On Sat, 06 Mar 2010 10:24:45 -0500, willshak wrote:

You know, the kind that has a solid plastic float that operates a flat
screw type axle to turn a needle in the cap showing the amount of fuel
left. These plastic floats seem to allow gas to permeate the float,
giving a less than correct fuel level.

The one on our old lawn tractor bounces around so much as to be pretty
useless anyway - maybe modern ones have a better setup and baffles in the
tank or something.

I've got quite good at knowing how far it'll run on a full tank - and
there is a slight change in engine note when it's about a minute away
from going dry, so I know to fill up again on the next run past the shed
where I keep the gas can.