Pardon my ignorance for asking this but my whole life I have been used to filling up cars made past 1997 and have been used to the nozzle shutting off on its own. With a 56 Cadillac, doesn't seem work that way. If I don't pay attention gas ends shooting up from the tail light.
Is the trick just to turn the battery on the car and just monitor the needle? Or do you guys just keep track of how many gallons you put in each time to avoid overflow?
Sincerely,
A young guy tired of getting gasoline shot back at him ;D
just listen you will here it change tone when is gets near the top.
Listen works well if its a fairly quiet area. Have you tried different angles for the nozzle? Maybe a different angle will make it shut off sooner.
I always have problems filling my 60 due to the angle of the filler neck and the modern pump nozzles.
The 70 is not much better.
It's best if you can listen to hear the difference in sound as it fills up or just approximate how many gallons you need and stop short a few gallons before and fill very slowly at the end.
I carry a roll of paper towels and plastic gloves in the trunk to deal with fill ups.
Back when your 56 Cadillac was new, filling tubes that ran down from the taillight (or license plate in my case) to the gas tanks were huge: typically as large as the opening of the typical radiator if not larger. Not coincidentally, the diameters of the feed tubes on gas pumps were correspondingly huge. Before the advent of unleaded gas, filling up consisted of sticking one huge pipe (from the pump) into an even huge-er pipe (running down to the tank).
Then the unleaded-gas mandate hit. Pumps pumping leaded gas threatened the lives of catalytic converters (that had a tendency to poop out when subjected to leaded gasoline). Absent-minded consumers couldn't be trusted to distinguish between unleaded gas and leaded gas (which, of course, was still available in great quantities) so something had to be done to keep new unleaded-only vehicles from drinking old leaded hooch without wiping out the old guys' ability to drink the new stuff.
Gas-filler-tube restrictor plates were born! On vehicles thirsting for unleaded, the restrictors created smaller inlet openings that could accommodate the new smaller-diameter unleaded-gas feed tubes (on the new unleaded-gas-only pumps). The older, jumbo-sized feed tubes on leaded-gas pump handles wouldn't fit through the unleaded-only restrictor plates, keeping leaded gas out of tanks expecting only the unleaded stuff.
In the hundreds of years that have passed since then, we've become accustomed to the smaller, more precise-fitting filler-tube openings in our lead-free vehicles. In particular, the shut-off mechanisms of the pumps are now well tuned for feeding gas into the small mouths of the smaller cars they encounter.
The way gas-pump shutoff mechanisms hasn't changed from the days of old, though. There's a little inlet, close to the tip of the feed tube on the pump handle, that senses the pressure of the area in the filler-tube tip's immediate vicinity. That's how the pump's auto-shutoff mechanism works: When the pressure around that tip rises to a certain level, the handle -- in all its pneumatic wisdom -- shuts off the fluid flow.
In *your* case (whew!), you've got a fuel-inlet pipe the size of a sewer line, as far as a modern gas pump knows. Your gas inlet is so big that the pressure sensed by the pump handle doesn't rise as quickly as it would if the filler tube fit tightly into your Cadillac's receptacle. The tiny gas-pump filler pipe is flopping around your Cadillac's cavernous entryway to its gas tank and the gas-pump-handle is essentially lost in space. As the fluid accumulates in your tank, the corresponding rise in vapor pressure at the tip of the pump handle is so dispersed by the huge opening that the pump handle never receives enough motivation to shut itself off.
I suppose you could fabricate a standard-sized (unleaded-sized) restrictor and mount it to your gas-tank inlet, but I've never heard of anyone going to that extreme.
I'd just push the pump handle down into the filler tube as far as it will go and keep an eye on it.
Good luck!
In the day.....as has been said: there were no auto shut off. Heck I remember,as a child, when gasoline was pumped manually into a glass container at the top of the stand and then gravity fed into ones tank. The volume was marked within the container, visible through the glass and that is how your purchase was calculated. Well before I started driving, modern pumps became common. One just had to pay attention to prevent overfilling. I had forgotten all that until buying the LaSalle. Ran it over a couple of times until I finally started listening and watching.
OLD CARS ARE FUN!
bOB
My '41 is consistently 10 miles to the gallon, so regardless the gauge reading I have a good idea of how much gas it will take. When I get within 2 gallons I slow it down and listen. And if I don't pay attention, I invariably make a mess.
Take some of the paper towels where the windshield washer stand is and wrap them around the base of the nozzle to form a sort of seal. This minimizes or eliminates the splashback for me.
Now if I could only figure out how to eliminate toilet water splashbacks??
On my LaSalle, I never use the automatic shutoff. I hold the nozzle and manually operate it slowly to fill the tank. With the modern narrow nozzle, I can look down and see the gasoline in the filler neck when the tank is full.
I also carry a gallon of water in the trunk so I can quickly rinse off any spills on the paint. I have hear stories about modern fuel eating into paint.
Like several others, I listen to the splashing inside the tank while keeping out of the breeze, if any, so I don't have to smell the gas. As soon as it gets quieter when the fuel level gets near the top, I shut off the fuel flow.
Wen gasoline begins to spitter at the venting tube, I know it will be soon full! Like the other posters, I also hear the tone, but it's not always possible.
In that aspect, the '56 Biarritz is worse than the '56 Sedan de Ville I had because the fuel door on the convertible is located rather low.
In the old days there was a gas pump attendant wearing white overalls and a tie.
