Fuelling your vehicle

For those who are pessimistic, they will have to work an extra day this month, but for those who are optimistic, they will be thinking that at least there are fewer days in February than other months.

What I’m trying to say is that there are many angles to everything in the world, and it depends on which side you are looking at. In Europe, people are complaining about the harsh winter that has become very cold this year and the duration is also longer than other years. Meanwhile, the Thais are also complaining about the weather, but in this part of the world it is the high heat level of the hot season, which is arriving sooner than every year.

The same applies to automobiles – everyone has his or her own reason to purchase a vehicle. But what you should not allow when seeing things from different sides is the conflict and anger that could arise from different point of views.

Sometimes, the problem may be minute, but the different point of view may be used to connect to larger problems, resulting in bigger conflicts.

After this long introduction, you may wonder what am I trying to relate to. Actually I overheard a group of people who were arguing about the most efficient way to use the fuel.

One side said that the vehicle should be refuelled in the evening before reaching home every day while the other says that the refuelling should be done in the morning.

Those who support evening refuelling say that there is no haste when driving back home and reaching home late is not like arriving late for work. If you need to use the car later at night you can do so without having to refuel again.

However, the other side argues that in the evening the temperature of the fuel is higher than in the morning, and the hotter fuel has more volume since the heat causes it to expand. This means that when it cools down it would contract, and you get less fuel from paying the same amount of money.

However, I usually refuel the vehicle before arriving home because I want to make sure there is fuel in the tank if I have to urgently use it in the night.

Since we are talking about refuelling, I’m going to take the opportunity to gives you some advice on how to refuel correctly.

First of all, do not wait until the fuel is almost empty before refuelling. That’s because if you forget and let use up all the fuel, the engine will stall and the fuel pump (located in the fuel tank) may be damaged.

In addition, when there is a very small amount of fuel left in the tank, the percentage of grit and dirt in the fuel becomes much higher than with a full tank. This increases the chances of the fuel filter clogging and the engine may not run smoothly. In some cases, the fuel injector may also be clogged.

So when the fuel level drops to about a quarter of the tank, have your vehicle refuelled to prevent these mishaps from taking place. And when you refuel, just fill up the tank to the limit.

After refuelling, reset the odometer so that you can accurately calculate the fuel consumption of your vehicle. If the consumption suddenly increases, you know that there is something wrong.

These days more people are using CNG and LPG, and many wonder how much should be filled each time. Some fear that if they completely fill up the fuel tank (gasoline), the fuel will remain in the tank for months since the vehicle is mostly powered by natural gas. The question is whether the fuel will deteriorate if left in the fuel tank for a very long period of time.

In this case, I suggest that you go ahead and fill up the tank at every visit. The reason is because if there is not much fuel in the tank, moisture could form and cause parts of the steel tank to rust.

And even though your vehicle may be modified for natural gas use, make it a habit to switch over to gasoline especially when you are driving at high speeds or using high engine speeds.

Apart from helping the engine to be more durable than when using only natural gas, the fuel system gets to work as it should, and this also extends its lifespan.

Using an 80-20 ratio for natural gas and gasoline is about right, and this will ensure that every system works properly and for a long time.

So the answer is that always top up the fuel tank even though your vehicle is modified for natural-gas use.