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Comments
I've not got a clue what kind of milage her Lexus gets. The sticker suggested 19 city. If she drives 800 miles in a month and assuming she gets 19mpg she's gotta buy 42 gallons of premium fuel. If I drive the same 800 miles I have to buy 53 gallons (averaging 15mpg) of regular fuel. If you do the math and considering the 20 cent diffence in premium vs regular it cost me less than 9 bucks a month (more) to drive the Tahoe. Add a few hotdogs, a couple of soft drinks, and you're there!
there may be states that require "oxygenated" type stickers on the pumps.
you have hit the surest way to tell, a drop of between 10 and 20 percent in the gas mileage all of a sudden, and near the onset of winter.
your state commerce department should have the information, or their antipollution arm, and may have a website. a quick Googling of "pennsylvania department commerce" yielded something on the third page that led to a promising link that found a home page that allowed a search for "gasoline" which led to this
http://www.dep.state.pa.us/dep/deputate/airwaste/aq/cars/gas.htm
which provides a good place to start. in a minute of poking about here, I found backlinks to the US DOT for low-sulfur gas and one dead link.
Google is your friend for starting wild-goose chases like this, and you can find lots of interesting bar-bet stuff along the way.
HOWEVER how many of you pull into your local gas station and fill up when there is a tanker unloading gas into the storage tanks? Not many people think of this and most don't even notice.
I NEVER gas up while gas is being pumped from the tanker into the underground storage. Do you know how much water is in that underground tank? Underground storage tanks are allowed to have so much water in them and when fuel is being pumped into the tank that water does get mixed into the gas then into your fuel tank.
Ethanol creates more hazardous pollution than conventional gasoline........since engine ecu are calibrated for non oxygenated fuels.
If you do ever notice engine knock in those two cars, it is because you have some other malfunction.
I won't argue with your changing oil every 3k miles as I do it at that interval also, but I change it myself thus spending less than $9 per change for filter and oil. It is much more convenient for me to do it myself-I do it when I want and it is an easy job. Waste oil is properly disposed of at our community recycling facility, so I am not polluting the environment with the waste oil either.
http://bluewaternetwork.org/newsroom.shtml
The EPA currently bases their fuel mileage estimates upon emission test data from the vehicle industry, then reports the results at 10% to 22% below the test data. Bluewater Network claims that estimate is still averaging 4-5 mpg above actual on-the-road performance. The EPA is responding to a petition from the environmental organization.
If they just pointed out that the highway tests are based on a rural highway with an average speed of 55 mph and nothing in excess of 60.5 mph it would be clear that going 70mph decreases mpg by 22% DUH.
I can understand city ratings being off either way because of the wide range of city driving different people encounter, but highway mileage should be closer.
The hybrids, on the other hand, do not seem to be able to even nearly approach the EPA numbers, though their actual mileage may still beat the conventional cars.
I think the EPA tests methods are much too artificial, but not consistently low or high.
i took it in to service last night, and they called me this afternoon saying its done.
turns out that superamerica fuel has been ruining fuel pumps in fords, chryslers, chevys, hondas, toyotas, etc...pretty much everything. there is a news article about how AAA has has triple the fuel calls over the last week, with people reading 1/2 tank but running out.
anyway, they replaced the fuel pump (in under 24 hours, by the way), and all seems fine. they said it might happen again, since i still have the gas in it, but that superamerica will be reimbursing FoMoCo when all is said and done, so they dont mind doing it again.
please let me know if you have issues like this, so we can organize our efforts.
i have a feeling that superamerica is "watering down" their gas...kind of like ballparks do with beer.
for your issue, sounds like they found an Additive From Hell that is dissolving the fuel pumps. haven't heard of anything like that in the minnesota area, but gas formulations are increasingly regional these days, and "AFH" may be moderately unique to kentucky.
around here, they are also a major pumper. if they sold rotwater on a regular basis, there would be hell to pay and they'd be on the news every hour on the hour. they'd have to post pictures of wacko bin looney to boost their popularity so I don't think there is a corporate-wide issue.
