22 gallon tank took 23 gallons to fill

In article >,
Jack > wrote:
>A pump at a local Chevron gas station tallied up 23 gallons when I
>filled my 1987 Dodge Dakota V6, which has a 22 gallon tank. I have
>never, in the 21 years I have owned the truck, ever seen the tally go
>above 22 gallons.
>
>I have come to be able to read the low end of the gauge pretty good and
>by my reckoning I had about a gallon in the tank when I pulled in to
>fill it up, but the pump read 23.004 gallons. I paid with a debit card
>and got a receipt.
>
>Does anyone know who to contact about this sort of thing? I was
>surprised because this Chevron station was only charging $1.85 while the
>El Cheapo no-brand station down the street was charging $1.97.

Depends on what state you are in. Most states have an office of weights
and measures that goes around checking these things. Go to another gas
station and look for a certification sticker on one of the pumps, and call
those guys.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

"HLS" > wrote in message
...
>
> "SteveB" > wrote in message
> ...
>
>> But I have had cars that took more than the owner's manual. I think they
>> round it off, and in many cases, do not rate the capacity all the way to
>> the top of the neck like a lot of consumers fill their tanks.
>
> Definitrely true, Steve. I have seen the same thing. If you have long
> experience
> with a particular car and suddenly it starts taking more to fill it than
> it has ever held
> before, then I would get suspicious, as has the OP I guess.

Most of the time, though, when I get in those running on fumes situations,
I'm so glad I got to the gas station under power that I don't even think
about it.

Steve

"Scott Dorsey" > wrote in message
...
> In article >,
> Jack > wrote:
>>A pump at a local Chevron gas station tallied up 23 gallons when I
>>filled my 1987 Dodge Dakota V6, which has a 22 gallon tank. I have
>>never, in the 21 years I have owned the truck, ever seen the tally go
>>above 22 gallons.
>>
>>I have come to be able to read the low end of the gauge pretty good and
>>by my reckoning I had about a gallon in the tank when I pulled in to
>>fill it up, but the pump read 23.004 gallons. I paid with a debit card
>>and got a receipt.
>>
>>Does anyone know who to contact about this sort of thing? I was
>>surprised because this Chevron station was only charging $1.85 while the
>>El Cheapo no-brand station down the street was charging $1.97.
>
> Depends on what state you are in. Most states have an office of weights
> and measures that goes around checking these things. Go to another gas
> station and look for a certification sticker on one of the pumps, and call
> those guys.
> --scott

Try a phone book or information operator.

Steve

On 1/5/09 5:56 PM, in article ,
"Jack" > wrote:

> A pump at a local Chevron gas station tallied up 23 gallons when I
> filled my 1987 Dodge Dakota V6, which has a 22 gallon tank. I have
> never, in the 21 years I have owned the truck, ever seen the tally go
> above 22 gallons.
>
> I have come to be able to read the low end of the gauge pretty good and
> by my reckoning I had about a gallon in the tank when I pulled in to
> fill it up, but the pump read 23.004 gallons. I paid with a debit card
> and got a receipt.
>
> Does anyone know who to contact about this sort of thing? I was
> surprised because this Chevron station was only charging $1.85 while the
> El Cheapo no-brand station down the street was charging $1.97.
>
> And thanks to all who have been kind enough to respond to me concerning
> problems with MSD ignition. As I mentioned in the thread dealing with
> it, a ballast resistor made all the difference and the truck is running
> great!

In most, if not all cars, there is an expansion space in the top of the tank
and if you fill it to the brim, there is also room for about a gallon in the
filler neck. It is possible, if you were running on fumes, that it could
legitimately take 23 gallons to top it off.

Of course it is also possible that the pump was out of calibration. Go back
there and look over the pump and see if there is a current certification
seal on it anywhere.

"HLS" > wrote in message
...
>
> "C. E. White" > wrote in message
> news:496364be$1@kcnews01...
>>
>> I suppose it is possible that the station is cheating, so it can't
>> hurt to have it checked, but I think it is most likely you just had
>> a combination of a pump shut off and vehicle angle that let you put
>> a little extra in the tank.
>
> Normally, filling a tank will result in a little variation in volume
> for a
> number of factors.
>
> When the OP mentioned "I have never, in the 21 years I have owned
> the truck, ever seen the tally go above 22 gallons" it raised my
> suspicions
> that something might be astray.

