Monday, September 24, 2012

3622 Gas burbles

Monday, September 24, 2012

If there is love, smallpox scars are as pretty as dimples.
-- Japanese proverb --

-----------------------------------------------------------------

I was planning to go upriver this afternoon, so this morning I took Fred The Van to get gas.  His gauge doesn't work any more, so when I get gas I set the trip odometer, and I know he's good for 300 miles.  He's sitting at 287 now, so I knew he'd need filling before the trip.

Nope.  The pump kept cutting out.  It wouldn't even put a few drops in.  The internet lists a slew of possible reasons.  Fred is now at the car hospital getting his throat checked.  Also his hips - he's still leaking transmission fluid.  I'm afraid he may be giving up.  Although he's eleven years old, he has fewer than 65,000 miles on him.

Last time I went upriver I took Hal The BMW.  I filled him before we left, and then I filled him when we got back, just to check for really really (not what the computer says) what his MPG is. 

I was amazed!  This time the trip was almost exactly 300 miles because of some side trips I took, plus I did the whole trip with the top down, and he took 10.2 gallons on return.  Holy Whatever!  That's like 30 mpg!  (Fred gets about 20-23, depending, believe it or not, on how much crosswind we have.)

That's pretty durn good, considering how hot-blooded Hal is.  And his not wearing his hat had to have screwed with his wind resistance. 

Man, I do love manual (standard) shift.
.

2 comments:

the queen said...

I have seen this happen before. The pump is empty or your credit card was declined.

~~Silk said...

The pump was not empty - we tried two with the same result, and the car behind me had no problem. I pay cash for gas - no credit card involved.