Not that I'm complaining . . .

Discussion in 'General Motoring' started by Louis Hom, Jul 4, 2005.

  1. Louis Hom

    Louis Hom Guest

    Anyone know why my fuel consumption would suddenly go from years of 26 mpg
    to about 33 mpg? It started about two weeks ago, with the only new
    occurrence being a change from Sunoco gas to Citgo. I can imagine there
    being some minor difference between the two stations, but enough for a
    engine operation would be affected?

    FWIW, '98 SL2, 68K mi, located in Central New York, most trips <7 mi, new
    ignition control module several months back, color (regretfully) is that
    funky silver plum
     
    Louis Hom, Jul 4, 2005
    #1
  2. Louis Hom

    Oppie Guest

    I find that my '01 lw300 seems to like some gas better than others. I
    usually average about 300 miles per tank (15 gallons capacity) on getty
    regular grade. I got some Amoco the other day and got almost 400 miles on
    the tank.
    Same driving patterns so I can only assume that the engine likes the Amoco
    additives better. Admittedly, this is not a scientific test. I don't keep
    records of how many gallons go into the tank so MPG is vague at best.

    Bad O2 sensors will usually drag down your mileage. It's also possible that
    the different gas you used cleaned off a marginal sensor and improved the
    mileage.
    Oppie
     
    Oppie, Jul 5, 2005
    #2
  3. Louis Hom

    Art Guest

    Maybe Amoco pumps put more gas in a tank for a fill up.
     
    Art, Jul 5, 2005
    #3
  4. Louis Hom

    Oppie Guest

    Entirely possible...
    Also the flow rate from the pump. On the L series, there is a variable
    orifice on a float to the tank vent. It's supposed to cause the filling pump
    to shut off when the tank approaches full. You can get more fuel in the tank
    by filling slowly.
    I'm an engineer but not anal-retentive about keeping records on mpg
    <grin>. Being a bit mentally overloaded (overwhelmed) at work, I reserve all
    experimental protocols for the paying job.
     
    Oppie, Jul 5, 2005
    #4
  5. Louis Hom

    blah blah Guest

    Well hopefully you arent trying to estimate your fuel consumption via
    the fuel gage.
     
    blah blah, Jul 5, 2005
    #5
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