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Original poster

To wonder how many people know about this? (car related)

72 replies

CrohnicallyCold · 04/02/2015 13:12

I found this out yesterday and couldn't believe that I never knew about it before!

Do you ever drive into a petrol station and forget which side your petrol cap is on? Maybe you just bought it, or are borrowing a car for some reason and didn't think to check.

If you look at the fuel gauge, there is a picture of a petrol pump and next to it there's an arrow. The arrow shows you which side your fuel cap is on. Simples!

Am I the only person in the world that didn't know that, and it was all a conspiracy to keep it from me and laugh when I pull up on the wrong side of the pump? Or is it a little known fact?

OP posts:
WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes · 04/02/2015 13:55

I've been reaching over with an assortment of cars for 30 years too, it did used to be the case that you had to position yourself carefully to do it, whereas you don't now. I didn't know about this till a few years ago but both our current cars have digital gauges and don't have the arrows.

paxtecum · 04/02/2015 13:57

I love how some people think they know everything.
Shatner: Some garages here have signs asking you not to try to stretch the hose to the far side of the vehicle because they will not reach.

NancyJones · 04/02/2015 13:57

All hides stretch. All of them.
Don't try and stretch it over the top of the car. Park slightly forward of the nozzle and drag hose around the back. You need to pull it from it's holder though. If you just take it out and start trying to walk around it will jam (like a seatbelt does) making you think it can't reach any further. You need to stretch it from the holder. Unless you petrol pumps are pre 1970 then it will stretch.

Blatherskite · 04/02/2015 13:58

Mine doesn't have an arrow but the little petrol pump icon has the hose on the right side to remind me.

NancyJones · 04/02/2015 13:58

Paxtecom, my BIL designs them. All modern hoses stretch unless your garage has done something to them.

WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes · 04/02/2015 14:00

I just walk round with them, never had one jam, I didn't know they did that.

CrazyTights · 04/02/2015 14:01

My car doesn't have the pump picture, and the pumps at the local garage don't reach over - they say they do but when you use it the like that the pump keeps cutting out. It's a new garage, it's only been open 3 months.

Also, has anybody found that some pumps repeatedly cut out - I wonder if it's ones that used to be leaded petrol pumps and have been converted??

hestialou · 04/02/2015 14:02

Never knew this and cant wait to get home to check.... But then first time I filled up car i had to get attendant to help me take cap off( there isn't one...it only accepts diesel nozzle so you don't put petrol in?!?)

ShatnersBassoon · 04/02/2015 14:05

I love how some people think they know everything.

To be fair, I think I know all there is to know about putting fuel in a car, I don't think I know everything.

acatcalledjohn · 04/02/2015 14:06

Not sure if my car has it.

However, this has reminded me of the time a couple of years ago when I pulled in to a petrol station, seeing a well dressed woman pulling and yanking on her petrol cap. She really did put some welly in to the yanking. It was a BMW 1 series (clearly not on its first trip as it was filthy). I thought: the silly cow has locked her car, hasn't she. So I called over to her and asked her if she had indeed locked her car. "Yes, why?" Well, you'll probably find that unlocking the car will also unlock your petrol cap.

My suggestion worked and she thanked me, saying she probably would have broken it had I not pointed this out Hmm

Dumbledoresgirl · 04/02/2015 14:08

If the pump repeatedly cuts out - according to the guy who taught me car maintenance, admittedly over 20 years ago now - it is because you are sticking the nozzle too far down inside the car. I don't honestly know if that is true, but it seems to work for me if I get a pump cutting out, I simply pull the nozzle away from the car a bit.

paxtecum · 04/02/2015 14:12

Some of us live in areas where the filling stations that have 'antique' pumps.

SorchaN · 04/02/2015 14:13

My car doesn't have this, but I've never forgotten which side the fuel goes in! Probably because every car I've ever driven has the cap on the right. I've also never misfuelled, although some of my diesel-driving friends have. I didn't know that you can still drive a diesel engine after putting petrol in it (as long as it's not too much), until my brother told me; whereas I've been told if you put diesel in a petrol car you'd better not even start the engine. I have a green car, so I remember to use the green hose!

Dumbledoresgirl · 04/02/2015 14:14

That's why I asked pp where they lived. I am prepared to believe there are still antique pumps in use in some places. They would have to be older than 30 years though.

SoupDragon · 04/02/2015 14:18

it doens't really matter - the hoses are long enough!

Not all of them are.

And before some smart arse accuses me of not knowing how to use them or parking my car too far away, the petrol station employee came out and told me not to try and make it reach because they weren't designed to do that. I could not have been parked closer without parking on top of the little island the pump sits on.

My local Tesco, OTOH, has hoses that reach down from the top of the pump and these are designed to reach both sides.

TedAndLola · 04/02/2015 14:23

I've also seen petrol garages with signs up saying not to use the pumps on the other side. And others with signs saying 'use both sides'.

I fill up pretty much exclusively at 6:30am on the way to work, so queues aren't really an issue Grin

Smarterthantheaveragebeaver · 04/02/2015 14:49

Yep. I know this. I had to literally point it out to a salesman when I was out on a test drive once as he didn't believe me. [smug]

MegMogandOwlToo · 04/02/2015 14:54

Not in my car, it's on the other side of the arrow.

Golferman · 04/02/2015 14:54

Bloody hell, I have been driving for 44 years and didn't realise this!

hellsbellsmelons · 04/02/2015 14:56

Yes I knew - I imparted this wisdom onto my 17 YO the other day.
But... I then got a courtesy car and it didn't have the arrow at all.
And I ended up on the wrong side. Easily rectified but annoying.
So it's not the same in all cars.

susiella · 04/02/2015 14:58

Slightly off topic but I once put £10 of petrol (would have been in 1999/2000) so probably nearly 1/2 a tank, in a diesel Discovery. It made no difference whatsoever. I put another £10 of diesel in the next day. The car ran perfectly. Loved that car.

UncleT · 04/02/2015 15:02

YABU. 'Simples'???

MaidOfStars · 04/02/2015 15:27

Also, has anybody found that some pumps repeatedly cut out
Pumps recognise back pressure and cut out - it prevents overfilling/spilling. You need to lift out a little, or change the angle of filling.

MaidOfStars · 04/02/2015 15:32

Slightly off topic but I once put £10 of petrol (would have been in 1999/2000) so probably nearly 1/2 a tank, in a diesel Discovery. It made no difference whatsoever. I put another £10 of diesel in the next day. The car ran perfectly
It used to be quite common to stick a small amount of petrol in diesel cars. The petrol is less viscous and can "clean" out the diesel clag from injectors etc. However, diesel is far cleaner now and too much petrol (almost certainly half a tank's worth) will risk your fuel pump getting completely wrecked.

BlueBrightBlue · 04/02/2015 15:33

News to me.