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Hey everyone, was wondering if any of you have the problem that I have. When I pull into a truck stop to fill I always worry about the fuel burping out the fill spout. I have always had to control the flow to 1/2 or so, so as not to have it come back and splash out all over, it can be messy in the wind.
Any advise or fixes on this issue?
Dale
Dale,
We all probably have the same problem, the venting is just not big enough to handle the pressure and volume at the truckstops. Remember, the trucks don't have a dinky little 2" fuel spout, the saddle tanks have BIG openings, anywhere from 3 to 6 inches and vent while filling.;)
If it's quiet enough while fueling (a rare occasion) you can hear the rush of fuel as it gets full and then cut back the flow. I try to use the RV side at Flying J with the lower pressure pumps, just so I don't have to change shoes to get back in the bus. The big truck side is always bathed in fuel and oil and you can trash your carpet pretty quick. It takes a little longer to fuel, but we're not suppose to be in a hurry.:D
Baptism by #2 Diesel.
My first trip and first fill up w/ the family and brother. Standing right in front of the the fill pipe when at least a gallon of diesel came hurtling over me at top off. Had to strip naked right there in the fuel lane before my wife let me back into the Mothership. Now I never know my exact fuel mileage as I'll never take a chance at topping off.
Welcome to the club.
MM
I have a 75 gal aux. tank so didn't know if it was the culprit. I was thinking of taking it out and putting in a Joey bed clone if it was that cause.
DJ,
Some of the previous respondents do not have the aux tank so that can't be blamed.
I think it is related to the change Prevost made to allow filling from both sides. I had an aux tank on my 87 coach and it filled only from the co-pilot side. I could run that nozzle full tilt and it would shut off with nary a drop splashed. Then, if fuel was especially cheap I would stand right there and try to cram in every last drop. Again, not a drop spilled.
On my current coach with aux tank and two side fill my first experience was like Mango's. I ended up throwing away some prefectly good shoes and pants.
I no longer fill from the driver side. I never stand within spitting distance of the fill spout, and I never try to top it off no matter how slow I squeeze the handle because for sure it will puke fuel. This fuel filling thing is apparently some Prevost engineer's way of taking a perfectly good filling system and screwing it up so the salesmen can call it an improvement.
Any bus or truck that I have ever filled that has dual fillers has barfed various amounts of liquid gold on the ground, in varying amounts. A guy could make up a whole bunch of reasons why, and some may or may not be true.
Tom, as usual, is dead-non right that the best fix is to use the civilian diesel pump and avoid the dreaded barf all together.
For the drama queens, you can fill both sides at once and try that. Probably would result in two pools of diesel instead of one.
Finding a 'quiet space' at a Flying J is something I have yet to achieve in life.
Well here goes. I have pumped more gallons of fuel than you guys have been minutes alive. Even more. I do not have the solution, although I have not spilled a bit of fuel at the truck side of Flying J. Must I tell you to stuff the nozzle all of the way in the hole and set it at the slowest flow. It will shut off every time unless you are at a malfunctioning nozzle. At the very end of the nozzle there is the shut off sensor. Jeeze.... If you want to be sure it'll work right, SUCK on it befor you put it in the filler tube. FJ warns you that it will deliver some ungodly amount of fuel per minute at a full fast hook. Does Jon or Jerry have to tell you everything?
I would have really liked to have seen Mango's bride rip him a new hole and make him strip on the pad. It would have been a site to see.
Sorry, I like live entertainment. Especially from old grey bearded dancers.
I like live entertainment too, so hey Lew....I'd like to pay you a steak dinner for you and Kathy if you will fill my bus. BTW, you need to stand next to the nozzles, the side of your choice, and let me know how it feels to have a gallon or so of Flying J's finest in your shorts.
I did the lowest setting when I took my bath, and it still puked.
Your one side fill is different than the two side fill coaches. That is why I got the surprise bath. I was used to my old coach and on this one, without warning fuel shot all over the place....and then the damn nozzle shut off.
