Filling up your gas tank

Gas prices are climbing due to the fact they have listed gasoline on the commodity market so spectators can now drive gas prices up even when the cost of a barrel of oil falls.

Have you ever tried to force more fuel into your car after the pump clicked off?  If you do this it will cost you more money.  Gas pumps are now equipped with a feature that pulls excess gas back into the original underground holding tank.  So you try to force more fuel in, the excess will flow back and you get to pay for the gas you don't even get to keep.  About 2/3rds of this forced fill up fuel goes back into the underground holding tank.  And if that isn't bad enough here's what happens to the rest of it:  The gas comes into your tank cold and as you start to drive it warms up and expands.  So all the gas you tried to force into the tank is now backing up and spilling out onto the ground as it warms up and expands.

So trying to force more gas into the tank isn't such a good idea.  There are things you can do to improve you gas mileage.  #1 is making sure your tires are properly inflated.  You should check your tire pressure at least every 2 weeks.  #2  Reduce the weight.  Make sure you keep your emergency supplies, etc but if you tend to haul around half your bedroom or garage clean it out!  #3 Try not to haul things on the outside of your vehicle.   #4 Make sure you have good wiper blades.  Ok, this might sound silly here but if you have bad wiper blades then you can't see as well and you end up slamming on the brakes more often to get stopped because you couldn't see something in time.  Keeping your vehicle maintained in general will improve you mileage as the car isn't having to work harder to keep running.   Always keep you vehicle at least half full.  In a power failure they can't pump gasoline so if you keep it half full you should be able to get to where you need to be.

I hope this helps you save a little at the pump!
Cherlynn
brchbell@yahoo.com