diesel on door

  • Thread starter Thread starter mjt
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All sorts of odd aerodynamics go on around a wheel at motorway speeds, so if any excess diesel found its way out anywhere in the vicinity - its fairly probably it would get deposited in the nearest low pressure area - the gap between the door and the chassis. If you look underneath, you would probably find some on the trailing edges of the suspension too.

If you have ever had minor oil leak, the underside of the car does a great job of demonstrating how weird airflow can be, putting oil in seemingly impossible places.
 
I'm forever trying to explain to drivers at work not to overfill the truck tanks, especially Scania trucks as they recirculate unused (hot) fuel back into the tanks which expands and is then dumped into the road,especially by our depot near Junction 15 of the M6, as you exit the depot you have to take a sharp turn which exacerbates the issue and makes the junction (by Hanchurch Crossroads for any locals) treacherous, especially for bikers.

Having seen a few bikers come off outside our depot I can assure it's quite a drama for them!

Alas, many of our drivers are convinced that brimming the tanks is the only way to fill them even though you can easily do Stoke-London and back on half a tank!

As a long term motorcyclist. Thank you, much appreciated.
 
I'm forever trying to explain to drivers at work not to overfill the truck tanks, especially Scania trucks as they recirculate unused (hot) fuel back into the tanks which expands and is then dumped into the road,especially by our depot near Junction 15 of the M6, as you exit the depot you have to take a sharp turn which exacerbates the issue and makes the junction (by Hanchurch Crossroads for any locals) treacherous, especially for bikers.

Having seen a few bikers come off outside our depot I can assure it's quite a drama for them!

Alas, many of our drivers are convinced that brimming the tanks is the only way to fill them even though you can easily do Stoke-London and back on half a tank!

I wish the vans and lorries that use the only petrol station on my commute put that much thought into it.
Every day the next roundabout at the bottom of a rather steep hill has a nice shiny river over at least part of it, makes for a better wakeup than a coffee I suppose.
 
I'm forever trying to explain to drivers at work not to overfill the truck tanks, especially Scania trucks as they recirculate unused (hot) fuel back into the tanks which expands ~
That's pretty much what most diesel vehicles do, especially common rail ones, where sometimes more fuel can be returned to the tank than is actually used by the engine.

Most include some kind of cooler in the return line to reduce the expansion effect though. Maybe in this case the tank was so full that even that wasn't enough.
 
I'm not sure I fully understand why you feel you must brim the tank anyway, I mean I fill my tank and don't have to return for just shy of 500 miles, the last few dribbles really aren't going to matter and yet run the risk of this...

Got to get those round numbers. If both litres and cash paid are round numbers then SUPER MEGA BONUS!
 
I'm not sure I fully understand why you feel you must brim the tank anyway, I mean I fill my tank and don't have to return for just shy of 500 miles, the last few dribbles really aren't going to matter and yet run the risk of this...

I don't brim it right to the neck, but i do notice you can get about another 2 litres of fuel after you let it settle, i can only assume the pressure it gets into the tank might cause it to bubble (think pouring coke in a fresh glass). So i tend to let it settle and slowly fill until the second click.
 
You do realise that when you attempt to top off your tank you are actually paying for more fuel than you are actually putting into your tank.

If you attempt to put more fuel into your tank after the fist click then, possibly as much as 15 - 20% of the fuel you THINK is going into your tank is actually going back into the forecourt tank through the nozzle and pumps vapor recovery system, so it is a pointless exercise as you end up paying more than you should be and not getting as much fuel for your money.

Also in the OP's case, if you fully brim, the tank up to the neck, yes it will appear to drain back a bit but it will not drain back fully, the neck and pipe to the tank will be partially full of fuel and this is bad.

As we know the fuel is stored in the underground tanks at the forecourt and it is quite cool in there. Once it gets into your car and goes through the engine and is recirculated back to the tank it gets hotter and expands.

If your tank has been brimmed, so fuel now fills the designed in expansion area, the fuel still has to expand somewhere. One of the places it expands into, is up through the drain pipe that is attached to the rubber collar around the fuel filler neck by the fuel filler cap.

That is designed to catch drips from the nozzle and direct fuel to the tank, however when the fuel gets hot in a brimmed tank, fuel can expand up this pipe and fill the collar and then the fuel gets dragged into the air stream and is deposited in all sorts of odd places.
 
Was at a petrol station and watched a fella put diesel in his car until it was pouring on the floor underneath. This went on for 20 odd seconds before he stopped

Mentioned it to him, and he said it always did that and basically mind my own business!
My ghast was absolutely flabbered
 
All sorts of odd aerodynamics go on around a wheel at motorway speeds, so if any excess diesel found its way out anywhere in the vicinity - its fairly probably it would get deposited in the nearest low pressure area

Op is trying a turbotoaster masterclass in Aero... along with the pressure washer "wind tunnel", we now have diesel used as "flow-viz" :D
 
I take this roundabout in the middle lane regardless now, the left lane is covered in diesel like this most of the time. That's not an exaggeration either, literally most of the time i go round that roundabout i notice diesel in the left lane.
The junction before is a service station with a lorry stop-over.

 
More drama, and assumptions :rolleyes:

It's, the lorries you need to roll your eyes at here.

No, it's lorries, cars, vans and buses... All of them are guilty of dropping diesel. My assumption is based on your attitude to diesel for motorcyclists, if you were a motorcyclist I am fairly confident you would find it a drama!

Like I said, read it and educate yourself.
 
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That's pretty much what most diesel vehicles do, especially common rail ones, where sometimes more fuel can be returned to the tank than is actually used by the engine.

Most include some kind of cooler in the return line to reduce the expansion effect though. Maybe in this case the tank was so full that even that wasn't enough.

Assumed it was specific to Scanias as after a long drive I've noticed the fuel tanks (our Scanias have twin tanks) are warm to the touch where those on Volvo's and Mercedes are stone cold, I'd have thought they were all common rail designs though.
 
Assumed it was specific to Scanias as after a long drive I've noticed the fuel tanks (our Scanias have twin tanks) are warm to the touch where those on Volvo's and Mercedes are stone cold, I'd have thought they were all common rail designs though.

All common rail engines will pump up more than required and return the excess to the tank - perhaps the Volvos and Mercs have a better cooling system? To be honest though I'd not expect a substantial increase in thetemperature of the fuel if the tank on an HGV is full - that's several hundred litres that would need to be heated, and the tanks on an HGV are normally exposed to cooling air.
 
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