Count me among the "non-pukers". Although the trucks were three deep this morning at the Love's in Amarillo, I fueled up (we only have one tank and it fills on pass side) with nary a drop spilled. Like Lew, I cram the nozzle down as far as possible and like Jon, if the fuel is cheap I squeeze as much in as possible.
But I hate the RV side of Flying J just because of the small nozzle. Seems like I am there for a Lew night before I get filled up. And some clone from the movie "RV" always pulls up beside me and blocks the only way out or some other inane thing happens, so unless I am dumping the tanks, I stay away.
I also have a 40'er with a single fill and use the truck side and let it fill to the top without a drop spilled.
Q? What the difference between diesel #1 and #2?
The refining companies are well aware of the starting problems associated with diesels in cold weather, and they usually “winterize” their diesel fuel by mixing 15-20 percent No. 1 diesel with the conventional No. 2 diesel in cold climates. This improves the volatility of the fuel and reduces the cloud point to slightly lower temperatures. At this point, we should discuss the differences between the two grades of diesel fuel. Diesel No.1 and No.2 are the two common grades of diesel fuel. No. 2 diesel is by far the most widely used since it provides the most energy per gallon for improved power and mileage, and the highest lubricity for the fuel injection pump. Since it is a heavier distillate than No. 1 diesel, No.2 diesel is usually a few cents per gallon cheaper too. Some diesel engines are designed to operate specifically on No. 1 diesel, especially if the engine will be subjected to frequent starting and stopping, but No.1 diesel has several disadvantages. First, it provides less lubricity than No. 2 diesel, which can prove troublesome for some fuel injection pumps, and second, it contains roughly 95 percent of the heat energy of No. 2 diesel.
# 2 is the fuel of choice (price). But if its winter and it's cold (below 10 degrees) you will need # 1 since it doesn't gell up. Once #2 gells you have big trouble. It you are going to be headed to very cold locations you have to start using # 1 ahead of time, at least get a half tank of it.
Dale
Lest anybody be concerned about their Prevost in cold weather we spent about 36 hours driving and stopping overnight when the lowest we saw was 26 below and the high for the time period was 21 below.
Gelling was not a problem, but we never turned it off so the warmer return fuel probably helped maintain warmer fuel temperatures. The bus heating system was excellent when parked with it on high idle (we never shut it off), but with the bus heat on its highest setting, the defroster fans going as fast as they could spin, the generator running so we could run the electric heaters up by the entry door we still froze our butts off when driving due to the cold air spilling down from the windshield that was being cooled by our 60 MPH wind chill.
If you ever experience sub zero temperatures just keep the bus running and I do not think fuel gelling will be an issue even if you have pure #2 in it.
Here's a short answer:
No 1 - Home heating fuel and good for engines in extreme cold
No 2 - The only thing we see in the south
Used to have a 2,000 gallon home oil tank in frozen upstate New York and it was amazing just HOW MUCH fuel the furnace could use, wink, wink.:D
As Jon so well said, it seems to be a new improved fueling system that causes the problem as our 93 never spits at me.
I wonder if you opened the fill cap on the driver side and filled from the passenger side if the air could vent faster and perhaps not spit-up. That was the drill for our SOB with dual fills.
So Lew, with all this fuel you've pumped, did you get green stamps?
I think Mike may be on to something.
Whoever has a dual side fill capability how about opening both sides and filling from one to see if his idea works. Just be sure to stand far to the side in case it pukes.
If nobody fuels up before I do (around 6/26) I will try it and report.
Having experienced fuel gelling, I would tell you that if I anticipate extended temperatures below freezing, I will put an anti-gelling agent (Power Service) in the fuel. When it gels or moisture gets carried up and freezes in the line, nothing short of putting the whole unit in a warm shop will get you back on the road.
When we were in Wyoming last week, the temp was 25 degrees and our AquaHot was more than adequate to keep the coach warm.
