kevblah

I made the mistake of topping off today, and it got all over my rear fender. Is this anything to worry about and wash off with water or should I just let it be? I just want to make sure it won't deteriorate the paint over time.

Look on the bright side, at least it was 93 octane. It might even shine up my car a bit!

BadAssC230k

"rinse, lather, repeat"


wash it off and maybe put a lil buff/wax job on, just in case. just dont let it sit or repeat this 'foul up'. you should be cool. factory paint is damn near bullet proof, but dont make it a habit ya know.

Blazinpin0i

yup, like BadAssC230k and your fine. Alittle gas splash wont hurt your car, just wash it off and your good

rlee02135

happens all the time....i just let it evaporate and wash the area later with windex

kevblah

ahahahahaha, i just went out there with a cup of water and splashed it onto the spot where the gas got everywhere....i think that did it !!! lol

rlee02135

LOL its raining here anyways

Buellwinkle

It evaporates away, no biggy. It will strip the wax off so you may want to rewax that area.

powa

i do that pretty often, i would like to know the answer too, usually i just use the dirt water that you use to clean the windshield, clean the rear fender that touched the gasoline, then use paper tower to wipe them off, i know it's not the good way, but I have no choice but to do that in Gas station plus in cold winter =P

LuxuryC240

Yeah I've actually done that myself...the windshield stuff, just a small amount though...Our cars leave no room for topping off, maybe 20-25 cents at the most.

Since we're on the topic of gas, I have a question.......
The manual says the C class has a tank capacity of 16.4 Gallons. Why is it when I have, say only 40 miles to empty, when I fill up it only takes 11 gallons. Where is the other 5 gallons. 40 miles of gas isnt 5 gallons....is it??

kevblah

maybe it has something to do with the reserve gas?

LuxuryC240

That was my initial thought, but in the manual it says 16.4 (including reserve). The marker always goes past the F, so its def full...i dunno...I always try to use all the gas and fill all the way up. Seems to be the best way money wise for me.

Harry Madan

if u have wax on the car before this happens, then u have nothing to worry about because all it did was just take a good portion of the wax off. but if u don't have the wax on the car then i would highly recommend washing it asap. just a regular wash in that area thats all, just don't make the mistake of wiping it withe the paper towels at the gas station because u will scratch the paint. every time i have ever done this i just use there windshield cleaner brush to lightly go over that area, and then wash it when i get home or rinse it at the gas station. if u dont do this on a regular bases it wont make a difference on the paint but if it happens all the time then just put a lot of wax in that area and hope u dont get discoloration. because if it happens all the time and u do not clean it, with the help of the sun it will fade the color on that spot.
hope that helps.

mctwin2kman

Apparently no one here has read the fuel filler door or manual where it says DO NOT TOP OFF! There is a reason it is there you know.

Buellwinkle

The reason is lame, it's to keep you from contaminating the charcoal canister to contain evaporative emmisions, it's only a few hundred to replace so it's definately worth topping off to see how much it takes to ruin it and set the CEL off.

johnand

Thanks for the laugh

LuxuryC240

For just a second I thought you were serious...but I'm in rush so thats why

Anyone have any other comments on my question about the tank capacity??

sanf

haha. just make sure you dont smoke next to it.

anyway..by topping off, you can also mess up the sensor in the tank and your gas gauge.

johnand

I notice the same thing on my 07. I bet the gauge and range are "programmed" to "underestimate" how much gas you have, so you are less likely to run out.

LuxuryC240

Thats probably true and I suppose a good idea...it doesn't matter to me, from the first couple times Ive filled up, I just wondered why...When ever it clicks I just bring it to the next .10 mark, thats all..im sure thats not gonna cause any problems.

mctwin2kman

There is a 2 or 2.5 gallon reserve in the tank, when the light comes on. ANd the gauges are set to read less than they have when near Empty. Not to mention that all gauges do not read the same. Basically the manufacturer designs the sending unit to slowly drop the level on the gauge for the first half and also makes it stay on full longer as well. Then the last half is normally a crap shoot for speed of descent to empty. This is to give the driver the idea that the gas does not burn as fast as it does. There was back in the day a problem with a persons perception of how much gas they have and burn. When GM came out with the first digital fuel gauges that read in gallons they found a problem. The gauge would go from F to 15 in a 16 gallon tank withing 20-30 miles after fill up, well this made people think they were getting worse fuel mileage and complain. So GM re-designed it to go from F to 14 on a 16 gallon tank skipping the 15 because this made people perceive better mileage since the gauge stayed on F longer. We are generally stupid as people and need to be coddled from time to time. :-)

LuxuryC240

Thanks for the input, and yes no wonder that is why I always thought the car was giving me long periods of time without fueling. For instance I can back and forth from the North Shore to Boston (20mi) a few times without the gauge moving past 3/4 mark from F. Yeah, nowadays people really try to do whatever they can to get the best deal on gas.