I suppose, but seems more likely this was just the first time that all
factors combined to allow an extra gallon in the tank (fuel level
especially low, vehicle at a slight angle, pump shutoff allowed for a
extra gas, etc.). How often do you run your tank down until you think
there is only 1 gallon left? I do it occasionally, but don't recommend
it. I looked back at the gas mileage log for my 2003 Expedition. In
100,000 miles of driving, I exceeded the rated gas tank capacity once.
And since the vehicle was running when I gassed up, I am sure I had at
least one gallon of gas in the tank, probably closer to 1.5. The truck
had a miles to empty computer and I never saw it below 25, so that
implies close to 2 gallons in the tank. I put over 28 gallons into a
tank that supposedly held 28 gallons. This implies to me that it held
at least 30 gallons. Plus with plastic tanks (like my Ford and the
Dakota use), there is an even greater likelihood that the tank will
hold substantially more than it is rated to hold (plastic tanks tend
to grow under load more than steel tanks).

> Since temperature certainly alters the density of gasoline, how do
> the
> fuel merchants, technologically, correct to a standard gallon? Is
> it
> built into the pump?

As far as I know, no US states allow for temperature compensation. It
is done in Canada. The reference I cited had a pretty good description
of the situation
(http://www.ooida.com/straight_talk/T...%20slides.pdf).

Modern pumps handle the compensation electronically. If you know the
temperature of the fuel, you can just do simple electronic
multiplication to adjust the volume to the 60 degree f standard
gallon. Of course when done this way, the tank capacity versus pump
reading issue could be magnified.

I notice that the pumps at the Costco station I frequent have a
sticker stating that there is no temperature compensation.

Ed

"SteveB" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Scott Dorsey" > wrote in message
> ...
>> In article >,
>> Jack > wrote:
>>>A pump at a local Chevron gas station tallied up 23 gallons when I
>>>filled my 1987 Dodge Dakota V6, which has a 22 gallon tank. I have
>>>never, in the 21 years I have owned the truck, ever seen the tally
>>>go
>>>above 22 gallons.
>>>
>>>I have come to be able to read the low end of the gauge pretty good
>>>and
>>>by my reckoning I had about a gallon in the tank when I pulled in
>>>to
>>>fill it up, but the pump read 23.004 gallons. I paid with a debit
>>>card
>>>and got a receipt.
>>>
>>>Does anyone know who to contact about this sort of thing? I was
>>>surprised because this Chevron station was only charging $1.85
>>>while the
>>>El Cheapo no-brand station down the street was charging $1.97.
>>
>> Depends on what state you are in. Most states have an office of
>> weights
>> and measures that goes around checking these things. Go to another
>> gas
>> station and look for a certification sticker on one of the pumps,
>> and call
>> those guys.
>> --scott
>
> Try a phone book or information operator.

Or Google!

For instance Google "North Carolina Government Weights and Measures"

Ed

On Mon, 05 Jan 2009 15:56:28 -0800, Jack >
wrote:

>A pump at a local Chevron gas station tallied up 23 gallons when I
>filled my 1987 Dodge Dakota V6, which has a 22 gallon tank. I have
>never, in the 21 years I have owned the truck, ever seen the tally go
>above 22 gallons.
>
>I have come to be able to read the low end of the gauge pretty good and
>by my reckoning I had about a gallon in the tank when I pulled in to
>fill it up, but the pump read 23.004 gallons. I paid with a debit card
>and got a receipt.
>
>Does anyone know who to contact about this sort of thing? I was
>surprised because this Chevron station was only charging $1.85 while the
>El Cheapo no-brand station down the street was charging $1.97.
>
>And thanks to all who have been kind enough to respond to me concerning
>problems with MSD ignition. As I mentioned in the thread dealing with
>it, a ballast resistor made all the difference and the truck is running
>great!

Try http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/DMS/

"C. E. White" > wrote in message
news:496394c7@kcnews01...

> I notice that the pumps at the Costco station I frequent have a sticker
> stating that there is no temperature compensation.
>
> Ed

I have never calculated , although easy enough to do so, how the
volume of the tank would decrease as the temperature decreases.

