Not too high, not too low - Drawbacks to overfilling, running gas tank too low

Chad Bryan, Gleaner Writer

With ever-rising fuel costs, many motorists choose to 'top off' at gas stations with lower prices, filling up past the pump's automatic shut-off point when the vehicle's gas tank is full. On the other hand, there are those who find it difficult to buy fuel and often drive around with the low-gas warning light on.

Several websites discourage motorists from the former. Scott Siegel, writing on ApproveArticles.com, advises that most service stations have a vapour-recovery system. So when the gasolene is topped off it either evaporates or spills on to the ground, causing the motorist to spend for petrol not going into the tank.

Fuel expanding

He also added that overfilling the gas tank may result in the fuel expanding and heading to other sections of the car, such as the vapour-collections system, which may cause a foul-up.

However, president of the Jamaica Gasolene Retailers Association, Derrick Thompson, says that topping off could be advantageous, both to the retailer and to the motorists.

"This is both to the motorists and retailers' benefit because it is obvious that the motorist can take more gas, and it's more sales. It is a sales strategy, which benefits the retailer and obviously the customers, as they get something for it," he said.

Errol 'Boomer' Murray, who has been a mechanic for over 10 years, explained that topping off does not damage the car's mechanisms.

"There is no damage internally, really. The only thing that would happen is that some of the gas would run over the car causing it to burn the colour or paint of the car," he said.

Serious damage

Both Thompson and Murray say that running the vehicle with the low-fuel warning light on, could cause serious damage.

"It is bad for the car. It damages the pumps and injectors. It can also send debris to the throttle body of the car. It is best for one to drive with quarter tank or more," Murray said.

And Thompson confirmed that "because when you get to the bottom of the fuel tank - and there is debris in your fuel tank, always, no matter how hard you try - your fuel pump starts sucking up the debris. Then you might lose the fuel pump. You will have a blocked fuel pump, which will damage your engine at some point."