Forums Forums Enthusiast Forums A - Z Autowirral How to put petrol in your car

Most people have put instructions for difficult things, but what if you have just passed your test, you are giving everyone a lift in your car and you need petrol, but you dont want to look stupid standing at a petrol station becuase you have never filled a car with petrol.

First thing is first, is your car petrol or diesel? Usually, around our area, the green indicates unleaded petrol and black indicates diesel and LPG (Gas) is clearly marked.

Secondly, make sure you are aware which side your fuel cap is on. alot of european cars tend to have their fuel caps on the drivers side, so make sure you park next to the pump on the right side.

Third, depending on the car you need to open your fuel cap. Some cars have levers by the seat which opens the cover and reveals a screw top fuel cap. Some cars have fuel covers that require you to open them pressing a button or pulling the cover in the grooves revealing a fuel cap that needs opening with a key.
The variations in how you open these caps differ from car to car. some are very simple, and you just turn the key (like you would do opening a car door)
Some of them turn with the key
Some of them you have to turn and push in (like the ford fiesta)
Some of them are complete pains and require alot of effort.

Insert the pump into the hole, at first you may notice nothing will come out, don't remove the pump as it is just resetting itself, you may also notice that during this time the pump display unit clicks and resets all counters to zero.

Press the lever on the pump and keep it pressed, after a few seconds you will hear the petrol come out.

There are 2 ways to fill your car with fuel, 1 is to fill it to the brim. In this case keep an eye on your car and make sure the petrol doesn't overflow (more petrol pumps have sensors on to prevent this)
One way is to put x amount of petrol in, this can be tricky and even drivers that have been on the road for years tend to go over by a few pence, so make sure you have at least 50p spare just to be safe.

When finished, depress the handle, and wait for the excess petrol to come out, a little shake at this point might be useful. remove the pump from the car and place back on the stand (use a paper towel to remove any petrol that might of dripped on cars paint work)

Place the fuel cap back on the car (if it is a keyone, make sure it is locked. if it is a screw top one, make sure you turn it till it clicks once)

LOCK YOUR CAR!

go to the kiosk and pay for your fuel, ignore all the overpriced sweets

What is the difference between fuel from shell and BP?

Essentially no difference at all, but it can sometimes differ in quality.

The end!

Just to add to that, the fuel cap is normally on the opposite side to the exhaust, though you still need to know which side your exhaust is on, and your fecked if you have a middle exit lol

thats a quality post for some light amuzement,

May i also add that when you park up to put petrol or diesel into your car that it is standard forecourt regulations to have your handbrake on and also your engine and mobile fone swithed off.

apparently your engine and fone can cause sparks....

the mobile phone thing is apparently a myth,the phone issue is about the microwave radiation heating the fuel vapour particles in the air (u can see the fuel vapour if u look at the nozzle as ur pumping)

However,i highly doubt this,but i wouldnt put my phone in the vapour for any amount of money

This is a myth that was proved wrong sometime last year, I remember hearing something on Radio 4 (dont ask ) about it and there was a huge amount of tests done by an independent company funded by Exxon and Shell and they found that there was absolutely no chance at all of a mobile phone sparking fuel vapours.

However, although there is no chance, almost all petrol stations have signs advising of no mobile phones etc, so the best thing is to just obey them and save any hassle.

which is why i put "forecourt regulations" and not if u go near a pump with your fone ull turn into a ball of flames and die
we all know that the biggest spark wud come from you turning your engine over anyway!

tres bien! ce la vie

I seen an interesting experiment on myth busters on the good old discovery channel.

They proved that the actual mobile is as safe as anything, and contrary to the myth
it was the spark from static that was causing the infernos...

It was happening to more women than men,
and what they found was that the women were more lightly to sit back in the car whilest waiting for the petrol to fill up.

Note : In the states they can set the limit and lock the fuel flow on.

So whilst waiting there nylon or synthetic clothes would rub on the seats, same for the men,
but when the man got out the car again he would grab the top of the door and discharge the static.

where as the woman would not touch any metal,
they would either leave the door open or not touch any metal.
So when they grab the fuel pump "Static" Spark and woosh

lol thanks for the guide hehe

what they are getting at is that if a fault occured in the fone it may cause a spark therefore an ignition source. under normal operating conditions of the fone the fone is as safe as houses but under fault conditions it could cause problems. where i work they have the same rules as the phones could cause a spark if they are goosed.
i think this is right

Incorrect!
Iv seen that MythBusters and believed it too but my dad assures me its incorrect. His line of business includes radio masts, pagers, cameras everything - Some of the organisations he has to deal with request special types of pagers etc that can insulated to prevent a static shock for the very reason it can act as a ignition.

Was good TV tho