Question regarding fueling up on the way down!

[Shir Kahn]

We've driven to Florida a few times so far and I usually never let the gas tank go much below half, which results in a fair amount of stops. I was on gasbuddy.com today doing a fuel calculation and it has us stopping at only 4 gas stations along the entire way down! Some of the distances between stops would put us perilously close to empty, so I would definitely add at least one more stop to give a buffer. Would you say it's better to make many stops to fill up half a tank or half the stops to fill up most of a tank? Or does it even matter other than time-wise?

 

[vicki_c]

Well, time-wise, it depends on what your family does when you stop. In MY family, the quick stop for gas can turn into 30 minutes of bathroom, food, etc., etc. Sometimes longer than that! So we try to minimize stopping for gas.

We drive 900 miles and I think we normally get gas 3 times (we have a Honda Odyssey minivan).

Edited: 3 tanks of gas is actually only stopping 2x, and I think that's about right now that I think about it more.

 

[dzorn]

We've driven to Florida a few times so far and I usually never let the gas tank go much below half, which results in a fair amount of stops. I was on gasbuddy.com today doing a fuel calculation and it has us stopping at only 4 gas stations along the entire way down! Some of the distances between stops would put us perilously close to empty, so I would definitely add at least one more stop to give a buffer. Would you say it's better to make many stops to fill up half a tank or half the stops to fill up most of a tank? Or does it even matter other than time-wise?

I could see half tank in the winter but now. We start thinking about it at 1/4 tank or less. Unless someone needs to go to the bathroom why stop so much. It's not like a station is every 150 mile?

Denise in MI

 

[Fwd Facing Tentacles]

I would get a copy of the book The Next Exit ($10 at Amazon). It tells you what services (hotels, food, gas, etc.) are available at every interstate exit in the US. That way you won't have to worry about bypassing a gas stop when you're half full because you don't know when the next opportunity will come along. You don't even actually have to read the book because if an exit has 2 lines of text you know there's not much there but if it has 10 lines you know it has everything. So that way if you keep a bookmark where you are, you can just glance at the next couple of pages and immediately know what you're heading into. I always go down to 1/8 of a tank just because of this book.

 

[hintofspy]

If you are a AAA member, I highly recommend either picking up the guidebooks for the states you will drive through, or order TripTiks (which show the rest areas/service areas, gas, food, lodging at each exit, and current road construction updates). That way, you can calculate using the mileages listed between exits/rest areas to figure out where to stop. But I agree, if you can stretch it to 1/4 of a tank, that's probably more than safe (unless you've had fuel gauge issues in the past, of course .

 

[Shir Kahn]

Thanks for the responses all! We do have triptiks, we love them to go with our GPS. We use both, as our GPS makes some questionable decisions at times and we like to be able to make sure it's still on the right track! Last trip, we ended up going through Chicago during rush hour instead of around Chicago, due to the GPS noticing that it was .1 mile shorter going that way. We'll try to stop with 1/4 tank left and see how that does.

 

[uva185]

Jeez, I don't stop for gas until I am near empty. If it is night-time and I know stations may be closed I may re-fuel when I am down to 1 or 2 gallons remaining. Otherwise I let it go down even lower.

 

[tlenzendorf]

Just a warning: I used to wait to fill my car until almost empty until I replaced a fuel pump on my car to the tune of $800.... The likely cause-the fuel pump not being kept cool by the gas in the tank due to it being too empty.

 

[Marshel]

One piece of advice that has nothing to do with how much gas is in the tank, I always fill up somewhere in the last 20 miles of Georgia, as it is usually at least 10 cents/gallon cheaper than Florida.

 

[KINGBOBOFTHENORTH]

One piece of advice that has nothing to do with how much gas is in the tank, I always fill up somewhere in the last 20 miles of Georgia, as it is usually at least 10 cents/gallon cheaper than Florida.

Yes, definitely fill your tank in Valdosta or Lake Park, Georgia because prices there are cheaper than Florida!

BobK/Orlando

 

[honeymo78]

We usually wait until the car says 50 miles left til empty unless we are looking for a particular station. In that case we stop if we see what we need with less than 100 miles to go.

 

[Lewisc]

Don't use the default settings with gasbuddy. I did a test and it had me refueling with under 1/2 gallon. Always possible you don't completely fill the tank. Likely you'll be driving above 55mph and won't be getting the MPG assumed by gasbuddy. Also possible the gas station they route you to is closed/out of gas. I'd hate to be looking for a gas station with well under 1/2 gallon of gas.

Many people want to stop every 4 hours or so. Bathroom break. Change driver. Let driver stretch legs. That suggests refilling at 1/2 -3/4 empty.

 

[malibuconlee]

Just a warning: I used to wait to fill my car until almost empty until I replaced a fuel pump on my car to the tune of $800.... The likely cause-the fuel pump not being kept cool by the gas in the tank due to it being too empty.

Yep...my uncle was an auto mechanic and he told me that years ago...not to let it get less than 1/4 of a tank because it can mess your car up... I can't remember if he said fuel pump or injectors tho.

 

[tlenzendorf]

Yep...my uncle was an auto mechanic and he told me that years ago...not to let it get less than 1/4 of a tank because it can mess your car up... I can't remember if he said fuel pump or injectors tho.

It's the fuel pump, I can speak from experience $800 later