Fuel mileage... any one else notice this?

Pyrojodge

Pyrojodge

Well-Known Member
TECHNICAL Contributor
May 1, 2011
4,248
Lake Erie Ohio
Boat Info
1989 Sea Ray 340 DA
Engines
twin 454 Mercs
Since last fall I have noticed that for example in my silverado 1500 pick up that I used to get 300 miles on a tank of fuel... now in the past few weeks I'm lucky if I get 200 miles. Also, in the Toyota Solara we could run 450 miles on a tank but now we are lucky to get 350 mi. Any one else notice this? We by fuel from several different places and nothing seems to change?

So is the fuel different now for some reason?
Or
Did I miss something and I have another issue?
 
I have notices this as well on my motorcycle and my Suburban. When I got the bike, I was getting around 53 mpg, now aroung 47 mpg. The Suburban when I first got it was right around 19 mpg (Long highway commute daily) before I took the new job, it dropped to about 16.5. With the new job3 miles from home, I do not even look at the gas mileage.
 
Here 87 octane is not ethanol, 89 is, 91 or 93 isn't.

I don't go as far on 89 as I do with 87. I go a noticeable amount further with 91 or 93, but not enough to offset the cost.
 
Pyrojodge said:
Road fuel is E10 and has been for several years here...

It is just strange...
Click to expand...
supposedly E10
as prices go up the ethanol content tends to follow...major brands are stricter to the 10% content
than the "cheapie" stations (ie. walmart, admiral, swifty, clark, murphy, costco) ...I have had it checked..up to 18.5% in some
In the "non brand" staions sometimes the additives don't mix well either.
stick to the major brands and the fuel will be much more consistant quality :wink:
 
moparlvr4406 said:
supposedly E10
as prices go up the ethanol content tends to follow...major brands are stricter to the 10% content
than the "cheapie" stations (ie. walmart, admiral, swifty, clark, murphy, costco) ...I have had it checked..up to 18.5% in some
In the "non brand" stations sometimes the additives don't mix well either.
stick to the major brands and the fuel will be much more consistent quality :wink:
Click to expand...

We use mainly Marathon, Shell, Speedway, and BP (I know but some times they are the only ones). I use Shell more often then not but It has really tanked in the past months...
 
I have noticed my 1996 f-150 has started to ping and knock bad. So much so I have started to use premium gas. I also Sea Foamed my engine and that didn't help much. The gas companies are doing something but who knows what.

I also noticed my boat doesn't seem to get on plane as well either. My top speed used to be 40+ and now, 38-39mph full throttle. I even put mid grade in to help. That's costly. Oh well, what can you do. By the way my engine only has 290 hours before someone tells me it's worn out.
 
Clear 93 is gone. The only difference between gas station brands are the additives. John Doe refiner no longer exists, so it's not hard to figure out where the gas comes from in your area. But the additives do differ. Does that affect mileage? Maybe. Ethanol can very slightly. There is a correlation between octane number and ethanol % to get a given total octane number.
 
sfergson727 said:
corn should be used for food, not fuel
Click to expand...

iagree.gif
 
As we become increasingly 'dependent' on ethanol what's going to happen to fuel prices when the corn belt hits a drought period. We'll be importing ethanol in addition to the usual large volume of oil. If we think prices are bad now....:smt089
 
I watch the mpg in my car very closely and have not noticed any change. It's a BMW and it's supposed to burn premium but since I got it I've always run regular. With a combined city and highway driving it's always right at 21.5-22.5mpg. Up until about 1.5 years ago I bought strictly Shell. They changed the rebate system so now I've switched over to Costco. No difference in performance, no difference in mpg's that I've seen.
 
I used to keep a log book in each vehicle and tracked fuel use/mpg for about 20yrs. I don't do it anymore and if there have been any changes for me they're not big enough that I've notice them yet.
 
It happens every year at this time when suppliers roll out the "summer blend" gasoline. In an effort to reduce smog they reformulate fuel to burn "cleaner" which seems to be a paradox if your getting less energy per gallon. My opinion is its a scam and really does nothing to improve air quality.

On the subject of gas all being the same, well its supposed to be but that hasn't been my experience. I buy a lot of gas. $850 to fuel my cars last month. While there is a change in mileage with the "summer blend" gas I notice inconsistancies year round. At major retailers like exxon and at no name stations. It seems to depend on the neighborhood. Gas in ?" Burns faster than gas in virginia. Gas in the city burns faster than gas in the country. Every now and then I get bad gas that burns 25% faster than normal. Being as I drive so much I know right away and I don't hesitate to report it to state. More than once they have followed up and told me they condemed the station where the fuel was purchased due to higher than allowable ethanol content.
 
blaster said:
Every now and then I get bad gas that burns 25% faster than normal. Being as I drive so much I know right away and I don't hesitate to report it to state. More than once they have followed up and told me they condemed the station where the fuel was purchased due to higher than allowable ethanol content.
Click to expand...

That's pretty wild. I don't track milage much unless I notice a problem that might need checking into. But, both cars have trip computers and occisionally I track a run to relatives from Omaha to Des Moines, and I've seen my Durango pull almost 20 at a record high, and a much more dismal 15. EPA rated 17 hwy. (Don't ask about with a trailer, I just leave the computer on Compass setting.) Even accounting for weather and load, sometimes it just doesn't make sense. My Ford can push 24, and struggle to break 20.
 
As someone who works for John Deere, I don't care what corn is used for, food or ethanol, as long as it keeps selling!!!!!!!!
 
Some thoughts and questions.....Are you sure it's not the car? Maybe you mileage is the same and your odometer is going on the fritz. Are you going by GPS mileage or Odometer mileage? IF you changed from one to the other, is that when you noticed the change? In my car, the two differ signifigantly. I inflate my tires to max safe pressure vs. the 32 psi all the way around for comfort. The ride is tougher, but the mileage is better by about 2 MPG. Also, after I started with the higher PSI inflation, the ODO and GPS mileage was actually closer in miles traveled between tanks. I only run BP gas. No brand loyalty, however, they are the only one I know of who controls the ethanol content from cradle to grave.
 
I've been using mostly whatever Fred Meyer sells mine went down from 29.7 to 27.2 per the onboard computer a couple months ago. I changed to a K&N filter it's backup to 30.1 thats a combination of highway and town driving for the last 1000 miles. Just checked yesterday.
 
I have actually noticed this on all three of the cars. The difference now is we drive the truck and the convertable more then in the winter. I feel like a 100 mi difference is extreme. Seperate cars and sep odometer so I would not think they both went south at the same time. Just did a tune up on the truck and replaced the air filter in the car last fall(we don't drive it in the winter). Don't know why my mileage has gone to crap? Can't blame it on different octains either. Have tried the lot with little difference...
 
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