First try at a Mega-Fill

I got my first big fill up: Got 12.3 gallons in.
Got about 200 miles on it before the tank stopped reading full.

 

on your mega fill, how much more did you put in after first click off when filling at slowest speed?

i think inquiring minds would like to know what to shoot for if they try it.

 

Dave,

Usually, with a decent pump, it's around 1-1.5 gallons - for me, anyways.

-m.

 

For my click off I don't remember what it was. I always fill way past it in any case and it happens sometimes at 3 gal and other times at 10 gal. My normal fill is generally a min of 10 gallons.

The thing I did differen this time is followed instructions from Ray I think? to fill to gurgle.
Couldn't do it with nozzle in so I pulled it out as far as possible. Side holes were out of gas so no way they could suck gas back into station tank. Then it could flow steady till I heard the gurgle meaning full. Stopped at put on cap as it sounded like it might spit. So didn't fill it to point of seeing the gas in the pipe.

If we had nozzles with the big boots, I doubt I could get the car within 4 gallons of full, plus it would be riskier by muffling the gurgle noise!

 

they require the boots around here. it really can suck sometimes. my ex had a real issue with new ones. couldnt get the nozzle in far enough for it to run. she hated em.

she used to go to this one station that had the old pumps with no seal at all on em. she almost cried when they finally upgraded their pumps. (dont know why because i filled her tank about 90% of the time anyway)

 

I've seen different topics about filling the gas tank, but I'm curious to know if there's any negative aspects to "super-filling"?

Beside the risk of spiling gas on your paint job, could there be a pressure build up issue that's bad for the car?

I've only been able to get about 8 gals in when I drop down to 1 bar, and have therefore been only getting around 360-370 miles between fill ups.

 

When you need to fillup again, let us know how the milage was for the tank AND whether you did another Mega-fill or just normal.

If you do a normal fill the MPG will be very high for this tank and if another Mega-fill just about your normal MPG. In short, no effect at all on overall average.

 

i dont think there are any real negative repercusssions with superfilling as long as you dont spill any of the gas. plus it seems to stretch your bladder allowing for larger and larger fillups. look at Ray and his fillups. he routinely gets 12+ gallons in his tank and he has been "filling it to the brim" since day one.

 

Okay, I'll try the mega fill on my next tank and try not to cop out after the first two autostop clicks.

Oooooh, so frightening!

 

I may be naive, but isn't the Prius tank only 11.5 gallons? How do you get over 12 gallons in that small of a tank??? I am confused

 

Negative consequences have been discussed before on various boards
1) Spilling gas (so much for that PZEV rating)
2) Air pollution due to not putting in nozzle all the way
3) Over-filling floods the vapor recovery cylinder in your Prius (and may cause damage and/or low MPG since it has to clear it out)
4) Overfilling can cause gas to go into the vapor recovery system tube on some gas pumps, so you're not getting all the gas into the tank that you think you are (and you're wasting money). Prius owners haver reported being able to get free gas out of pumps where the previous person tried to overfill.
5) It screws up the vapor recovery system on the pump, so the next Prius owner has trouble with the auto-shut off.
6) Bladder in tank may compress when temperture changes after fill up, causing a gas spill

I can't personally say that all of these are always true, but I think enough of them apply to make overfilling a bad idea in my opinion.
For those of you who bought the Prius in part for its low emissions, it's definitely not cool to overfill.

 

Way to go priusham!! Looks like you are well on your way to your best tank! I just have to ask......what is your tire pressure? Maybe think about trying 42 front and 40 rear? I think your MFD mpg will improve with those pressures. Let me know! Keep posting your results. I hope you get over 650 on this tank!

 

Ha! Now that's funny. I accidentally dicovered the "mega-fill" today when filling up at a gas station in Outer Boondockia, OH. that had steam-powered pumps. The shut off kept tripping as it was pumping, so I just put the tip of the nozzle in and pumped til it gurgled up the fill neck. No spill, though. I put in 10.6 gal and had just dropped to one bar before filling up.

It took me 200 miles to use up the first bar. I thought I had broken my gas gauge

dave.