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23 responses total.

  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.

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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"

After driving a long way with the gas gauge on 'E', i filled up at the
Speedway on Plymouth at Huron Parkway today.  Somehow, their pump was
able to fit 15.2 gallons of gas into my definitely 13.2 gallon gas tank.
I mentioned it to the attendant & got the brush-off. 

I mentioned it later to a friend who lives close to that station and 
fills up when her gauge reads below 1/2; she felt that wierdness she's
noticed with how her gauge reads suddenly made sense if that Speedway's
pumps are off. 

Anyone have any thoughts on or experience with this sort of thing? 

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.

The Weights and Measures people are a county office.  Call the county
general number and ask to talk to them.  They could certainly spot check
that station.

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.

I habitually fill to the brim and run down past 'E' as a way of putting
off the bother of going to the gas station.  I only got it to take
13.2 gallons once - when it was so low on gas that cornering faster
than a crawl made it stall.  Typical is 12 gallons.

Definitely talk to the weights and measures people.

Filling to the brim tends to waste gas and aggravate air pollution - all
for your personal convenience? Sounds like being a walking "tragedy
of the commons".

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

Gas expands when it is warmed from ground temperature to auto temperature,
expands, and overflows. In addition, more gas is left in the nozzle and
dribbles out or overflows (one cannot fill to the brim without leaving
extra gas in the nozzle). Hydrocarbon vapors in the atmosphere provide
one  reactant for the formation of ozone smog. The high ozone levels 
being reported this summer are mostly due to spilled gasoline. 

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.

You  still lose gas because of the dribbling from the nozzle if it
is not fully drained when removed.

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.

If you get into the habit of topping off, are you going to measure the
gas temperature and the ambient temperature, and do the calculation
to determine if and when and how much gas will be lost? I simplify
all this by stopping filling once the cutoff cuts off (though some
don't shut off.....but that is  a problem whatever habit you
use). 

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.

If you had been paying attention, you would have noticed that I identified
gas not fully drained from the nozzle after topping up is a significant
part of the problem. 

And you also failed to pay attention to the fact that the situation is
highly variable and your fine calculation in #17 does not always
represent the real situation. For example, you might not get in the
car right away and drive off to burn off the extra fuel you foolishly
put in your tank, for any number of reasons, such as slipping and breaking
your leg, suddenly  having diarrea, being hit by a truck pulling into
the station, your companion insisting you stop there for dinner, or
engine failure. 

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

(That's covered under diarrhea.)

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

Ooooo... jealosy.

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

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