Splash Back

[F 447]

Hello Guys, As you may know I have a Montego Diesel Saloon. Sometimes when I fill her up with fuel, I get a little splash back from the filler neck. I do hold the filler nozzle in as far as it will go and try to hold it up even further, so it clicks off as early as poss.
Anybody else got this problem? Is there something wrong?, or is it a trait of the Montego Saloon? Thanks in advance.

[Beaker]

A little splash back is far less that what I get.

If you don't keep an eye on my maestro it spits more out than goes in :censored: I find the trick is to hold the pump as far up as possible and to fill it as slow as possible.

[talkingcars]

The only maestro or monty I have owned that didn't do theis was my van.

I also lift the pump handle so the sensor tube is resting against the filler tube and as I get close to full slow down to a trickle.

James

[MGTurbo]

My Maestro used to do it but the Monty TD doesnt unless you deliberatly brim it, very odd.

Gareth

[malcsmaesty]

This happens about 90% of the time i fill my TD up:rage:

[F 447]

;) Thanks Guys, at least its not something else I've got to fix. Just have to carry a bucket of sand with me when I go to fill up.:D

[Ricky]

I work in a petrol station, and it never ceases to amaze me how many people rely on that cut out to fill their car up with! The problem with it is that it just isnt 100% reliable, I personally wouldnt trust it as far as I can throw it! I have to admit, I have never had a problem with splashback in either the 309 or the maestro, they usually cut out before, but you can (especially in the peugeot) hear the fuel coming up the filler neck pipe so that you know when to ease off.
However, I would like to point out too that the cut out system doesnt work very well when you stretch the nozzle over the car (fill on the wrong side), no matter how many signs tescos put up to tell you to use both sides, in fact I don't think I have ever seen ours work when the nozzle is stretched over the car, so this practice is definitely not recommended!
Also, it depends on the individual using the pump - I recollect a case a few weeks back where i just happened to be on the forecourt and a man driving a car from a german marque that is usually associated with blatant arrogance and general t**tishness ignored the cut out twice and ended up with a good 5 litres of derv all over him and the car, and had the cheek to blame the pumps!:laugh:
On the whole, however, we get far more complaints about the pumps cutting out before the car is full than we do about splashback, but with some cars this is apparently a design feature, this complaint seems rather common with 89-95 Rover 2/400's, amongst other things.....

Ricky.

[F 447]

;) Sorry Ricky, I understand your frustration, with people relying on the click off. But, maybe my car is different, because the difference between hearing the fuel coming up the filler neck and click off is a nano second. On my car there is like a slight delay then the tidal wave spurts out, luckily only at a guess a quarter of a pint in quantity.

[E_T_V]

Our 214 is excellent and only cuts out once it is full. The maestro cuts out all the time and when it is actually full it cuts out as expected then spits fuel all over you after the pump has stopped. Damn car. Its like feeding a child.

[e692wtt]

Feeding a child? I can't recall trying to convince my Monty that Brussel Sprouts are, in fact, Baby Cabbages and then have him hate me 5 years later...:laugh:

Anyway, my Monty's filler pipe is terminally corroded (I knew there was a problem when the forecourt manager pointed out the expanding lake of fuel under Monty...:o as I paid up) and is currently patched up with fibreglass using a wooden skewer to provide a ventilation hole, after removal, when the fibreglass dried out... and a reeplacement is at hand and just needs fitting. I fill up slowly and have no blowback when the tank is more than half full, but it takes 5 minutes...

Seriously, experiment with the angle of the filler nozzle and how far you put it in the filler pipe. When you know the tank is 'nearly full' ease off the handle on the fuel nozzle to give the remaining fuel vapour a chance to escape - for example, after the nozzle handle has tripped once (although you will need to experiment to find the optimum angle for getting away with this...).

I find that putting the nozzle in 'nearly all the way' and letting it 'rest' as it falls, so to speak, is a good starting point.

Hope this helps...:banghead:

[Ricky]

Oh don't get me wrong, I understand entirely, it's just interesting that no one ever seems to complain about it! It's understandable a little bit of splashback is going to occur on some cars, it just hacks me off when it cuts out and then people decide that actually "my car cant possibly be full i havent put enough in" and thus liberally douse the forecourt in slippery diesel, which then annoys our forecourt cleaner when he has to clear up bournemouth beach over on pump 12!!
I could go on for ever about the frustrations of that job, most things arise from sheer ignorance, I will list a few so you can avoid them!

1) "Forgetting" your wallet so therefore not having means to pay for fuel - petrol stations are the only shops I can think of where you can still leave with produce even if you have no means of payment! The amount of people that don't come back to pay after filling out one of our forms is amazing - we've had three in the past week, for which only one has been bought back!

2) People who forget their pump number or just don't look - not so bad when it's quiet, but when its busy it can be a nightmare, especially when training new staff who don't know how to tell which petrol is which.....

3) People who put the wrong stuff in thier car - duh! how is this possible? The nozzles are all different sizes, but even that doesnt stop some people, eg. the lorry driver who decided to put 100 litres of lrp into his lorry........

As I said, errors are fine, it's just the bareface ignorance i can't understand!!!

Ricky.

[e692wtt]

That's what's so great about the great british public (and I work with them daily, on the phones)...

Be careful about making things foolproof, you can never underestimate a complete fool!!!

With approximate apologies to the late Douglas Adams, writer of The Hitch Hikers' Guide... :laugh: