Carrying Spare Petrol - Anyone?


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I don't know whether this is a stupid question, and don't know which section should it go. Here it is.

Does any of you carry spare petrol, say 1 or 2 litres in bottle in the car - for emergency, out of petrol situations? I have seen my uncle keeping small amount in his scooter. This was 20-25 years ago. Today there are petrol pumps everywhere and you may not need this.

I'm a lazy fellow and try to go to petrol station only when it is almost empty. Yesterday when I filled my Punto, the metre said 44.8 litres, that means there was only 0.2 litres left. I'm afraid one of these days, I will get stuck somewhere running out of petrol. I'm thinking of keeping 1 or 2 litres in a bottle in the trunk. Is it safe? Or is it totally a no no?
 
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Legally it is not allowed to carry petrol or any types of explosive in your car.
Also you can always get the info on your ODO on how much petrol if left so you can plan accordingly. Usually the practise that i follow is as soon as I see my car / bike coming to low fuel indication I fill out petrol in nearby trusted pump. it is not good for car as well to drive when tank is near empty mark.
 
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@JohnyBoy - As mentioned by macsvin, it is illegal to carry petrol in your car in a bottle or can. In fact, nowadays, most petrol pumps refuse to sell petrol if one wants to fill it in a bottle or can.

Almost all cars in India have at least 5-6 litres of reserve capacity. When the remaining petrol level goes below this level, a low fuel warning lights up or starts flashing. The car can be run for 50-60 km in reserve but it may be kept in mind that very low fuel level can damage fuel pump. The driver is expected to fill petrol at the earliest opportunity once the level falls to reserve capacity.
 
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allhyundaicars

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. I'm thinking of keeping 1 or 2 litres in a bottle in the trunk. Is it safe? Or is it totally a no no?
you still will need at least 4 liters to get your car running. 2 liters won't do anything.

why i say so ? because my friend experienced the same thing. he had to visit the petrol pump again with the bottle.

@JohnyBoy In fact, nowadays, most petrol pumps refuse to sell petrol if one wants to fill it in a bottle or can.

.
i don't think there is any such thing. haven't seen any attendant refusing to fill petrol in bottles.
 
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That is a bad idea to carry petrol in car. These new cars are not like old Amby or Fiat to guess the fuels, as they have all the good display which warn you much before to fill your tank, so better you come out of that laziness and fill the tank with next fuel station when the indicator starts blinking[anger]
 
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you still will need at least 4 liters to get your car running. 2 liters won't do anything.
why i say so ? because my friend experienced the same thing. he had to visit the petrol pump again with the bottle.
i don't think there is any such thing. haven't seen any attendant refusing to fill petrol in bottles.
I am not sure on this, I remember vaguely one incident when I filled up with 2 litre coke bottle and it worked.

Yeah some bunks do not easily fill bottle just to avoid reselling of fuel at higher price.

@johnnyboy, don't be so careless bro. If you are left stranded on road with empty tank some day, you won't stop cursing yourself. 2 liters of petrol bottle will do nothin but make you overconfident, and situation may get even worse.
 
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Thanks macsvin, mbt_india, allhyundaicars, Gurrala74, Rightnow for your comments.

My take away from this are
1. It is not advisable to carry petrol in bottles - I will not do this
2. To fill up the tank when the low fuel indicator comes up - I have to be less lazy, I will try :)

Thanks buddies.
 

allhyundaicars

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I am not sure on this, I remember vaguely one incident when I filled up with 2 litre coke bottle and it worked.

Yeah some bunks do not easily fill bottle just to avoid reselling of fuel at higher price.
Are you talking about polo ? My friend had his i10, he had to fill 4 liters. [confused] in petrol attendant words "sir, 2 liters will only make the tank wet" [lol]
 
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It is absolutely not advisable to carry in petrol in car. It is a potential hazard for the car and the passengers.

Also it is not a good habit to nearly dry up your tank before refill.

OT- JohnyBoy , you were not left with 0.2 liters of petrol/diesel but much more than that. Manufacturers quote tank capacity excluding the reserve which is easily 2-5 liters depending on the car.

Cheers,
Anshuman
 
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Johnyboy@

2 more things to add
* Most of the cars fuel tank will contain at least 4/5 liters or more extra than the specified capacity. So that your Punto had more petrol available while you fill the tank. It is not 0.2 litrs
* As per i heard, some older model cars(Specially diesel cars) will continue running while low fuel on tank, till most of the fuel drain. But it may not be start after switch off. or other way if it stopped after completely drained, it require at least 4-5 litr petrol. I have no idea about how Punto behaves in the situation.

We have no issues here in Kerala to get a bottle of petrol from the pumps, but some pumps not allow to fill petrol for less than Rs.50 or 1 litter.
 
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Thread Starter #12
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Johnyboy@

2 more things to add
* Most of the cars fuel tank will contain at least 4/5 liters or more extra than the specified capacity. So that your Punto had more petrol available while you fill the tank. It is not 0.2 litrs
Releesh, but can i use the 4/5 litres? I mean, will the car run till the 'extra' 4/5 litres are also used up?
Anyway I will try NOT to experiment and find this out. Will fill the tank much before it reaches this stage. :)
 
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What I heard is there is some concept called as dead reserve (name may be different) but there is some amount of petrol left in tank which can never be utilized. Correct me if I'm wrong.
 
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if we cannot use it, no point considering it rt? I'm mean practically I will get stuck when the 45L (published capacity of my car) is used up rt.

@Guralla74
[;)] absolutely right, man.
 

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