Automobile Enthusiasts

Best_man23

(5,127 posts) Tue Mar 8, 2022, 04:39 PM Mar 2022

Filling your gas tank? DON'T Top it Off

With the price of fuel going up seemingly like every other day, you may be thinking "I need to get as much gas in my car at this price as I can". As a former technician, I'm posting this as a PSA to say, Don't top off the tank.

Once the fuel pump clicks off, you can give it 1-2 more pull and clicks, then pull the fuel nozzle out.

If you continue to try and "get more fuel" you may end up at best dumping fuel on the ground by your car and having to deal with a noticeable gas smell for a few days. At worst, you could be looking at hundreds of dollars in repair costs to replace an evaporative emissions can (AKA charcoal canister).

Here is a video that summarizes this. I can't speak to the "damage to the fuel pump" claim in the video.

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Filling your gas tank? DON'T Top it Off (Original Post) Best_man23 Mar 2022 OP

I had that charcoal cannister disintegrate on me once. It was an old Chevy, so it wasn't that brewens Mar 2022 #1

brewens

(15,359 posts)

1. I had that charcoal cannister disintegrate on me once. It was an old Chevy, so it wasn't that

Reply to Best_man23 (Original post)

Tue Mar 8, 2022, 04:57 PM

Mar 2022

huge of a deal. At least not really expensive. I don't remember what all the guy had to do. I may have caused it, even though it was old because I always topped off. Usually, I only did that when I was planning on driving a ways. I also knew that in hot weather, when I would normally be travelling, the gas can expand. So, you don't want to park a rig packed clear full of fuel in the heat either.

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