Stories when filling up at "gasoline station"

That really chaps my hyde!

SilverGhost said:

The GAS truck is still sitting on the other diesel island bs'ing with their buddies. I bet that Duramax behind me was thinking some dirty thoughts until I pulled off. I wonder if he noticed the gas hog blocking the other pumps?

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Now this is something that really gets on my nerves.

About a month ago I was at a Kangaroo (awful diesel) in Senatobia, MS, and had to wait as TWO gasser trucks blocked the only diesel pumps for cars. They were just shootin' the breeze; both appeared to be returning from a long day of hunting.

I guess they never realized I was a diesel and waiting on them cuz they talked for a good 5 minutes after they both were finished pumping.

One finally left - I got his space quick! Quick enough to keep a Duramax from swiping my spot. So there he was, having to wait on the other gasser, who decided to go in to pay. And pee. And get snacks. And chat with the cashier. Poor fella in the Duramax looked pissed at the world.

Sometimes I feel like we get the worst of it all - we gotta wait on gassers to get to diesel pumps at a lot of places, or we're relegated to the ancient oily pumps in a corner of the lot with no cover or credit swipey-things.

If I'm driving a gasser, I will always be careful to take a gasser-only pump, unless the only pumps remaining are hybrid pumps.

bhtooefr said:

If I'm driving a gasser, I will always be careful to take a gasser-only pump, unless the only pumps remaining are hybrid pumps.

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Amen.

For years I have been using 12 oz Coke bottles for my PS storrage bottles. They are just the right size for 10 oz of the additive and 1 oz of PS critter killer, and the bottles never leak even after being stored for 2 or 3 months.

Well over those years I did get an ocassional strange look from people when they would see the Coke bottle being enmptied into the tank. So today a guy (trucker) actually asked why I was pouring soda in my gas tank and did I know I was at the diesel pumps?

The look on his face was priceless when I told him it was a diesel and that was how I carried my fuel additive.

The Jeep has Turbo Diesel decals on both front fenders, back window, CRDiesel in both rear windows and a "Yes it's a diesel" rear plate holder with the VW cut off.

Good one

Old Navy said:

For years I have been using 12 oz Coke bottles for my PS storrage bottles. They are just the right size for 10 oz of the additive and 1 oz of PS critter killer, and the bottles never leak even after being stored for 2 or 3 months.

Well over those years I did get an ocassional strange look from people when they would see the Coke bottle being enmptied into the tank. So today a guy (trucker) actually asked why I was pouring soda in my gas tank and did I know I was at the diesel pumps?

The look on his face was priceless when I told him it was a diesel and that was how I carried my fuel additive.

The Jeep has Turbo Diesel decals on both front fenders, back window, CRDiesel in both rear windows and a "Yes it's a diesel" rear plate holder with the VW cut off.

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Thanks Walt!
I needed a smile, and that did the trick!!

Bill

bhtooefr said:

If I'm driving a gasser, I will always be careful to take a gasser-only pump, unless the only pumps remaining are hybrid pumps.

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I also have a policy of only filling up my gasser Golf at gas stations which also sell diesel.

But at the station I go to most often, the attendants are clueless about how to open the fuel door on an A2 VW. They just bang on it and say "OPEN DOOR!" until I either go out and do it myself, or try to convince them that it is unlocked and there is no inside release. The guy I got today struggled to open it by pushing on the opposite side of the door -- that's how you do it on my B4 Passat, but on an A2 Golf, you're supposed to just pull it open with your finger in the notch.

That's a PROBLEM for them?

99% of old American cars have a similar method of opening...

Tom Servo said:

Now this is something that really gets on my nerves.

About a month ago I was at a Kangaroo (awful diesel) in Senatobia, MS,...

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It seems that most stations in this area are now Kangaroos, but I thought that was just the store name because all of the ones I see here in town all serve up different fuels. There's usually a smaller sign under the Kangaroo sign that will say Amoco fuels or something similar. The ones in my town are either BP, Amoco or Texaco fuels.

Tom Servo said:

...and had to wait as TWO gasser trucks blocked the only diesel pumps for cars. They were just shootin' the breeze; both appeared to be returning from a long day of hunting.

I guess they never realized I was a diesel and waiting on them cuz they talked for a good 5 minutes after they both were finished pumping.

One finally left - I got his space quick! Quick enough to keep a Duramax from swiping my spot. So there he was, having to wait on the other gasser, who decided to go in to pay. And pee. And get snacks. And chat with the cashier. Poor fella in the Duramax looked pissed at the world.

