Gas station pump didn't stop feeding fuel

MuffinMcFluffin

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Stupid thread title. Should have said: "Topped off too heavily."

Not much of a story here, but to save time for myself I'll just say that I believe my 19 Civic Si topped off well over a gallon of fuel, or at least near that much.

What kinds of ramifications come into play for this? I know some people might do this "naturally," but I want to know if I should have my sensor checked out in general or if this was an issue at this particular gas station? I also definitely had a strange gas odor smell when turning on my AC unit (that I didn't smell before entering the station). That was not a placebo effect by any means, but that's not to say one caused the other either.

Anyway, your thoughts are appreciated. I've driven near about 40-50 miles since this happened.
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calonzo

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Gas station pumps are supposed to stop themselves, No sensor on your car is required.

Do you smell any gas outside the car or under the hood? If you are still smelling gas, I wouldn't hesitate to bring it to the dealer to make sure. Gas leaks are nothing to fool around with as they can start a car fire.
 
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MuffinMcFluffin

MuffinMcFluffin

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Gas station pumps are supposed to stop themselves, No sensor on your car is required.

Do you smell any gas outside the car or under the hood? If you are still smelling gas, I wouldn't hesitate to bring it to the dealer to make sure. Gas leaks are nothing to fool around with as they can start a car fire.
I know they are supposed to stop themselves, but this one for some reason didn't. I think it was the pump because reasons.

I don't smell gas in other places right now, but I'll check it out today.
 

tacthecat

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I've had pumps shut off after pumping under a gallon and then the car would take 10 more! (Our Si has a 13.2 gallon tank.)
Best to fill at the same pump - where you know its sensitivity - most will only let you add .1 or .2 gal after the first shut-off (I'm a 2 click guy.)
It's not uncommon to find random pumps that will let you add another .5 to .8 gallons, especially those "Southern" "Fast fill" stations.
Unless you overflow and spill gas out the filler, your Honda is fine.
 
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MuffinMcFluffin

MuffinMcFluffin

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your answer is right there,

stop worrying so much
Sorry, I should mention that I've driven that much and the fuel gauge remained completely full, not moving a single iota.
 


calonzo

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Sorry, I should mention that I've driven that much and the fuel gauge remained completely full, not moving a single iota.
Yes, the Civic gets excellent gas mileage! You only used a gallon or gallon and a half of gas. Mine doesn't start moving until I drive about 90-100 miles if I fill it up.
 

Daniel644

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happened once to me in my second 94 Accord, it was super cold so I started filling then went inside and after a while I started to wonder why it hadn't stopped and went out to see gas pouring out, never happened again on that car and I drove it for YEARS, just a random fluke. just take it as a lesson to always be there at the pump when filling no matter how cold it is.
 

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Honda has a TSB to fix gas spilling out of the filler neck. It cost about $15 if you do it yourself and so far for me no gas has spilled out since.
 

calonzo

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Honda has a TSB to fix gas spilling out of the filler neck. It cost about $15 if you do it yourself and so far for me no gas has spilled out since.
Can you provide more info about either the TSB or what we need to buy?
 

jacobegg

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James3spearchucker

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happened once to me in my second 94 Accord, it was super cold so I started filling then went inside and after a while I started to wonder why it hadn't stopped and went out to see gas pouring out, never happened again on that car and I drove it for YEARS, just a random fluke. just take it as a lesson to always be there at the pump when filling no matter how cold it is.
All the pumps i have seen lately read, "Do not leave pump unattended." I have never relied on them completely because the same neck goes on all sorts of cars(mismatches), fuel is corrosive, and the pumps generally leak and are not maintained to fault. One time my son was with grandpa at age 5 or 6 and the fuel gushed out and drenched him with fuel because grandpa problems!
 
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MuffinMcFluffin

MuffinMcFluffin

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If it helps, the "more to the story" was that this pump was not feeding fast at all, but I had time to spare and was hanging outside my car anyway. And when I say not feeding fast, I mean a gallon every two minutes. I know that is super, super, super, unreasonably, shockingly slow, but I do it at the slowest speeds anyway and assumed that's what this particular gas station did at this pump. What did I do during my time waiting? Researched the benefits of pumping fuel in slowly into the car (and then reading a bunch of other stuff about when the best time to pump gas is, etc). Yes, I was at the pump for nearly 15 minutes. Didn't have anything better to do yet.

So I didn't leave it unattended, I just didn't question that it would go over what it should have. I assume what happened though is that is just a bad pump. Why is it fueling so slowly? Why didn't it stop? I can never know for sure.

Just for good measure, I filled up on Saturday with slightly less fuel in my tank than I did when I made my post about this, and it stopped a full 1.3 gallons short of when I finally pulled mine out of the tank last time. I definitely went over the limit, possibly by 1.5 gallons or more.
 

Daniel644

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All the pumps i have seen lately read, "Do not leave pump unattended." I have never relied on them completely because the same neck goes on all sorts of cars(mismatches), fuel is corrosive, and the pumps generally leak and are not maintained to fault. One time my son was with grandpa at age 5 or 6 and the fuel gushed out and drenched him with fuel because grandpa problems!
they've all always had that, but it was like 20 fucking degrees outside with a wind chill that made it so much worse so I went less then 30 feet away from the pump with it still within view, the only thing I couldn't do was HEAR what the pump was doing.
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