Minor petrol pump issue

  • Drivingforfun's Avatar
    Filling my car today the pump clicked off like they sometimes do but this time it wouldn't start again

    I'd paid at the pump so just put my card in again and started another transaction and it took another 10 litres

    I appreciate this is hard to answer if it's an issue with the pump but any ideas why it does this?? Could the attendant in the filling station have pressed a button to end my session or something?
  • 4 Replies

  • Santa's Avatar
    Some nozzles do seem oversensitive. Some cars seem to have restricted fillers.

    All I can suggest is that you need to insert the nozzle fully into the filler tube. My car for example has a device to make siphoning difficult and that can cause problems.

    Unlikely but not impossible that the attendant would have stopped it.
  • Mark07's Avatar
    Community Manager
    A few weeks ago, I thought I had encountered a similarly sensitive nozzle.

    In my wisdom, I kept filling despite the handle 'clicking off' several times. I'm sure I'm not the only person who likes to try and fill to a round figure - in this case, £45.00 - so, for the last few seconds I was watching the price intently rise (I ended up 2p over my target price).

    Unfortunately, I turned to see a small amount of petrol dribbling down the paintwork.

    Needless to say, I cleaned up after myself and will listen to the nozzle next time.
  • Santa's Avatar
    @Mark07 My local (Tesco) filling station allows me to preset either a set number of litres or an amount in multiples of £10.00.

    Interesting to note that you, like me, use petrol rather than diesel. I chose petrol because of our low mileage (<30k in 9 years) What drove your decision?
    Last edited by Santa; 13-05-24 at 10:49.
  • Mark07's Avatar
    Community Manager
    Interesting to note that you, like me, use petrol rather than diesel. I chose petrol because of our low mileage (<30k in 9 years) What drove your decision?

    I wouldn't say that I chose petrol per se. I would happily consider any fuel (inc an EV), but this particular vehicle had very low mileage despite being an older car.

    From memory, it was a 9 year old car, with had only done 35K miles and at a very reasonable price.

    The fuel consumption is a little higher than I'd like, but the extra I spend on fuel is dramatically lower than any finance option for a new(er) car.

    It's due an MOT next month, but I don't have any reason to think there will be any problems (touch wood).