returned. If you just pin the handle immediately after the click you will spill gasoline out of the filler neck and potentially have some recovered by the vapor return nozzle, but even then the amount returned to the Station's tanks is going to be extremely small, the nozzles are intended to return vapor, not liquid, so they really aren't designed or set up to recover liquid. They are an AQMD requirement intended to keep the gasoline vapors out of our atmosphere. If you pay careful attention the next time you're at a station that sells Diesel, you'll probably notice that there aren't any vapor return nozzles on the Diesel pumps because Diesel fumes haven't been linked to smog and other air polution in the same manner that gasoline vapors have been.