Winter Gas

[JonJon68]

Hi, I'm wondering how much the winter/blend fuel affects our gas mileage. It seems that just in about a weekmy highway miles went from 33 mpg down to 29 mpg. Don't need a tune up, however, it's been a little over a year since I've changed the fuel filter. BTW I have a 97 GP GT with 108,000 miles. Thanks for any and all input.... : )

[regalfriend]

BY no means am I an expert....in NYS it is mandated that fuel is Oxygenated..Somehow emissions is worse for the Ozone layer during the colder season.My guess is that fuel that is Oxygen enriched should burn cleaner. Less Carbon Monoxide and more O2 as waste...Therefore as the fuel enters the combustion chamber it is less pure. The fuel will burn and the by-products will be passed....This is my GUESS....I do know that it cost more for Oxygenated fuel

[rbsteve]

My student job is working at a gas station...5 fives of experience :-(

But anyways, the whole winter gas idea the gas stations use is just a marketing ploy. The actual amount of added product they put in the gas is too small to do any good, but people think its doing good to their car. Same deal with gas stations advertising fuel line cleaner in their top grade. If you read the small print, you have to fill up about 10 times for it to have any effect.

Gasoline doesnt freeze at normal winter temperatures. Its any or all water in the gas that does. My advice to you is buy a pot of water neutralizer for your gas tank, i think most injector cleaners have some in. That will get any water out of the system and unless you have a hole in your tank, and a good gas cap, none should get in.

The main reason people's cars dont start in winter isnt due to the gasoline in the lines freezing. Its mainly bad batteries and the wrong type of oil. Oil goes like paste at -40 C, use thin stuff like 5W30 or synthetic, which stays liquid.

Yeah we received the employee brochures this week on winter customer service. Hope this helps out.

Steve

[JonJon68]

Originally Posted by rbsteve

My student job is working at a gas station...5 fives of experience :-(

But anyways, the whole winter gas idea the gas stations use is just a marketing ploy. The actual amount of added product they put in the gas is too small to do any good, but people think its doing good to their car. Same deal with gas stations advertising fuel line cleaner in their top grade. If you read the small print, you have to fill up about 10 times for it to have any effect.

Gasoline doesnt freeze at normal winter temperatures. Its any or all water in the gas that does. My advice to you is buy a pot of water neutralizer for your gas tank, i think most injector cleaners have some in. That will get any water out of the system and unless you have a hole in your tank, and a good gas cap, none should get in.

The main reason people's cars dont start in winter isnt due to the gasoline in the lines freezing. Its mainly bad batteries and the wrong type of oil. Oil goes like paste at -40 C, use thin stuff like 5W30 or synthetic, which stays liquid.

Yeah we received the employee brochures this week on winter customer service. Hope this helps out.

Steve

Thanks for the info. So, this so called winter fuel has hardly no effect on our gas mileage?

[richtazz]

The "winter" fuel here in Michigan is actually different and better than the summer fuel. We are forced to use a "low volitile" fuel (it releases less hydrocarbons during fill-ups, and allows the gas companies to bone us consumers rather than install vapor recovering pump nozzles) to reduce smog in the warm weather months. In winter, we get the good stuff. My mileage has increased almost 1-mpg since the start of November.