Sometimes I feel like we get the worst of it all - we gotta wait on gassers to get to diesel pumps at a lot of places, or we're relegated to the ancient oily pumps in a corner of the lot with no cover or credit swipey-things.

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I guess I've been lucky that I have only had to wait on gassers blocking the diesel pumps just a few times. The latest one was last week on my way to Birmingham, AL. I usually fill up before leaving so I don't have to worry about stopping for fuel going or returning. This time I had only put ~200 miles on the tank, and figured it would be a waste of time to fill up before leaving. I planned to stop and fill up when I got close to Birmingham and grab some snacks to take to my hotel.

I was getting close, so I decided it was time to stop because fuel prices generally get higher inside the city. I checked my GPS to see which upcoming exits had stations with diesel. The first place I pulled off had 2 places to chose from, a Travel America and another one that I can't remember. I chose to take the TA first because hit had a huge grocery store looking place in it. I was quite pissed when I pulled in and saw that there were no diesel pumps up front, just the truck pumps in back. I didn't want to get in line with the big trucks, plus it looked like a long line, so I went down the road to the other place. They had the standard islands up front, with no diesel, and a place off to the size fenced in that had 3 separate pumps. There was a gasser Ford pickup filling up and a dump truck pulled in behind it. As I pulled up the gasser Ford left, and I circled around to see what they had in there. They had two gas pumps and one diesel pump. I saw the size of the tanks on the dump truck and decided to go find another exit.

I ended up stopping at a Shell a few exits down, and I was already filling up when I noticed that the sticker said LSD and not ULSD. I have been running ULSD since November. That got me to thinking that it's going to suck for owners of 2007 and up diesels. They're not only going to have to wait to get tot he diesel pump, but they'll have to search for ULSD.

jimnms said:

I ended up stopping at a Shell a few exits down, and I was already filling up when I noticed that the sticker said LSD and not ULSD. I have been running ULSD since November. That got me to thinking that it's going to suck for owners of 2007 and up diesels.

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My understanding is most of these are either mislabeled, or going through partial fills of ULSD and therefore they are not sure of meeting ULSD specs. There are only a few ULSD diesels out there, so it's not worth the effort to rush the conversion by running tanks empty. The rules are 85% ULSD, so probably all public stations will have ULSD.

During a recent roadtrip, I notices that some Flying J truckstops have ULSD at the truck islands, but LSD at the car islands. Maybe they're mislabeled, or maybe they're getting rid of out-of-spec fuel that way. I think even with the LSD label, it was close to 15 ppm.

So, a few weeks ago, in downtown Phoenix, we stopped at a QT for fuel. $2.27 for diesel is what got my attention...Get to the pump and it LSD. For the Jetta (and the truck) didn't question it; just happy to pay ony $2.27 & took off running!

There's also a Loves truck stop on the reservation at I10 & Wildhorse that's got ULSD, but really good prices...~$0.20 to %0.30 below in town pricing.

I've only had 1 person ask me about diesel in the car. Guess them big city people just don't care!

In my day T/A meant something different

jimnms said:

It seems that most stations in this area are now Kangaroos, but I thought that was just the store name because all of the ones I see here in town all serve up different fuels. There's usually a smaller sign under the Kangaroo sign that will say Amoco fuels or something similar. The ones in my town are either BP, Amoco or Texaco fuels.

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I don't recall seeing the fuel brand at some Kangaroos, mostly south of Jackson... The one in Senatobia just says just Kangaroo as far as I remember. They bought out the Shop-A-Snak stores around Birmingham a while back and kept those with Exxon...

I've filled up at those Kangaroos in S. Miss a few times and the one in Senatobia a few times and always I get poor mileage and lots of smoke... Dunno what the deal is...

jimnms said:

The first place I pulled off had 2 places to chose from, a Travel America and another one that I can't remember. I chose to take the TA first because hit had a huge grocery store looking place in it. I was quite pissed when I pulled in and saw that there were no diesel pumps up front, just the truck pumps in back. I didn't want to get in line with the big trucks, plus it looked like a long line, so I went down the road to the other place. They had the standard islands up front, with no diesel, and a place off to the size fenced in that had 3 separate pumps. There was a gasser Ford pickup filling up and a dump truck pulled in behind it. As I pulled up the gasser Ford left, and I circled around to see what they had in there. They had two gas pumps and one diesel pump. I saw the size of the tanks on the dump truck and decided to go find another exit.
I ended up stopping at a Shell a few exits down, and I was already filling up when I noticed that the sticker said LSD and not ULSD. I have been running ULSD since November. That got me to thinking that it's going to suck for owners of 2007 and up diesels. They're not only going to have to wait to get tot he diesel pump, but they'll have to search for ULSD.

