Chiark

Who's encouraging panic buying? My tank is currently 1/3 full and by end of play on Friday it will be nearly empty. So I will fill it up then.

I know there will probably be a rush over the weekend so I will fill up on Friday night and avoid big queues on Saturday/Sunday.

To avoid panic buying is one thing - if you don't do many miles during the week, but if you need petrol over the weekend sometime, it might be better to get it on Friday to avoid the usual Sat/Sun queues (which will probably be worse this weekend due to panic buyers).

Edited due to bad spelling.... DOH!

[This message has been edited by AWD (edited 09 November 2000).]

 

Just read this on the Autoexpress site. I have edited the text so that it is no longer a direct quote from them.


Garages are reporting record numbers of cars being booked in with engine problems. Since the blockades finally broke, drivers have complained of poor performance and even total breakdown.

Service centres across the country have recorded much more work to clean out clogged carburettors and fuel injection units (up by 300-400%).

Possible reasons:

Silt has been stirred from the bottom of forecourt tanks running dry.

People are running their cars until the silt in their own fuel tanks goes through their engines.

Edited due to bad spelling...

[This message has been edited by AWD (edited 09 November 2000).]

 

****e, I better get down that garage now before all the muppets start queueing up tommorow in anticipation of next wednesdays fuel protest. Still probably have to refuel again on tuesday, bloody fuel consumption!

Cheers
Trev.

 

After the pre-budget announcement, and the reaction of the strikers looks like it's going to be on again - so I'll be filling up over the weekend - might do it on Friday actually and try to miss the big weekend rush.

 

I heard this morning on the news that the protestors had agreed to postpone any action until after Christmas (although the go-slow lorry blockade is apparantly still on).

Chris

 

NOOOOO! NO! This is exactly what the government want people to do!

There will apparently be no blockades, and apparently nothing going to be "on again".

For sanity's sake, don't panic buy! The major protest leaders are saying there will be no blockade as they know that they won't get public support - they're not stupid. Neither is the chancellor.

Please don't encourage people to panic buy or start unfounded rumours. It takes little to no information to start a rumour which can empty this country - all the car tanks in the UK hold more than the petrol forecourts in the UK...

 

Just taken a fuel filter off a badly running car. Full of ****

 

AWD: I wasn't meaning to point fingers! This thread is exceptionally useful!

However, Trev's comment could set a tone for panic buying again. Given that half a comment on a Welsh program was traced as the source of a panic last time, and given the power of Scoobynet, I was concerned at where this thread was going.

Sorry Trev, I'm not meaning to point a finger and I know where you're coming from, but all it takes is a few "me toos" and, before you know it, the whole of scoobynet is filling up. Rest of the country sees all the Subarus filling up and decides they want some of it too. (gross exaggeration, but you see the point...)

Back to the original point of the thread

I had a renault 19 16v that ran like a dog for three tanks after the place I bought it off let it run out of fuel once. It cleared itself.

From Pete Croney's comment (& the original post from AWD), it sounds like there's plenty of evidence that a fuel filter may need changing if something's running like a dog...

Once again, chiark chucks his oar in where it's not particularly helpful

 

I find it hard to beleive that cars are getting clogged up with sludge from the fuel tanks on petrol stations.

Ok, so you may get a slight build up on the bottom of a tank, over say 20 years, but even so, there are saftey measures built into a underground storage tank that prevent contamination entering the vehicle.

Any so called contamination will sit on the bottom of the tank, the internal suction pipe sits about 4-5 inches from the bottom of the tank so even when the pump stops dispensing fuel there is still a hell of a lot of product in the tank, also there are deflector plates on the bottom of the pipes, these are not put there to stop fuel being sucked from the base of the tank, but to stop a surge of fuel going up the suction and pressurising the air seperator on the pump.

Anyway, how does *sludge* get in there. The tank has to be airtight in everyway. The only time a tank is open to atmosphere is when the pump is dispensing, a non return valve opens on the vent stack and allows air in , to prevent a vacume. Even when a tanker is filling the tanks all vapours are recovered and sent back into the tanker.

IMHO i would say people are jumping to conclusions and blowing it all out of proportion.

Anyway thought i`d have my say. Bet you cant geuss what i do for a job

Cheers

Paul

 

erm, you suck right down to the bottom of fuel tanks and lick them clean and dry with your tongue?

Its never good practice to drive your car right off the bottom of the gauge

[This message has been edited by sunilp (edited 09 November 2000).]

 

I agree with Sunil - I always fill the car up before it reaches the 'yellow light' stage.

I wonder if it is deposits in the bottom of the cars fuel tank that are being dragged through rather than sediment drawn from the petrol station? Especially as people have been trying to eek out every last mile from their petrol and therefore running the tank to almost dry.

Chris

 

just fixed a friends cavalier (no konis )
with suspected knackered fuel pump, symptoms were engine would die when sufficient load applied i.e. 2500 RMP or second gear engaged - turned out just to be a semi blocked fuel filter.

It should be alright to empty your tank as the filter will stop the crap getting to the injectors (but you might have to change the filter more often). But if you run her dry regularly you help to prevent the build up of silt in the bottom of the tank