I don't know what you guys are paying for gasoline.... My line of work is in petroleum for about 31 years now, so here are some tricks to get more of your money's worth for every gallon:
Here at the Kinder Morgan Pipeline where I work in San Jose , CA we deliver about 4 million gallons in a 24-hour period thru the pipeline.. One day is diesel the next day is jet fuel, and gasoline, regular and premium grades. We have 34-storage tanks here with a total capacity of 16,800,000 gallons.
✅ Only buy or fill up your car or truck in the early morning when the ground temperature is still cold. Remember that all service stations have their storage tanks buried below ground. The colder the ground the more dense the gasoline, when it gets warmer gasoline expands, so buying in the afternoon or in the evening....your gallon is not exactly a gallon. In the petroleum business, the specific gravity and the temperature of the gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, ethanol and other petroleum products plays an important role.
A 1-degree rise in temperature is a big deal for this business. But the service stations do not have temperature compensation at the pumps.
✅ When you're filling up do not squeeze the trigger of the nozzle to a fast mode If you look you will see that the trigger has three (3) stages: low, middle, and high. You should be pumping on low mode, thereby minimizing the vapors that are created while you are pumping. All hoses at the pump have a vapor return. If you are pumping on the fast rate, some of the liquid that goes to your tank becomes vapor. Those vapors are being sucked up and back into the underground storage tank so you're getting less worth for your money.
✅ One of the most important tips is to fill up when your gas tank is HALF FULL. The reason for this is the more gas you have in your tank the less air occupying its empty space. Gasoline evaporates faster than you can imagine. Gasoline storage tanks have an internal floating roof. This roof serves as zero clearance between the gas and the atmosphere, so it minimizes the evaporation. Unlike service stations, here where I work, every truck that we load is temperature compensated so that every gallon is actually the exact amount.
✅ Another reminder, if there is a gasoline truck pumping into the storage tanks when you stop to buy gas, DO NOT fill up; most likely the gasoline is being stirred up as the gas is being delivered, and you might pick up some of the dirt that normally settles on the bottom.
Thanks for that.
I don’t know if you consider premium gas to be topped here, but once I started using premium gas, I started getting five more miles per gallon with an 18 gallon tank. Even though the gas was a little bit more expensive, it was still worth it. Also I get my gas at Costco, every time. That way I’m not putting gas like you might get from Arco, which is horrible gas, and gives you much less gas mileage. I don’t know what they do to their gas. But I used to drive back-and-forth to California all the time. Whenever I would use Arco gas, I would have to fill up twice to get there instead of once. Just my two cents. Lol
Premium doesn't always have ethanol. And I think ethanol burns faster. I get premium for the same reason as you. Get better gas mileage. And ethanol messes up your engine, so there's that.
So true. I found a link here or on PDW the other day about gas stations that sell gas without ethanol. There are few and far between but there happens to be one 2.3 miles away from my house. But it’s $10 a gallon. Generally used for people who have race cars and stuff like that. Gives them a booster in the race. I hear it the lower the amount of ethanol, the more bang for your buck when you’re stepping on the gas pedal.
Yep, there are a few around me as well. That's what I have to put in my 69 Mustang. The classic car people have maps where you can find gas without ethanol.
So when you use that gas, does your car just kick ass or what.!
The Mustang always kicks ass! 351 Windsor.
But, seriously... ethanol is so bad on the engine and has less power when burned. I use ethanol free in my daily driver as well. First link on Google search that talks about it: https://www.wilsonauto.com/wilson-auto-blog/ethanol-and-classic-cars-what-you-need-to-know/
Edit to add: newer cars are probably made for it. My daily driver isn't that new, either. Hahaha!
Recommend u use the manufacturers octane.
My experience is the exact opposite, it requires 91 octane, but tunes the engine down for lower octane and I get better mileage, it cost me some horsepower,but I have it to spare.
Ugh, don't get me started on EPA regulations making it attractive to slap a turbo charger on an engine with inadequate displacement for the vehicle.