I think the issue in your area of louisville probably revolves on whether they recently did any service work on the pumps, whether different stations get bulk fuel from different sources, where did the additive package come from, etc. it's not impossible that somebody screwed up and used methanol as an octane booster instead of ethanol, for instance, and methanol alcohol has a history of causing corrosion even on old-style mechanical pump fuel systems. one or two wrong tank cars full of alcohol at the blending house would be all it takes to cause a rash of issues. if so, this would also go away quickly, like in a few weeks.
in that case, it would more likely be a problem of Killco Chemicals or whatever outfit supplied the alcohol, but SA takes the blame because they market the gas and get the public notice. it will doubtless be sorted out as a version of Everybody vs. Everybody Else in one of your fine civil courts.
almost all cars can run 10% ethanol with no issues whatsoever, and those that don't fall into that category can burn E85, which is 85% ethanol by volume, and run just as well as on non-oxygenated gas. E85 cars will have a "green leaf" symbol on them, and generally recent fords with smaller engines such as rangers and tauruses with the base engine will have a "green leaf" on their backside.
so if you had 6 gallons of methanol-mix fuel at, say, 10%, and you put in 6 to 7 gallons of any non-methanol fuel, you're legal again. it isn't perfect, but not urgent.
again, I suspect your local issue was a one-time problem. if it recurs, somebody is being seriously sloppy or ignorant in the fuel business, and they need to be spanked and sent home. your local channel 13 Witless News Consumer Line Action Reporter is a good place to start
;-)
seriously, they are filtering out one-shots that are being addressed by the free warranty repairs. if it persists, then there may be an issue worth chasing for the costs the station has to bear.
Thanks
Actually 12.5 is not out of the ordinary for this truck, especially when towing.
Best Regards,
Shipo
Best thing in my book is checking tire pressures, doing a 4-wheel alignment and reviewing your driving habits.
Also, your climate will vary your fuel mileage considerably. 60-70 degrees is supposed to be ideal, and the mileage falls off on either end of that proportionally to the degree higher or lower than that optimum.
habitat1 "Lexus GX 470" Oct 26, 2004 7:31am
"I trust my more technically qualified associates who can describe how a high compression engine operates and that constantly overriding timing adjustments will reduce fuel efficiency and performance. And MAY result in other consequences."
I'm thinking that the timing is constantly being adjusted regardless of the octane in the tank.
thanks,
Steve, Host
"Just about every modern engine has knock sensors that will adjust the engine timing to prevent knocking if you use lower octane fuel. But they do so by a method which, by it's very nature, will affect optimal performance and gas mileage. Very slightly in some cases, more noticable in others. And over long periods of time, i.e. 3-5+ years and 60-100k+ miles, the constant timing adjustment can have other adverse consequences on the engine."
habitat1 "Lexus GX 470" Oct 24, 2004 8:01am
Steve, Host
Besides, this is a theory in search of proof, which just isn't there.
Perhaps this tenet is that if using premium does damage to cars tuned and built for 87 because of the slower burning leaving more deposits, then the inverse syllogism is true; using regular in cars tuned for premium must not burn correctly leaving something behind.
I realize that the engines in some discussions about this ( Lexus?) say use 87 but premium is suggested for optimum performance. There might be a difference between an engine that says premium only and one that says "I'm versatile."
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
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I have always heard that using premium in cars designed for regular can lead to carbon deposits.
Steve, Host
I was told by a mechanic that some early GMs would die if you used good premium in them. When the car came to idle, it would advance the spark until knock was sensed and then adjust the spark based on that test. No knock, and it advanced more and the car died.
I have used premium in my 3800 for more than one tank rarely in the past. Never happened to me. Then I learned that the deposits left behind were more of a problem than the better detergents which really are in the premium anyhow. (Does anyone have proof that there are better inject maintenance productws in premium?)
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,