Is it just me or are the new fangled gas pump fill nozzles much more sensitive than back in the day? Let me start by saying that in Oregon we can't pump our own gas, attendants must do it for us. I don't remember that many deaths due to smoking while filling the tank, but somewhere along the way our State Government decided that we can't pump gas without special training. We also have a law saying that they can't top off the tank, when it kicks off were done otherwise they may overfill and splash gas on the ground. Now back to the point, for both my 1967 Cutlass and 1973 Chebby pickup truck the attendant must keep his hands on the nozzle while its pumping and run it very slow. Otherwise it will kick itself off. We have the rubber type sleeves on the nozzles to capture the vapors. But there must be something else that causes the nozzles to kick themselves off. The newer cars don't do that and sometimes I get glares from other people for taking so long. I suspect sometimes the attendants enjoy the break of standing still for a couple minutes rather than dashing from car to car! But is this true for anybody else? Am I just "special" or does everybody have trouble getting a full tank of gas with todays gas pumps? John

 

Nope, you're right, John.

As near as I can tell, the older fillers were made for the older nozzles - remember them?
They were larger in diameter and had a spring-like wire wound around their outside surface, which engaged and grabbed the edge of the filler, holding the the nozzle inside.
They also had none of that vapor-recovery garbage, so they just sat in there happily, and didn't have to be maneuvered into the "right" position to work.

I was just putting gas in my 88 today - had to kneel on the ground to get the nozzle in just right, and then hold it in place while the fuel ran in. Then, it took me 2 minutes to get the darn thing disengaged from the hole. Some poor woman with a camera had to wait that whole time so she could get a picture of the car.

- Eric

 

"Some poor woman with a camera had to wait that whole time so she could get a picture of the car."

At least that was a complement rather than her taking a video of your battle with the new fangled gas pump nozzle

 

Tell them to get better equipment if they get grumpy about it. Yes, those new nozzles suck. The plastic spring thing has to be pulled up to a certain position in order for the pump to turn on and run. I found that I was able to pull them up by hand when filling the bike tank so i could see the level. I once tried to rely on the auto shutoff but I got gas all over. More than just vapors, now! So now I try to fill up only at places without those new stupid vapor nozzles.

 

I believe it's called a prepuce.

- Eric

 

I've had problems with them too. Even in my wifes newer 300, I have not been able to fill the tank up all the way. It won't let me put any more gas in and I know it should take about an additional 3 gallons.

 

we had those type of pumps in NJ for a while,vapor revovery systems, they were the pits,some places still have them but for the most part i think they are being phased out here. We also have the same "law" saying no self-serve, but I always pump my own. With the older vapor recovery system in my 98, it was very tricky trying to get it to "lock" in so it would get a flow moving and there were times when the vapor system would need to be pulled back by hand then locked in, sometimes the nozzle had to be jammed in deep into the throat of the neck and the handle turned sideways to lock on and the spring of the license plate would help hold it in place but I never relied on that completely. I just told the attendant that I would look after it. Topping off is tough but once you get the hang of it it does go faster and there isn't someone else screwing w/ your car.

If you guys have the locking tabs on the trigger handles set it to flow slowly that should help get the fuel to come higher before it disengages.

 

Where I live in Washington State, we have those big "boots" on the pumps as well. Fortunately, we get to pump our own gas but I'm sure some lawmaker up here will "discover" that us lowly citizens don't really know how to do it right and then the greeners will make the state convert to the likes of OR and NJ.

What's interesting for me is when I gas up my '71 Corvette. There's a huge hole (a 3" opening) that the nozzle goes into. I have to hold back the rubber boot to make the pump work. I have to look around the boot to gauge by sight when the fuel is near enough to the top to stop pumping.

It's the new equipment, John. And when someone else, by law, has to pump, it just adds to the aggravation!

Randy C.

 

I call it a big POS...