A lot of people are going to be in for a rude awakening when they find out that the days of a well-maintained engine going over 300k miles are gone. Higher rpms, higher heat, and a high-performance part that your average car driver doesn't know how to maintain properly.
V8 engines are going the way of the dodo in lieu of turbo and twin turbo charged V6's. V6's are turning into turbo charged 4 cylinders and what used to be girthy 4 cylinders (2 to 2.5 litre) are now turning into tiny turbo-charged lawn mowers. Our neighbor just bought a Chevy Equinox (a regular sized SUV for those unaware) and it has a 1.6 litre turbo-charged 4 cylinder. He opened the hood and it looks like I could pick up and carry the engine away.
I'm a gear head. I love turbo and super chargers. But I love them on engines that already have adequate displacement for the vehicle they're powering. With this new trend, vehicles simply aren't going to last anywhere near as long as they used to.
Okay, getting off of my soapbox now.
Amen brother.
Amen! I want a naturally aspirated engine with adequate displacement on my DD so I don't have to beat the balls off it. I can't believe they are strapping turbos to these tiny engines and running them balls out to the point they are just screaming during daily driving. Engines in the 50's needed rebuilds at 100k due to lmitations of the oil and filters of the day. We achieved engine longevity and are now going backwards all in the name of the false prophet called climate change. I wonder if it's part of a dark plan so they can say "See!!! Gas engines don't last! Buy an EV!!!"
"See!!! Gas engines don't last! Buy an EV!!!"
I genuinely wonder the exact same thing, Razo. And we already know the level of control the government has over electric vehicles after the Ottawa Trucker protest.
Breaks my heart that the HEMI in my Durango is going the way of the dodo in a couple of years. Going to be all turbo charged straight sixes.
I really hope we see a resurgence in common sense one day and see the American auto industry enter a renaissance. We live in such bleak times. Also - don't forget there is a new What We Do in the Shadows tonight 😬
Turbo chargers are going to be a massive maintenance item on cars in the very near future.
Manufacturers will not install factory turbo timers and will not adequately keep a turbo lubed so it doesn't cook the bearings in less than 100k miles.
The old adage still applies - there is no replacement for displacement.
"The old adage still applies - there is no replacement for displacement."
The 11th commandment : )
Correct- Dodge Charger ! Vroom vroom!
He only claimed to get more of your money's worth, not save big money. I don't think trying any of these is going to hurt anything. You should be keeping a mileage log everytime you fill up if you actually want to know how things are going for your own car.
When I was trucking (longhaul owner-operator) The Flying J corp. was busted for heating the diesel in the tanks at their truck stops. They obviously did it to cheat drivers.
It went to court, they were convicted and paid a big fine. This was maybe a dozen years ago.
Not the exact case but Flying J are crooks:
https://www.ttnews.com/articles/ex-pilot-flying-j-president-mark-hazelwood-sentenced-1212-years
Stopped buying gas there when this happened...
"Punishable by fine" means "legal for the rich."
Correct. Complete bs. The ground temp doesn’t change daily. Air escapes. Fuel being pumped is under pressure minimizing air entrainment. That which may immediately escapes during fill.
I deal with folks like this daily. They’ve Been in the industry for decades. Not to be mean they just don’t have basic physics or chemistry education.
As in the deep layers of ground doesn't change? Like maybe 10cms of earth is warmed but not down where the tanks would be stored, right?
Why are they BS?
Just coming by and dumping "this is BS" is not as helpful as you may think without the reasoning behind it
Tbh after seeing your response here it kind of did anchor me to look for the reasons why whereas if I didn't I probably wouldn't have scrolled as much or looked as deep. So I gotta retract this statement
+1
Some great things to know there.
These 'economy tips' only make sense at the size and scale of an oil terminal, not 'pumping gas for your car'. If a facility like his saved a small fraction of one percent on the 4 million gallons per day he mentions, it adds up to a large sum of money (which is why they do it).
But if you followed these suggestions to the letter, you'd save far less than a penny per tank.
(Source: I used to make a living analyzing cost savings for oil terminals.)
The last item, however, is legit.