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You must have been at the T/A at the Cottondale exit on I-20/59. The Wilco-Hess next to it has one diesel pump for cars on the end of the island. That's usually where I fill up when I'm in the area.

The last time I was there, back in December, they didn't have any stickers on that diesel pump... So who knows if it was ULSD or what.

The overnight lady who worked there told me she sees a good bit of Jettas and Golfs filling up there at that little diesel pump. It's always run well in mine, so I don't worry about it much.

Tom Servo said:

You must have been at the T/A at the Cottondale exit on I-20/59. The Wilco-Hess next to it has one diesel pump for cars on the end of the island. That's usually where I fill up when I'm in the area.

The last time I was there, back in December, they didn't have any stickers on that diesel pump... So who knows if it was ULSD or what.

The overnight lady who worked there told me she sees a good bit of Jettas and Golfs filling up there at that little diesel pump. It's always run well in mine, so I don't worry about it much.

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Yep, that was it.

I knew watching this thread for a while would pay off...

For the first time ever, someone came bounding out of the service station towards me when I went to fill up today. It was an older gentleman and I was sure he was gonna warn me that I was putting the wrong fuel in my car.

To my surprise, the first thing out of his mouth was, "What kind of mileage you get in this?" We proceeded to have a nice chat about diesels. He said he'd driven several Mercs and Volvo diesels. I didn't know Volvo sold diesels in the US... He wants to buy a TDI later in the year, but wasn't aware of the lack of 2007 models. I tried to explain about the switchover to ULSD but he didn't seem to know what I was talking about. (On a side note, this station still had the LSD stickers.) He said it had something to do with the "Cadillac converters" on the cars. But wait, it gets better. I showed him the vent trick and he said something about all the diesel cars having a "2 gallon reserve tank, so ya don't accidentially run out" or some such thing.

Nice fella, despite the comedy. We probably would have talked longer but the biting cold wind was a killer. And stupid me, I totally forgot to mention TDIClub.com. This was at the Scott Petroleum in Lake Village, Arkansas... Who knows if they got internet there in the boonies yet or not.

Although the conversation was nice, I really wish I hadn't stopped there... Once I crossed the river back into Mississippi the price fell 10¢. Oh and it's smokin' like George Burns now.

OTOH this continues my 2007 trend of higher mileage despite it being the middle of winter... my third tank over 47 mpg since January 1st and probably only my fifth over 47 *ever* (PD).

Tom Servo said:

He said he'd driven several Mercs and Volvo diesels. I didn't know Volvo sold diesels in the US...

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They did, from 1980 to 1986. Volvo used a VW-built 6-cylinder diesel (in the 240 series) and turbo-diesel (in the 740/760 series) which were basically a 4-cylinder VW Rabbit diesel with two cylinders added on.

There was quite a variety of diesel passenger cars available in the USA from the late '70s to mid '80s. Even the Japanese automakers got in the act, offering such models as the Nissan Sentra Diesel and Toyota Camry Turbo Diesel. However by 1987, all diesel cars disappeared from the U.S. marketplace except for VW and Mercedes.

new member here, glad to see some others in my area. There are two truck stops in meridian that seem to have the lowest prices: queen city at the 150, and spaceway at the 129. both had cash price of 2.19 today.. I just got a new 06 jetta tdi 3 weeks ago. I like..........

I filled up today, at a station where you have to get them to turn the pump on first(no Credit card or anything), and the lady says ohh your going to fill up that container? (I had a yellow diesel cont. filled with 3gal of bio) and I said nope im going to put it in my car, she then asked me if i was sure... lol. She goes inside, I empty the bio in to the tank, grab the pump for the D2/ulsd and its not on. This was like 5min after I asked. (She must have been trying to protect me from my own stupidity lol), I go inside and as her to turn the pump on again and she reluctantly does, lol, I had a good laughed about it as it was one of my first strange moments at a "gas station"

Welcome

Hey terry mac, welcome to the club.

Have you been to the Flying J just east of Jackson yet? I think it's at exit 47 on I-20... ULSD and it's usually the cheapest in the metro. I'll remember those in Meridian - man, that's a deal!

I was "filling up" today, but not at a gas station and not with diesel fuel -- it was with washer fluid in the parking lot of an auto parts store. Of course I kept my engine idling while doing so, just to show off. A guy was also pouring washer fluid into his minivan two spaces over, but I didn't get any comments from him.

And unfortunately it wasn't an Advance Auto store so they didn't have the scented "Trouble Free" washer fluid that gives off the smell of laundry detergent. I was getting used to the smell of freshly washed clothes every time I hit the squirters. It's probably the next best thing to the lemony-fresh washer fluid that is factory fill on new VWs.

