Stale Gas

A few days ago, my Volt popped up a message when I turned it on... I thought it was just the usual monthly message saying that it needed to run the gas engine a bit to keep it maintained. I pressed the Yes button without giving it much thought. But then a second message appeared and I realized whatever the first message had said, it wasn't what I thought and I should have paid closer attention. Anyway, the second message told me that I had not been using much gas and that the fuel in my tank was getting stale. It said my car would now run on gas and when the tank got to under one-half full, I should fill it and the the car would return to normal operation.

So I went for a little drive yesterday and since the goal was to burn some stale fuel, I put it in Sport mode and Low, and headed up some hills, driving a bit more aggressively than I usually do. I had already used nearly half a tank when I started so pretty soon I had one bar under the halfway mark and figured that was good enough. I went to the Shell station on Hollywood Way that I like.

It only took 4.455 gallons at $3.979 per, for a total of $17.73. Not bad. A man pulled in and was fueling his Toyota Tacoma truck and asked me about her. He liked the car's looks and asked how often I fill up. I told him and mentioned the only reason I was filling today was due to the stale gas message. He smiled and said now I was just showing off. I chuckled and said I was just a bit. But assured him that really was the case.

Fun stuff.