Good observation - I should have said that the last one was 'plausible'. (It wasn't related to the 'economy' question.)
Thank you sir, the reasoning makes sense
Spot on.
One reason I disagree with your statement is because of this. If you never allow your tank to get below a half a tank of gas, you’re gonna have less problems with your fuel injection system. Allowing your car to run out of gas, or filling it after the light comes on, means you’re going to have more issues with sediment getting up into your fuel injection system. That costs a lot of money to repair. So I just smart to never allow your gas tank to get below a half tank. The savings on your overall fuel injection system is well worth doing it that way.
The best reason to keep your tank full is that the fuel pump runs constantly. The fuel in the tank keeps that pump cool. When the fuel in the tank gets low the returning fuel is warm and that is not good for the pump.
I live in a city and therefore accelerate and decelerate alot, so I never fill up past half a tank. Less mass to start and stop repeatedly means better fuel economy. For long trips I dont let it drop below half, because more momentum = less energy to travel at highway speed
There is a filter, maybe two, between you gas tank fuel line and the carburetor so any sediment is not going to get to the carburetor. I remember, and it was a while ago so I could be wrong, seeing both a paper filter and a stone filter in the gas line. That was like 40 years ago so things might have changed, but certainly there is at least one filter in the line. Sediment could clog up the filter I guess, but it won't get into the carburetor or fuel injection system.
A point on the OP’s 4th point — about not pumping gas during fill of underground tanks…. There is a high grade filter on each gas pump to catch anything that could come up from the main storage tanks. I think this idea comes from decades ago when they didn’t have the filters on the pumps.
filters eventually fail
The stone filter is not going to fail. It might get clogged. And even the paper filters most likely won't fail. They might get clogged also.
Wouldn't a clog be considered a failure?
Nope seems like a genuine question ngl. I'm happy to seem thick if I get the answer, and don't recall seeing it said earlier.
So to confirm: for the discussion at hand a clog in and of itself isn't a failure of the filter but a happenstance and shouldn't be considered as a piece of data within the discussion at hand
No, of course not. The filter is supposed to filter our particles. If the liquid is so full of particles that it clogs the filter I would say the filter is doing its job. If/when a filter gets clogged you change it. Your car's oil filter probably gets changed on each oil change just so that it doesn't end up getting clogged. If you end up putting too much gunk in your car and/or don't change filters when they should be changed, then you failed, not the filter.
Maybe in old vehicles. There seems to be filters on newer vehicles kek
Every old car I ever owned had a fuel filter.
You may be right about sediment and fuel injectors. I'm not an expert on those subjects. I was commenting on the 'cost savings'.
Yes and that’s why I made my comment because overall… Having to replace your fuel injection system is a huge cost.
I happen to have a lifetime bumper-to-bumper warranty, and I had to have my fuel injectors replaced. They’re inside the fuel tank, so it would’ve been over $1000 for me to have to pay for that myself. But thank God I was smart enough to buy that warranty. It’s paid for itself.
But for some reason… They don’t sell those anymore. Lol! I guess they didn’t understand that some people would actually keep their car for more than five years. And with the warranty I have, I’ll never have to buy another car. It’s $100 co-pay whenever I have a repair that’s it.
Minus tires, brakes, and lightbulbs etc. maintenance stuff.
I believe fuel injectors are mounted on the engine, to 'inject the fuel' directly into the cylinders. The fuel pump, however, is often mounted in or near the fuel tank.
I stand corrected
Yeah I got half way through this and was like "wait a minute... My guage consistently reads full when I fill it up or lands in the same spot for a $20 spot fill... At all times of the day..."
Thanks for clearing this up.
Thanks 😎 now that’s science I can get behind
What you're getting behind is anti-science.
Love it! Say you're a Pure Blood / Uncontaminated without saying you're a Pure Blood / Uncontaminated.
