What's the worst thing that could happen!?!?

[Dan]

Well aside from something puts my life and limb in peril?

OK... today Dan's Prius told Dan "ding" (time to fill up). I obliged at my friendly neighborhood Walmart. Put the nozel in and set it to the lowest auto fill rate (heard this gives you a better fill on a Prius). Let the pump do it's buisness and I buisilly worked on calibrating my new ScanGuage and recording my tank data.

MISTAKE!!

Aperrently autofill on Pump 6 at Walmart #7054 is a bit flaky. Dan's Prius firgured it out, but Dan was still busy getting data off his new ScanGuage. Eventually I noticed the uncharicteristc humming coming from my left rear quarter panel. I stand up and look at the pump

$#&@!*@$%&!

I navigated through the gurgling pump force feeding Dan's Prius much more than it cared to drink at that time. When I finally got the pump shut off, it had despenced 13.038 gallons. I have pretty good record of how much gas Dan's Prius should have recieved. Best I can figure, that was 4 gal 26.1989 oz of gas down the quarter panel and across the pavement.

Now comes the fun part. I decides that Walmart should flip the tab for the 4 gallons of gas.... I go and inform the Manager that Pump 6 his having a bit of trouble. I point to the puddle of gas and noted the 13.038 gallons listed on the pump and my receipt. I then informed her that was overkill by at least 3 gallons (figured the neck might of got some of it, and I didn't want to overstate my point). Well apparently all cars in the US have 15-20 gallon tanks, since this was the professional opinion of the manager. Furthermore the puddle of rapidly evaporating gas was only 1 to 2 gallons, as the manager further assured me that 4 gallons of gas makes a more distinctive and recognizable puddle than 1-2.

This is where Dan goes a little batty. I pop the trunk, power up the laptop, pull out the manual and commence to convince her through gas logs and Toyota documentation that this was indeed a 3 gallon puddle that simply shared many of the characteristics of a 1-2 gallon puddle.

This succeeded in two key points. 1) Solidified me in her mind as an absolute lunitic that need to be sent on his way, and 2) Put the flowers and chocolate that I bought for my wife for our Anniversary back into the forefront of my mind. Now Dan and Walmart #7054 manager both want Dan to be sent quickly on his way. A bit of haggling later, and Dan is in possesion of a ratty 5 dollar bill fresh from the Walmart register!

It was only on the drive home that I recalled some of the words muttered by the manager as I was digging up documentation and launching spreadsheets.

"Can't be 3 gallons. If it's 3 gallons we have to shut down and call the fire department"

Sorry guys for not sticking to my guns and yeilding to a take-the-money-and-run moment, but as I said... I had flowers and chocolate to deliver.

All in all... that puddle represented 5% of Dan's Prius life time gas consumption.

11011011

[xcel]

Hi Dan:

___I am really sorry to hear what happened to you today. I think you should step it up to the next level as not only does the extra 3 - 4 gallons dumped to the ground kill any chance of accuracy, gasoline by itself has to be one of the most polluting chemicals on earth. Walmart needs to get that pump fixed On this one, I would use your display and divide by the miles to get a semi-accurate gallons filled. I am sure you will be watching your next few fills like a hawk because of it ...

___I would have been absolutely livid and it sounds like you held your composure quite well!

___Good Luck

___Wayne

[BailOut]

Dan,

I know your pain, bruddah!

I stick to the top-tier fuels but my Father-in-law still goes for the cheap stuff no matter what information I give him. As such he wanted to go to the local Wal-Mart's pumps when it was his turn to top off the boat.

I even made him put the little fuel bib on the handle because sometimes a little drip comes out at the end. He set it on the highest fill rate, like any of us would have done.

I started messing around in the bed of the truck with something and he had walked around the other side of the pump to get a squeegee. After a while I hear an odd sound, like a water fountain behind the boat. I turn my head and see a gush of gasoline heading backwards at the rear of the boat. I run back there and see the pump handle still in the fill hole, the handle still set to max rate, and gasoline shooting right back out of the filler.

I flipped the pump's lever to shut it off but the damage was done. There was gasoline everywhere. The swim platform was buried in the stuff, it was leaking down from in between the transom and platform, there was a boat-sized puddle on the asphalt, etc.

I called the attendant over to show her the mess and she gave me that look... "What do you want me to do about it?". The more I explained the fault of their pump the more distracted she got. When I told her we shouldn't have to pay for the couple of post-full gallons that were spread all over she mumbled something under her breath, without ever making eye contact, about being on camera, giving our license plate to the local Police, theft of services, etc.

The only good news is that this was the impetus my Father-in-law needed to finally stop using this place, and he got himself a Shell Mastercard the next week (the one that gives fuel rebates).

[hobbit]

Hopefully you didn't push a lot of gas into places it
shouldn't go, like all the evap hardware... in some
cases that's cause for replacing an entire tank and all
the [non-serviceable] ancillaries that go inside it.
Which wal-fart should pick up the tab for if their pumps
are truly that upgefukt.
.
_H*

[JimboK]

Originally Posted by Dan

"Can't be 3 gallons. If it's 3 gallons we have to shut down and call the fire department"

Maybe you should have called the FD. Then you could say, "The fire department's here so it must have been at least 3 gallons."

Seriously, that fuel spill is a legitimate hazard and would justify calling the FD.

[brick]

I would definitely report the incident to whatever authority oversees this kind of thing. Report the manager's actions, too.

[Dan]

Originally Posted by hobbit

Hopefully you didn't push a lot of gas into places it
shouldn't go, like all the evap hardware... in some
cases that's cause for replacing an entire tank and all
the [non-serviceable] ancillaries that go inside it.
Which wal-fart should pick up the tab for if their pumps
are truly that upgefukt.

Yes, I'm actually pretty concerned about that... it crossed my mind. Any suggestions on how to test for failures of this nature? Do you think the dealer would have a clue about this kind of stuff, or would they totally blow me off in an attempt not to have to service a possible warranty issue. Probably post on PC from some Prius specific Q&A on this one this morning as well.

Originally Posted by JimboK

Maybe you should have called the FD. Then you could say, "The fire department's here so it must have been at least 3 gallons."

Seriously, that fuel spill is a legitimate hazard and would justify calling the FD.

Yep, I'll write a letter. Since I took money and left, it's hard for me to make too federal a case out of it after the fact. The thought of calling HazMAT or FD crossed my mind, but of all things, my phone was dead as a post. There really is no way of knowing how much gas it is, since I'll never how how much air is in a "normal-fill". Certainly not 4 gallons.

Any suggestions from CleanMPG members on what agency to report the spill to?

11011011

[psyshack]

The lesson here is not to start the pump and walk away.

I had a pump do this back in the leaded gas days. And it was a jet pump on top of that. Some stations claimed faster fill rates. I must have dumped 10 gallons on the ground. The station didn't charge me for the fuel. But did suggest if I want to go to the bathroom while my car is filling. Pull into the full service lane.

I would contact wal-mart concerning the issue.

psy

[TonyPSchaefer]

Well, in my opinion, the worse that could happen is that you dispensed as much smog forming emissions in 3 gallons of spilled gasoline as driving a Prius II for 1,152,000 miles (46.262 trips around the Earth at the Equator) [1].

Then again, it wouldn't surprise me if some large vehicles emit that much sitting at a stoplight.


[1]
Driving the Prius 24,000 miles emits as much smog forming emissions as one cup of gasoline.
There are 16 cups in one gallon; 48 cups in three gallons.
48 * 24,000 = 1,152,000.

[Chuck]

That very easily could have been me.

If we do a poll on how you fill the car - I'd have to fess up and say I tend to overfill.