I put in just over 10.4 gallons last night, seeing how the manual says we have a 10.6 gallon tank, i was cutting it close

 

10.22 is the most I've put in. AVG'd 39.6mpg that tank.

~SB

 

I've put 10.6 gallons on several occasions. That filled the tank until the dispenser handle 'clicked' off on its own. I never add more gas after the handle clicked off the first time.

 

Here are a couple of pictures that I took to remind me how much my '07 GD3 can drink when pushed 50 miles passed the low fuel light warning:



This picture shows the most that I've dispensed at one time (that I have a visual record of):



I typically travel ~450 per tank on ~12.5 gallons

 

How do you get over 11+ gals in there if GDs only have 10.8 gal tanks?

 

Great question, and I could be wrong but I thought we had 10.8 gallons plus 1 gal reserve. As in the gauge can be at the far side of empty and still have a gallon left.. even then how do you manage 13?

Is this something you do routinely at any gas station you pull into?

Or just one in particular that you always use? That would tell us whether or not the pump is actually giving you 13.x gallons.

Though maybe going from running on vapors to filling past the filler neck all the way to the cap you could put in ~13?

 

up the filler tube!

I pumped 10.55 gal once (GE)... I could've sworn I was driving on fumes at that point.

 

For the first two years, I thought 10.5 gallons was putting in a lot of fuel. My brother also has a GD3. He kept telling me that after the pump clicks off, he would put in another 1-2 gallons more. One day I tried it. Sure enough, I was able to put in ~2 more gallons.
He noted that doing so was the only way to more accurately check one's mpg. I have since been practicing this ritual. Besides giving me a more accurate mileage reading, I am able to travel ~70 miles more between tanks. I do a lot of driving, so this saves me a few less fill ups per month.

 

The thing about the MPG as plenty have noted... regardless of how you fill up or how "accurate" a single mpg calculation is... it averages out over time.

no matter that you stop at the click... or after another gallon or two... if you drive for a month, you're gonna go through the same amount of gas (well, ever so slightly less if you stopped at the click, less weight and all). so if you take the odo difference for the month and divide that by the total gas pumped in all the receipts, it'll be more accurate than a single tank.

of course, it'll be truer the longer the time period.... 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, etc.

This is of course, because you assume you are getting exactly the amount of gas the receipt says you are. And if you don't think you are, well, then your SOL.

 

I've always been under the impression that overfilling a gas tank was a BAD THING. The Fit owners manual warns against it but doesn't get into specific problems it can cause.

 

i can't say i know what the reason is, but i think it has to do with the vapor capture/"recovery" system.

google!!! Filling Up - Tank capacity and "topping off" - Honda Pilot - Honda Pilot Forums

 

Indeed! It is easier and safer to simply average out your mpg over time.Filling up to the very top is bad for the car,and you run the risk of spilling fuel on the car or ground.

 

Goobers, I agree with everything that you said, however, I was referring to the mpg accuracy of "each" tank. I guess that I should have stated that the calculated mpg for "each" tank is more accurate when the tank is filled in this manner. I keep an on-going record of mpg. This helps me decide whether my mods/driving techniques are helping or hurting fuel consumption.

As for the charcoal canister/vapor recovery system, IDK??? I've been doing this for nearly 2 years now. I figured it was okay, since my brother has been doing this since he got his car back in '07. BTW, I keep in mind that I only fill when I know that I am going to burn off at least 20 or so miles right after fueling.

 

And I said:

The problem with basing it on a single tank... tank to tank varies.

Did you fill it up the a flip out cover? Did you fill it to a millimeter closer? or or further?

You assume that you can eyeball something that can easily change. what if your car was tilted to one side ever so slightly during one pump... and tilted the other why during another pump? Did you fill it up the same amount? Even at a given gas station, the whole area isn't completely level... one spot can be higher than another (mostly due to ground settling). Rarely do people stop at the exact same spot, even when they go to the same pump number at the same station. level floor and exact air pressure in tires... how often do you check those? at every pump?

If you want "accuracy" it'll have to be over multiple tanks. One tank is fine if you want "an idea" of what the mpg is.