Interesting. I've always filled up once I'm down to half a tank, but I never knew this was one of the reasons why.
this post is rubbish for the most part! 1)the gasoline storage tanks are deep underground... the temperature fluctuations throughout the day are insignificant! 2) yes pumping gasoline fast creates more vapors while filling your tank... but that may account for a drop or 2 of gasoline at most... again.. insignificant... when you pull the nozzle out and have a few drops on the lip, the side of your car or on the ground... that's more wasted than wat the vapors would generate.3) nowadays, most cars have tanks that prevent vapors from escaping to the atmosphere.... the more weight in your tank, the more gas it takes to accelerate the the car. each gallon weights 6.1 lbs.. if your tank is 20 gallons then at half tank...you're still lugging around 60 lbs of gas... it takes gasoline to accelerate that mass.... and conversely more braking to slow down the car... minimal... but still a little bit more. if you're filling up more often.. then you're repeating the process more often... most likely you'll stop in and grab a soda or whatever you wouldn't normally buy... thus spending many times more than the few vapors lost in the re-filling process.4) when fuel trucks are filling tanks, yes... it's possible that miniscule sediment is stirred up at the bottoms of the tanks ... for sure that will happen, HOWEVER... every pump pushes its fuel through filters that will catch anything floating in the tank. i have NEVER heard of anyone getting poorly filtered gasoline from a gas station..... if you hauled fuel in a 5 gallon can... then all bits are off...they have no filters on their spouts.
lets use our heads, folks....
Don't most cars use a bladder anyways and so there are no air vapors or empty space in the tank?
Top notch, should be top comment tbh
Most of these are just factoids that in reality, if you made sure every condition was met each time you filled up, would maybe save you a couple nickels per fill up - if that. We are talking about $5/gal gas and tiny tiny fractions of a gallon difference between pumping fast or slow, or 4am vs 1pm. That tank in the ground isn't warming up significantly - that's why they use those thermal ground units and why caves remain cool all year round.
The biggest thing you can do to actually help your car is not run your tank close to empty as the gas in your tank helps to cool your fuel pump and this will also help to avoid picking up the crap down in your tank.
If you are the type of person who jumps on the internet to argue about how this activity or that activity isn't worth your time and money, well, here's another one to add to your list.
"the gas in your tank helps to cool your fuel pump"
Assuming the pump is mounted in the tank...
True, although since most cars have it in their tank, it's a pretty safe assumption unless you know for a fact yours doesn't.
The bigger point is all these internet memes on gas are kind of lame. Just fill up when you want and is most convenient for you. :)
I found the tip on filling up when the tank is only half empty pretty useful... I've often wondered why gas runs out quicker when it's closer to empty and this makes some sense of that.
gas tanks are not square.. nor cylindrical... therefore gauges move faster at some points along the way down. gas tanks are shaped such that they make the most of the available space within the confines of the car. now, if you have a fuel cell in the trunk for racing fuel or whatever... those tend to be symmetrical and the gauges should follow along nicely.
Good advice, thanks!
Incredible info!
Thanks for sharing
Thanks.
Nice tips, thankQ.
thanks for posting fern ...useful information
A few points seem odd to me. I thought I read somewhere that once you go down a certain depth in the ground the soil temperature is pretty constant. That would seem to indicate it doesn't matter what time of day you fill up. Secondly, I heard about the last point previously but ignored it as it seems pretty unlikely there isn't a filter between the buried gas station tank and the nozzle you're putting into your car's tank. The "only fill up on half tank" doesn't sound right either. You would have to fill up twice as often and thus two times the volume of a 1/2 tank is equal to a whole tank. This all sounds like nonsense to me.
Edit:
Just did a search on filters in gas station tanks. As I suspected, there are multiple places where the gas is filtered. From one post is says it's filtered before filling up the gas tanker truck, filtered when gas tanker truck fills gas station tank, filtered from the tank to the pump. And then it's filtered again from your car's gas tank before it enters the carburetor.
when was the last time you heard of someone getting bad gas from a station which clearly has filters at every pump to filter out micro-sediment???
I know for a fact, that Arco gas is cheaper gas than any other gas. I fill my tank with Arco gas I drive to California, and halfway through I have to stop and fill my tank again. If I use any other gas, any other gas… I can get there on one tank. Fact! This is happened numerous times because I was too stupid to figure it out the first time. Once I figured it out, I have never put Arco gas in my vehicle ever again. I refuse to shop at Arco gas.
Interesting. The only bit of information I have on this point is that I remember my mechanic telling me that premium gas has more energy in it and thus while more costly you'll get more miles out of it. Whether it's worth the price difference I don't know.
All the gas comes out of the same pipeline. There are slugs of gas in different octanes, but not different brands. Most of eastern NC gets all their gas from one terminal in Selma, NC.
I live in Arizona. And I guarantee you the temperature in the ground in the heat of the day here, it’s not the same as it would be somewhere else. It was 116° yesterday.
I doubt that. I think if you go down, maybe around 2'?, the temperature is supposed to be somewhat constant, somewhere in the 60's I believe. As someone mentioned in this post, caves are pretty chilly. I assume a cave in AZ is probably about the same temperature as a cave in AK, assuming the same cave depth. Soil, I guess, is s pretty good insulator. I'm pretty sure geothermal energy makes use of the fact that the ground temperature is pretty constant a few (several?) feet down.
Great tips … thank you Fren!
Thanks.
Another reason to keep your tank at least half full, keeping your fuel pump cool . Fuel injected vehicles require an in-tank fuel pump, that is submerged in the fuel. That fuel acts as a heatsink drawing heat away from the pump. Running low fuel levels over time will cause the pump to fail. Expensive repair.
Only fill up in the early morning is very important as well as filling up when you hit a 1/2 tank. Those 2 alone will save you $$$.
Also paying attention to the day you fill up. Watch your stations and see if they go up on weekends and down during the week. Do they go up a day or more before big driving holidays?
I live in an area where prices literally do not change on a daily basis lol, Texas or the east coast will fluctuate though.
That must be nice. We have a Costco, and I guess their policy is to be a penny under the lowest price in town. We have frequent price changes. I don't know about daily though.
Sounds like Montana lol, I have a Costco too and it’s consistently 22 cents cheaper than the nearest gas station.
Thanks for sharing. Great information.
Now this is some useful advice. Thank you.
I am sitting here memorizing this stuff. Many thanks.
Thank you for sharing.
There are some really interesting posts regarding fueling your vehicle here. But there’s always one or two people who just want to discredit a post that somebody puts out. For the record… I think this is a great post. And there are some sound advice here. It’s important to be concerned with fueling your vehicle, what kind of gas you use, and when you feel it. That’s just common sense. Thanks for the post !
It's just common sense to read the arguments you are dismissing. This info is garbage, for many reasons, all valid and stated above
I always told my kids that they need to think.. half a tank is empty. Not for anything car related, but for safety. Here, for example, where you can be out zooming around in -45, if your car breaks down or are delayed by an accident, etc, you Need to have gas to keep warm and get home safely!
Also, if shtf and you have to bug out, you need gas!
Plus I do the opposite of the one about filling up once you reach half a tank - If I'm staying in the city and not traveling, I always stay less than half a tank of fuel. Less mass to accelerate and decelerate constantly.
Then on long trips, I dont let it drop below a half tank. More momentum for maintaining highway speeds!
I agree with much of this, and find that my mind won't even go that way.
I rebel against sales because I know no matter what, there's something nefarious at the core. And if I play their penny games, I'm wasting time I could be learning about the DS creeps🕵♀️
guess my point it, that's 'their' system and game, and I don't like playing it. would rather 'know' that God will give me exactly what I need when I need it.
definitely, the npcs Love BF🙄
Great info especially if you didn't buy gas during the Barry Soetoro presidency.
Very interesting great tips thank you!
Just learn how to make ethanol and use it in your E85 engine.
Great advice!
Excellent advice! My dad was in that biz, he was a geologist, and he also taught us to not let our tanks go below half full. I never really knew why until now. Thanks for these great tips.
Good tips, thank you. I’ve heard the time of day tip before.
Tyvm
I like when I learn new, useful stuff. Thanks Fren.
NICE ... i knew about early in the morning and our pumps don't seem to have these ... " trigger has three (3) stages: low, middle, and high"