Am I a magician?

[knobblywobbly]

On my way to work this morning the fuel light came on, so after about 25 miles I pulled in for some diesel. The needle on the fuel gauge was still above the red line but, without brimming it, I managed to get 62 litres in.

An exceptional feat as the car only has a 60 litre tank!!! :brickwall::censored::twisted:

[andy-womble]

Must have been running on vapour.....

[taxi]

Heard it could be something to do with colder temperature affecting density of fuel.....or magic.lol.

[knobblywobbly]

The fuel light had only been on for about 25 miles so with that, the number of miles I had covered and the position of the needle on the gauge it should've taken 57-58 litres.

[jstar]

I've always had my suspicions that petrol stations don't give you a genuine litre... Alternatively your tank could have been empty and even the fuel lines were empty (avg 1/2 gallon in them) which would say you have a fault fuel gauge... I don't know.

[talos]

I've always had my suspicions that petrol stations don't give you a genuine litre... Alternatively your tank could have been empty and even the fuel lines were empty (avg 1/2 gallon in them) which would say you have a fault fuel gauge... I don't know.

I used to work at a petrol station, and the weights and measures inspectors were regular visitors, all the pumps were checked for accuracy, any variation would shut that pump down until serviced and re checked and sealed. I dont think it has much to do with fairness to the customer tho, its all about duty and tax.

[j90xxx]

Talos is correct.
It is down to Trading Standards to check inaccuracies and pumps are sealed after calibration (still with a wire and lead seal!).
Petrol stations use 'forecourt servicing and calibration companies' and a record should be kept at each premises. Can't remember now if calibration has to be done every year or two years (it's a while since I worked in the industry).
Unfortunately...
The accuracy is within 5% and can be set at minus 5% if they want.
So, your 60 litre registered fill could have been 57 litres!
Should imagine supermarket pumps would be set accurately (wouldn't they?),
but smaller companies with tight margins??
No, they wouldn't do that to their customers.... :whistle:

[jstar]

Aha I didn't realise... interesting about the 5% margin. Maybe you just got a slightly larger fuel tank

[Husqyman]

Dont forget there will some be ullage space, otherwise if a plastic tank is full to the brim and it takes an impact it will tend to crack/split rather than deform due to the incompressability of liquid.

[j90xxx]

Dont forget there will some be ullage space, otherwise if a plastic tank is full to the brim and it takes an impact it will tend to crack/split rather than deform due to the incompressability of liquid.

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