New hack to get money’s worth of petrol? Motorists urged to avoid overfilling tank

A photo of a vehicle with one of its back wheels on a wooden ramp to tilt the car while refuelling the tank is circulating online, sparking comments from netizens that shaking or tilting a vehicle will not put more petrol into the tank.

“Wheel chock provided at Malaysia petrol station,” wrote Facebook page SG Road Vigilante – SGRV on May 4.

“This petrol station got wheel chock one leh,” the page added, quoting the individual who shared the photo.

It appears that this practice is more common and has restarted, given land borders between Malaysia and Singapore fully reopened on April 1.

“First day border reopen only. More such behaviour will appear,” wrote Facebook user Quck Wee Chye, attaching a photo of a sedan jacked up while filling the tank.

Facebook user Yong Jing uploaded another photo of a Subaru using a ramp to tilt the vehicle.

“Do not overfill your petrol tank,” wrote Facebook page ROADS.sg on May 7, reposting the photo.

“If you overfill your tank, it can cover the vapour intake hole with liquid gas, which can then be sucked into the charcoal canister. This can damage the canister and possibly other parts of the system, which will cause the car’s check-engine light to come on and could potentially cost hundreds of dollars to repair.”

Netizens noted this was a matter of common sense. “There are experts who believe tilt or shaking the car will able to pump at least 100L of petrol into 80L of fuel tank,” said Facebook user David Wong.

“Common sense is not common after all. Like what can that little bit more petrol do? Petrol tanks are built the way they are for a reason; if they are meant to be fully filled then they would have placed the inlet at the top of the tank rather than at the side,” added Facebook user Hime Kang./TISG

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