response 1 of 23:

May 24 20:03 UTC 1995

  I would say off the top of my head that each dealer is different. If I
had a car, and actually bought gas, I would buy it at Jourdan's Marathon
simply because they don't believe in the XXX.9 pricing. All of thier prices
end in zero, not in .9 so you're not paying an extra penny per gallon.
  I've talked to John Jourdan about this, and he told me that Marathon and
Mobil (he also owns the Washtenaw/Hogback Mobil) are on his butt to go back

 to the .9 system and he has stated that he will not cheat is customers
in that manner.

 A winnr if I ever saw one.

response 3 of 23:

Jun 25 02:26 UTC 1995

Per suggestions of fellow Grexers, I sought out the good Jourdan crew at
the Marathon station (on Broadway).  I had them look at my air conditioning,
which had been having some worrisome symptoms with the compressor and had
finally died outright.  Never mind that it was in the 90's outside.  I
called for an appointment, and had my car fixed that same day.  Turns out
all that was wrong was I was low on freon.  They charged the system, and
it works :-) :-) :-).  Pricing was reasonable.  They exceeded their
estimate mainly because I needed 2 pounds of freon (I guess this is a lot
for this sort of problem) - but they didn't exceed it by much.  The
people there were *very* friendly.  "A"

response 5 of 23:

Aug 27 12:17 UTC 2001

Gas pumps have to be certified by the "weights & measures" people every year
or two; beyond that I don't know.  You certainly ought to be able to report
it to somebody for a spot check.

response 7 of 23:

Sep 1 05:48 UTC 2001

Re #4:  It depends how you fill your tank.  If you do what
I do and fill to the absolute top of the neck when you're
about to drive a long haul, you're filling spaces that
the manufacturer intended to hold only air; this will exceed
the rated capacity.  I don't recall exactly what my Taurus
is rated to hold (16 gallons?) but I have put 18.4 into it
on several occasions (different pumps).

(This is a bad idea if the car is going to sit.  I only do
this if I am going to burn off a gallon or two right away
and re-fill that space with air.)

I think you have cause to suspect you're being shorted if
you're getting well over rated capacity when the pump
clicks off the first time.  But if you're filling to the
brim, it's another matter.

response 9 of 23:

Sep 2 12:30 UTC 2001

Definitely talk to the weights and measures people.

response 11 of 23:

Sep 3 01:00 UTC 2001

Assuming that one doesn't overflow, what's the mechanism for to-the-brim
gassing up wasting gas or aggravating air pollution?

response 13 of 23:

Sep 3 12:51 UTC 2001

Re #11:  If you saturate the vapor-recovery cannister, you'll
be losing gasoline vapor as the tank breathes.  This is why I
only top off when I'm about to drive a distance; it gives the
cannister purge system a chance to pull air through it and
remove any excess gas (liquid or vapor) which it soaked up.

response 15 of 23:

Sep 4 01:56 UTC 2001

Re #12:  I *never* leave gas in the nozzle (below the valve) when
I top off.  I always leave room to put that in my tank; after all,
I paid for it.  If I can get some out of the hose after turning
the pump off, so much the better for me.

That space fills with air very quickly.  At a typical city economy
of 20 MPG, the car is burning better than 6 ounces per mile; highway
cruising still burns about 4 ounces/mile at economy speeds.  It
doesn't take more than a few miles to drain the tank neck and all
the vent lines even if they start full.  That fuel isn't going into
the air without going through the engine first.

If the car was filled and allowed to sit on a hot day, it would be
a different matter.

response 17 of 23:

Sep 5 13:19 UTC 2001

Re #16:  Apparently you don't read, Rane.  When I top off the tank
I don't let it sit and wait for the temperatures to equalize; I
start the engine and burn off some of the fuel.  By the time I'm
done, the issue of overflow from expansion is moot.  Had you been
paying attention, you would have seen that I said so back in #7.

Let's see, assuming the tank capacity is 18 gallons, the rate of
temperature rise is 1 degree per minute and fuel consumption is
5 ounces/minute, the vehicle burns 0.0022 of the total fuel every
minute while that fuel is expanding at a rate of 0.0004 of the
total volume every minute.  Fuel consumption runs about 5.5 times
faster than expansion, and a 10-minute drive burns off enough fuel
to make room for about 55 degrees F worth of expansion.

In other words, your concern is moot.

response 19 of 23:

Sep 5 14:47 UTC 2001

(You forgot "surprise attack by space aliens".)

response 21 of 23:

Sep 6 02:50 UTC 2001

Rane had a gift for comedy, but he returned it for a refund.

response 23 of 23:

Sep 6 12:14 UTC 2001

I got a nice chuckle out of #20.  So there.