Look at Mythbusters, they've shown that, to measure the gas usage, they made separate tanks that had visual indicators (with measurement lines) and later on, weigh-able tanks... and STILL, did it over multiple tanks.

btw, you may have thought that you implied the accuracy of one tank... but you did not. You only stated accuracy of the mpg.

I take "one's" to refer to the person. As if you said "driver's."

"20 or so" miles is less than a gallon... if you really hypermill, less than half. you added 2 gallons. 20 miles is 2/3 of a gallon for me (since I get about 30 mpg), so, I'd have to drive 60 miles to burn off that "extra" gas. I also add gas after the click, but my reasons aren't for accuracy. Its just to push the total to just a penny more than a dollar (this whole BofA keep the change thing). I don't bother if the cents part is less than 25. from there, up to 60 cents, I'm hesitant. After 60, I push it until I see ".01". With gas prices at over $3 per gallon, that comes up to less than 1/6th of a gallon... hopefully acceptable to those that say you shouldn't pump after the click, but admittedly, still quite a bit.

 

Ok Goobers, you win...you are right again...I give up! Yes, many factors affect mileage, I understand that. This is merely my simple way of testing each tankful of fuel on a tank to tank, day to day basis, using my car, for my own personal knowledge.
I am no Hyper-miler, I don't have the skill or patience to do so. I do however like to know what my maximum cruising range is per tank, when driven the way that I like to drive. I guess this is just the "game" that I play everyday since I commute so much.
I prefer to support local businesses, therefore I try to tank up as much as I can when I am in my area. I frequently push the cruising range limits a bit to far, hence the big numbers at the pump.

 

Why would this be? Honest question, as I can't see a difference between stopping when it stops by itself, squeezing in an extra click or two or squeezing in a whole extra gallon or two.

Unless I'm missing something you just have to always do the same thing.

 

I've found this site to be helpful with tracking my fuel mileage.

Fuelly | Share and Compare Your MPG

 

MPG's are an average that should reflect the type of car you're driving, when [season] and where you're driving and the way you are driving it.

Mine are not the same as yours, but on the average they will be close if we both drive the same make/model/year.

Daily computations are, IMHO, a bit obsessive and not really telling you anything. It's the average over time that gives the most useful info.
When I want to compute I do a three tank average by the numbers, starting and ending at the same station/pump.
I do not reset the on-board during the run and I use my Garmin EccoHD as an independent third party check.
For me, that's obsessive enough_

Other times I just show the trip miles and keep an eye on the gas gauge and fagetaboutit

 

Any problems surfacing with the EcoRoute? I still haven't been able to get mine working and Garmin is absolutely no use whatever... :-(

 

weeladie - funny you should ask. This fall I took the FIT to south Florida and back to northern Maine, repeating the Maine trip a few times. On my journey south the Garmin would unexplainably re-boot every so often during long drives. The EcoRoute performed flawlessly. Upon getting home I went on-line to Garmin and saw where the re-boot issue was a known flaw and up-dated the firmware.

From then on the EcoRoute never connected. I just had done 6k miles without a hitch [cept the reboot thing and that never interupted he trip data or the ecoroute connection].

I call Garimin and you know how that goes, anyway, they agree to swapping both units and sent me free UPS shipping labels. As of now, all is fine. I did have my daughters Yaris for a week over the holidays and took the chance of hooking the set up to it. All went smooth, only when I shut down the Yaris [leaving both units plugged in] it refused to see the Ecoroute upon start-up, I needed to reconnect each time.

You know there's a reset on the EcoRoute unit, but no info on how to use it... rather lame, really not ready for prime time.

On the FIT it went right back on with a re-connect and is working well. I will not 'up-date' anything and hope for the best.

I trust the MPG out-put, though it and the onboard and running the numbers all show something different I'm thinking it really isn't a big deal, they all are withing 1.4 MPG and I can't get too excited about averages.

I was prepared to contact Garmin again if I saw issues and demand my money be returned for they really seem to have issues with these. So, I suggest calling again [call early, like 8AM] and go through it and let them know it's not working and it's their problem - NOT YOURS.

Think I mentioned to you their corp HQ is Grand Cayman Island. Tells you who's interests they are protecting.

BTW happy new year