I went to the Pilot at the 45 in jackson a couple weeks ago, that was the first tank full Ive put in it, still got over half tank now. The first tank, well its been cold, I got 35 mpg... I kind of "drive it like you stole it" but within reason. The commute to work is just not long enough.

Well, I finally had a gasser blocking story....

This guy just pulled up to the pump and was starting to pump gas, when I pulled up to the diesel pump. Problem was that he pulled up SOOO far that I had to ask him to back up, just so I could get the hose close enough to the filler neck. At fist I though the guy was going to spit nails, just by the look on his face. Then, he looked around and backed down...never said anything, just looked around, sizing everything up. His wife just got back, in time to move the car back.

Then, we started talkign VW & diesel...he actually looked the car over after he finished gassing up. Of course, I had to rub it in...~40mpg and ~500-600 miles per tank. That seemed to get his attention.

Clueless Attendants

vwestlife said:

... attendants are clueless about how to open the fuel door on an A2 VW. They just bang on it and say "OPEN DOOR!" until I either go out and do it myself, or try to convince them that it is unlocked and there is no inside release. The guy I got today struggled to open it by pushing on the opposite side of the door -- that's how you do it on my B4 Passat, but on an A2 Golf, you're supposed to just pull it open with your finger in the notch.

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I am SO thankful we get to pump our own fuel in Florida. Had your episode occured in refueling my Corrado , I'm affraid I would have had to encourage the attendant to go call the police while I refueled my own automobile, and keep your hands off the VW from now on.

Disreputable PU w/ Diesel

Well, for the first time ever there was another customer at the isle with diesel when I filled up. I'm glad there haven't been any like this before. As I drove to the station there was a jacked up PU with all sorts of extra lights tailgating me. After dark, with his brights aimed right into my mirror. This thing pulls in the station right behind me and goes to the other side of the diesel pump. It was a Dodge Cummins and it was thorougly disreputable. There were two rough characters that piled out and regaled one and all with their crude vulgarity. There I stand on the other side of the pump filling the Beetle. They didn't say anything to me or take note I was pumping diesel. This is the sort of thing that would make a Soccer Mom shudder at the though of dealing with diesel.

The punch line is these crude dudes with their gross truck bought $15 worth of diesel. The cute little Beetle took over $30, and won't see the station again for several weeks.

Waldek: It's funny that it's the people that drive Dodge Rams that have real temper problems, less so than F-Series and Silverados.

Truck vs Car

bhtooefr said:

Waldek: It's funny that it's the people that drive Dodge Rams that have real temper problems, less so than F-Series and Silverados.

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It's the problem of driving a truck with two Verbs as a name.
{Closed captioning for the humor Inpaired.}
(Dodge-Ram)

I don't think I've ever put only 15 dollars in my F350.

I don't think my truck will go 850 miles on a tank either.

I never seem to run into the end of the credit card on the TDI though.

Hi All,
At the risk of sounding completely stupid, this newbie need to ask a question. I am from the UK but living in Las Vegas and used to only one type of diesel at the pumps. I am thinking of importing a TDI from the UK and was wondering if I will have any problems with the diesel fuel over here. IS it different in any way from the diesel in the UK? Should I add any additives? I can see that you are all running diesel cars but just wanted to know if there was anything I should look out for. Many Thanks for your time.

You're WILDLY off-topic -- start a new thread somewhere else. Perhaps TDI 101.

Hmmm...make sure you find ULSD (Ultra Low Sulfer Diesel) fuel. It's more like what you had in Europe.

Hey

bhtooefr said:

Waldek: It's funny that it's the people that drive Dodge Rams that have real temper problems, less so than F-Series and Silverados.

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Hey, you frikkin' a$$hole! Watch what you say about us Ram drivers! I'll hunt you down and then your family!

No, seriously, I guess the wife's beetle tempers my rage. I rarely find myself getting all bent out of shape over other drivers anymore (when I was a teenager driving a 65 chevy stepside, now that was a different story . . .). I think it has more to do with age, wisdom, and several rounds of defensive driving than anything.

k

Yes, but see, what I'm saying is, it's the lifted F-150 and Silverado drivers that'll tailgate you for no good reason.

It's the lifted Ram drivers that'll pull behind you, honk like crazy, then say "you better check your ****ing mirrors, you about ****ing ran into my ****ing truck... if you woulda hit me, I'd've beat your ass..." when you DID check your mirrors and they were nowhere near there. (That happened to me a couple weeks ago. )