How to remove petrol from tank-not filled in error

joylikes2shop

Student daughter filled her car - 6 year old Toyota Aygo - with petrol recently but is now trading it in for newer car.


Not sure how much petrol is in the tank but it looks pretty full judging by the display on the dashboard. Anyhow, she'll probably collect her 'new' car tomorrow and have to put petrol in it straight away.


So, in the true spirit of Money Saving, we wondered if we could drain most of the petrol from her existing car before handing it over to the garage.


So far, despite having various lengths of tubing, we cant access the petrol ourselves (perhaps due to some anti theft fitting in the tank ?)


If anyone has any suggestions of how to do this, I'd be very be grateful.

neilmcl

I'd advise against it. Do you have suitable containers to store it and are you aware that you can't legally store more than 30 litres at home.

JP08

You're not going to easily be able to syphon the fuel off, so you're looking at disconnecting a fuel line somewhere - the favourite fuel thief method of a screwdriver through the tank not being available to you as you're trading the car in.

Tank capacity is 35l. Say 25l in there as it's only "pretty full". You're probably going to get 15l at best out of it. Is it really worth all the aggro for £20 of fuel ?

Herzlos

It's not a good idea and not worth it. It's only a 35l tank, so the full tank of fuel is only worth £39 @ £1.14/l, and you'd need to leave some in.

joylikes2shop

ok guys...thanks for all the comments...makes sense to leave well alone...will just take a long road trip in it somewhere today ;-)

George_Michael

neilmcl wrote: »

I'd advise against it. Do you have suitable containers to store it and are you aware that you can't legally store more than 30 litres at home.

Not strictly correct.
You can store more than 30 litres at home (in fact you can store up to 275 litres), provided that you inform your local council in writing (if you are in England) or the Petroleum licencing authority (in Scotland).

forgotmyname

Negotiate a full tank of fuel on the replacement car?

Strider590

joylikes2shop wrote: »

ok guys...thanks for all the comments...makes sense to leave well alone...will just take a long road trip in it somewhere today ;-)

Why? Why such fuss? it's at best £20, what's that compared to the cost of the new car? It's sweet buggar all...... And then what happens if the new one develops a fault and has to go back? The dealer is going to be much less inclined to help if they had to spend money cleaning out a fuel system on the old car because you'd run it dry..

Why is everyone in this country so obsessed with shafting everyone they meet? It just seems so petty.....


And as for the original question, the best way would be to cut the fuel line somewhere near the fuel tank, drain it off and then fit a hose joiner to repair it. But then mitre shears (best for cutting hoses) + a hose joiner + good quality hose clamps are going to cost a lot more than £20.

The reason you can't get it through the filler neck, is because there will be various baffles on the way down, which stop fuel sloshing back up the filler neck when cornering.

goosander

On many cars,you can access the fuel tank by removing the fuel sender / pump. There is usually an access plate under the rear seat squab. If your car has this then you should be able to syphon or pump fuel from there.

Agree with others though - not worth the hassle.

molerat

Managed to get rid of my last car with the orange light on - real MSE - well maybe not with the replacement costing £15K.

agrinnall

It's an Aygo, just turn it upside down and let the petrol drain out.

30 years ago I tried to squeeze the last drops out of my Mini before I traded it in, and I ran out of petrol on a roundabout a mile from the garage.