Same story with my 59. Pump clicks off at the same time it burps about 10 ounces of fuel from the filler neck.
Doesn't bother me, I put on the cap and drive away. Shouldn't take long to evaporate :D
To avoid that problem , I just put in 10 bucks ,,LOL
I always listen for the bubble up tone change when pumping. I go fast at first if empty and then slow it down and listen as it gets full. This was impressed upon me when I, like you, had gas shoot up and over my reverse light cracking it and crazing it all over. That was when I was using regular gas - now I use nothing but non-ethanol. I suspect it was something in the modern gas that wrecked havoc on my lens. Perhaps non-ethanol gas won't react that way with my new lens but I'm not about to experiment! Again, I always listen. Not always easy to do with other noises competing and the guy at the pump next to me asking a million questions about the car!
Chuck
FWIW
I remember my uncle had a new 1952 Chevy that had a built in whistle in the filler that alerted you (when the whistle stopped) that the tank was about full.
ok, so sound like in the future I will use a combination of listening and paper towels. And as Chuck mentioned, not get distracted by the guy asking a million questions ;D haha
Yep, people look at me rather strangely as I'm bending over with my face near the filler tube. {maybe they think I'm trying to get high on the fumes!} And even worse are two other GM cars that have the filler neck under the tag, I really have to get low to listen to them!!lol
Have made a mess or two, I just rinse the best I can till I get home.
I agree, these old cars are fun!
Don
I have to be careful with my hearse, if I push the nozzle all the way into the pipe I can sometimes have a very hard time getting it out because the angle that it sits causes the nozzle's springs to get caught on the lip of my pipe. I consistently get 8MPG on a good day, probably less though, thing weighs 8000 lbs
Quote from: Jim Miller on June 25, 2018, 10:48:04 PM
My '41 is consistently 10 miles to the gallon, so regardless the gauge reading I have a good idea of how much gas it will take. When I get within 2 gallons I slow it down and listen. And if I don't pay attention, I invariably make a mess.
Same here. My 61 averages 10 mpg city, so I know when my tank is at half (21 gallon tank) I need about 10 gallons. I usually watch the trip odometer to see when how many miles I have gone too. So if I see 100 miles on the trip odometer I know I'll need to make sure I don't fill rapidly when I get near 10 gallons. The new pumps are a pain with the plastic flaps and restrictors. I do slow when near my target so I can hear the gurgle as it gets to start up the filler neck. But as pointed out if its a noisy area that isn't always possible.
I'm pretty good at watching the pump dial so I can slow down in time, but every once in a while some person at the gas station is talking to me about the car asking questions and it will splash out. Which leads to a curse word and a run to the towel rack and hopefully they have a windshield washer squee-gee bucket to wet the towel with. But I do carry some cleaning supplies in my trunk too.
You just gotta be careful. Calculate the amount you will need and watch that pump readout.
The hip new thing in filling gas tanks these days is the capless fuel filler. Alas, since the vast majority of fuel-filler customers are driving cars less than 38 years old, no manufacturer is rushing to accommodate ancient Cadillacs.
Stant makes an InStant (ha ha) Fuel Cap that can be retrofitted to a few older non-West-Coast cars. You can look on Amazon or you can go directly to Stant.
http://www.stant.com/index.php/english/products/automotive-oem-products/fuel-delivery-closure-products/capless-refueling-system/
If your local auto-parts dealer would allow you to look at one in person, it may fit whatever you've got. Then, not only would the pump shut off correctly but you'd also never have to worry about losing a gas cap.
I'm not endorsing this: I pretty much know to put the pump handle into the Eldorado's filler tube, pull the handle, and wait for 30 minutes. But if one of you wants to experiment ...
While I was thinking about this issue, I went to Advance Auto Parts and bought a Capless Gas Tank Funnel (from FloTool) for $2.
We'll see if the additional diameter of the funnel's top affects how the pump's shutoff mechanism works.
When I get my car back.
Jeez, folks, look at your fuel gauge and calculate how much the tank needs. You know your capacity - right? I hope so. Half of a 26 gallon tank is 13 gals. 1/4 tank needs 19 & 1/2 gal.
Do the math.
And wrap the towel around the base of the pump nozzle.
Putting in $10 only gets me about 1.1 gals of 110 octane. :P
Quote from: cadillacmike68 on July 09, 2018, 10:54:30 PM
Jeez, folks, look at your fuel gauge and calculate how much the tank needs.
Assuming you have a working, accurate gas gauge.
Curious to hear if that funnel thing makes a difference. I suppose it depends on how many bends and twists there are. Maybe it can narrow down and redirect the flow so it goes down easier? When did they start doing the large filler vent lines running parallel to the filler?
Quote from: cadillacmike68 on July 09, 2018, 10:54:30 PM
Jeez, folks, look at your fuel gauge and calculate how much the tank needs. You know your capacity - right? I hope so. Half of a 26 gallon tank is 13 gals. 1/4 tank needs 19 & 1/2 gal.
Do the math.
And wrap the towel around the base of the pump nozzle.
Putting in $10 only gets me about 1.1 gals of 110 octane. :P
I would if my fuel gauge wasn't out of whack. I think it might be something with the ground wire. For example, I tried filling the car with the key turned on to accessory. The needle went to 3/4 and then gas started splashing out.
But I thought all these cars were 100% authentic and in perfect working order? :-X