Might be an interesting, if not directly important, exercise.

On Jan 5, 4:56 pm, Jack > wrote:
> A pump at a local Chevron gas station tallied up 23 gallons when I
> filled my 1987 Dodge Dakota V6, which has a 22 gallon tank. I have
> never, in the 21 years I have owned the truck, ever seen the tally go
> above 22 gallons.
>
> I have come to be able to read the low end of the gauge pretty good and
> by my reckoning I had about a gallon in the tank when I pulled in to
> fill it up, but the pump read 23.004 gallons. I paid with a debit card
> and got a receipt.
>
> Does anyone know who to contact about this sort of thing? I was
> surprised because this Chevron station was only charging $1.85 while the
> El Cheapo no-brand station down the street was charging $1.97.
>
> And thanks to all who have been kind enough to respond to me concerning
> problems with MSD ignition. As I mentioned in the thread dealing with
> it, a ballast resistor made all the difference and the truck is running
> great!


I do not know about Texas, but in Canada, gasoline is sold by weight.
As the density of fuel varies with temperature, the metering is
corrected so that litres are smaller when it is well below freezing
and larger when it feels half-way to boiling. The idea is that each
temperature corrected measure of fuel has the same weight. It is
possible that you filled your tank at an unusually cold temperature
and topped up into the expansion space.

However, you still might want to report it, as it will help keep
people honest.

Mike Romain > wrote in
g.com:

> Jack wrote:
>> A pump at a local Chevron gas station tallied up 23 gallons when I
>> filled my 1987 Dodge Dakota V6, which has a 22 gallon tank. I have
>> never, in the 21 years I have owned the truck, ever seen the tally go
>> above 22 gallons.
>>
>> I have come to be able to read the low end of the gauge pretty good
>> and by my reckoning I had about a gallon in the tank when I pulled in
>> to fill it up, but the pump read 23.004 gallons. I paid with a debit
>> card and got a receipt.
>>
>> Does anyone know who to contact about this sort of thing? I was
>> surprised because this Chevron station was only charging $1.85 while
>> the El Cheapo no-brand station down the street was charging $1.97.
>>
>> And thanks to all who have been kind enough to respond to me
>> concerning problems with MSD ignition. As I mentioned in the thread
>> dealing with it, a ballast resistor made all the difference and the
>> truck is running great!
>
> One place just off the highway in northern New Brunswick Canada manage
> to stuff 86 liters into my 76 liter tank for a cost of almost $140.00
> a couple years back. And I drove in there under my own power too....
>
> There is an Esso also at Yonge and Finch on Toronto Canada that
> regularly can put 80 liters, 82 once, into my 76 liter tank and again
> I drive there under my own power.
>
> Pure rip off assholes!
>
> Mike

Agreed about Ripoff!
The amount of fluid expansion (or contraction) is negligible when the
tank is underground because the temperature is fairly constant.

Up in northern Canada and Alaska the temperature changes are
non-existant underground (thinking permafrost). In the lower 48 and
southern Canada, once you are below about 5 feet or so (depending on the
type of soil) and depending on the material the tank is constructed of,
temp change is practically null.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/busines...s/gasquiz.html

Tip: Fill your tank in the morning, when it's cool outside.

DEBATED. Experts disagree about the veracity of this gas-saving tip.
While it is true that cooler gas is more dense and compressed,
authorities disagree about how much the gas temperature can change in a
24-hour period when it's buried about 10 feet underground. Consumer
Reports' Quincy argued that the amount of temperature change is
imperceptible or nonexistent. AAA's Laskoski said the amount of
difference may not even be enough to fill a shot glass. Others argue the
change is much larger. Washington watchdog group Public Citizen's
oilwatchdog.org (http://www.oilwatchdog.org/articles/?storyId=5821) says
that gas is priced by volume at 60 degrees Fahrenheit, but is often sold
to consumers at a much higher temperature. It estimates that U.S.
motorists are getting ripped off about $3 billion a year, and that
consumers are shortchanged about 760 million gallons of gas per year.
According to the site, "When the temperature of gasoline rises above 60
degrees, gasoline expands but gas pumps don't account for the bigger
volume, so consumers receive less gasoline than they should."