However, according to the laws of thermodynamics, the coach should be no colder standing still than it is running down the road so there must be some serious air leaks in there somewhere.
Jon, I 'd love to see the live show when it happens to you. New words are invented and vented, I'm sure.
Mike....S & H Green Stamps. You bet I did. We were all sucked into giving them and if I had used my head as the largest dealer in south central NY, I should have told Sperry and Hutchison to stick them. Thousands and thousands of dollars over the years. Live and learn.
Jon,
I think you should get Lew to stand on the other side and report the findings. If he howls, you will know that the tank burped on the other side.
Maybe he should get one of those overflow bottles like they use in NASCAR and he can get some pit gear and a NOMEX hood, and some........ well you know what I mean.
Official POG wear at Flying J
http://www.motorsport.com/photos/nas...ha-kd-0723.jpg
MM
Do the " fuel burpers" leave their engines running while fueling? I did that with my previous Travel Supreme with duel tanks and it burped every time. With my Liberty I turn the engine off as was stressed by Frank from Liberty and no burps ever.
I am not sure any H3 drivers have fuel puking issues. I do know XL coaches with dual side fills do have problems. The XL with single side fill has had no problems.
I think I have partially solved my puking fuel issue.
I have a truck stop near my house that has a big boy truck stop hose and nozzle on the RH side and a baby hose and nozzle on the LH side on one of the aisles. Since I have 298 gallons capacity I can almost always limit my fueling to that truck stop. I fill with both nozzles until I get close to being full, then I stop the big nozzle, and drop the flow rate on the baby nozzle and wait.
Eventually the bus gets full, but the baby nozzle does shut off without the puking.
As an alternative there is a Pilot convenient store also near my house that only has 3 truck bays for fueling. I have found on one of them I can use a big boy nozzle at the 1/3 open position when it is nearly full, and when it is full the nozzle clicks off. Then I count to three, and about a cup of fuel spits out, and most of that stays inside the fueling door area.
You may not even have a fuel spitting problem. But until you know for sure, stand way back, wear old shoes, and use gloves.
I have an ex pair of shoes that attest the H3's do puke with the best of them.
mm
H3's sometimes become possessed at the pump. In order to exorcise the fuel deamons, I start at a slow fill rate. After about 30 seconds, I can begin to increase the fill rate, usually to full speed.
I also raise the coach on the side from which I am filling and don't open the opposing fill cap.
I know that this all sounds weird but it was a lot better than the guy in the Liberty XLII next to me who was out in front of his coach drawing pentangles on the ground, casting eye of newt, and sacrificing lambs all while beseeching the maker "Hello, can you hear me now?".
So far thats the one problem I have not had. I fill from both sides at the truck stops,nozzles wide open and thus far the nozzles shut off with no spillage. Have also used one nozzle onlywith the same results. Most of the time I leave my engine running, maybe it should be off. I have the 208 tank.
I fill to within 10 gal of what the pro-driver tells me I have used and then shut down pump to absolutely slowest setting. Get within 2 gal or so, I just barely trickle it in. Worst puke so far is about 1/4 cup or so. If been running the genset, just guestamate another 3/4 gal per hour run time in my required fill cyphering. Works great so far.
Jon, Our "H" puked using only one fill. It didn't matter which side you used. End result was "splash back" My preventtion of puking fuel, was to estimate how much we needed from the Pro Driver, then when we had filled to almost that amount from the pump reading, I would back off the nozzle flow to a trickle, listened for fuel entry tonal change and stopped fueling when the pitch of the entering fuel started to raise higher.
The new coach, with its single fiill, gulps down all you can put in her as fast as you, and she doesn't belch.:D
40 foot, single side fill. Never a burp.
Two side fill without an upgrade that Jim Shoen installed in his bus and you have to step back and let it spit fuel.
Although new here, one of the first lessons we learned was to avoid filling our H3 on the driver's side; passenger side only and no spills, no burps since. Gloves are a good idea in any case.