|
Forums >
Off-Topic Discussion >
Winter blend gasoline
51 Imaging wrote: I did clean the MAF too.... Dec 01 15 06:42 pm Link Not that many of you care, but WTF theres not much else to read on these forums right now so..... Both my turbo cars are running shitty. California gas sucks. for car people: on car #1 i changed my air filter, reflashed the software to the car, and put a thingy of seafoam in the gas tank. at first the choppy-ness when the turbo spools around 2300rpm seemed to go away but it was still weak in the upper RPMS. i adjusted the bypass valve in the engine bay so that it won't run rich between gear shifts or briefly when lifting my foot off the throttle. Worried my spark plugs may be fouled from the car running rich. i inspected all my exhaust gaskets for a leak, but they look good. today i took it down the street to pick up something from the hardware store. the engine didnt fully warm up. on my way out of the parking lot at 5mph it backfired, and then when i pulled out of the lot it was stuttering to accelerate. that was a new and shitty thing. obviously the engine not getting to temp was bad for it. im guessing its running really rich even with the bypass valve closed. I need to figure out why? Hopefully changing the plugs helps. on a car forum for my other turbo car, people in california said their cars engines started pinging in Oct when california changes over their gas to winter blend. this turbo car #2 has an unmodified engine (although its a special beefed up factory tune) it still has problems with this shit gas. I dont daily drive this one though. I have a third car that isnt a turbo, but it just sits in storage for the last 4 years. I bet it would run fine, especially since the tank of fuel it has isnt winter blend haha. so for car #1 its not able to burn this shit gas that has less energy? WTF modified car fail! Dec 05 15 11:15 pm Link My side job/hobby is restoring old late sixties, and seventies cars, some of which have sat for years. I also have a Degree in Automotive Technology. Lastly, I'm an old fart, who's been a hot rodder for forever. Having established that. What passes for gasoline now compared to what those cars were made to run on is a whole new thing. First of all, it used to be that a car could sit for two years and the gas in it would still burn. This new stuff is a gummy water soaked mess in six months. So advice number one. If it's a small engine, lawnmower, chainsaw, outboard, snowblower, IE, an engine that might sit for three months, run it dry before storing it. Anything you can't drain, add an additive called "Sta-Bil," before parking it. *Please note: I am not saying, "use a product of this type," If I name a specific product here, then use that exact brand. Sadly, half to a third of the automotive additives being sold today do nothing beneficial, but they spend a lot on marketing. Advice number two. Seafoam is wonderful stuff, great for cleaning your intake manifold. Another one that is an Industry secret is "GM Top Engine Cleaner." It too comes in spray and liquid. The usage procedures are similar between the two brands, seafoam, and GM. However be careful where you do the cleaning with that stuff. Don't do it in your driveway, find a parking lot, an industrial area, or go out in the country, because if it's an older car with a lot of deposits, when you fire it up after a good soak, it will fog the neighborhood. Advice three. Dirty fuel injectors is a huge problem. The best additive for that is "Techron," made by Texaco. It also comes in their gas and in Chevron's. My advice is to use a bottle once a month or two, depending on the mileage you drive. Another good product is "Lucas Fuel Injector Additive." Either one is best used on a regular basis. Note, the other brands out there, which I won't name are junk. They can cause more harm than good. The biggest issue I face with older cars that are meant to be actually driven, is rubber fuel lines. Period correct braided hose might look good and win car shows, but the new gas, just eats it up in, on the inside, in less than a year. My standard procedure is to use only fuel injection approved hose, and add a second fuel filter. Another huge problem is that the "New Gas, will eat the metal out of older carburetor set ups. As for buying gas, the simple rule is only buy gas from places that sell a lot of it on a regular basis. Nobody adds water to their tanks, LOL, but if the gas sits for weeks it will absorb moisture out of the air. Stick with Texaco, Chevron, Shell and Mobil, in that order as far as brands. FYI, adding a couple gallons of avgas to a tank full is a wonderful thing for my old cars, but it's illegal, because there's no road tax paid on it. So buy it in a five gallon gas can at the airport, (hint). Feel free to disagree with me on any of the above. I just know what works. Dec 06 15 02:38 am Link Always unhook the neg battery terminal when making changes to a computer controlled engine. Check engine light? Read the plugs. http://www.tuningmatters.com/wp-content … hu6d7U.jpg You may want to try a cylinder power balance test - a simple one is with car @ idle unplug a fuel injector one at a time and note any change in rpm, If an injector is unplugged and the idle remains the same You've found a problem cylinder - do this to all cylinders. * the backfire sounds like a cylinder misfiring. I've been chasing a misfire for a Month, after a compression test seems I have a stuck, bent or burnt valve. Engines need Air / Fuel / Spark / Compression. Again, to Me it sounds as if the motor is leaning out on the top end (too much air) but it's hard to tell without hands on and guessing never leads anywhere.- learn to test. Dec 06 15 07:30 am Link Natural Light on Location wrote: not gonna disagree on any of that, thanks for the info. 51 Imaging wrote: could be that. or combo of my rich condition and my modified exhaust. Dec 06 15 12:18 pm Link changed spark plugs yesterday. the old ones were very much fouled. i still think the winter blend didnt help any, maybe contributed? drove it around a bit yesterday and today. definitely got some power back  Dec 13 15 05:21 pm Link Paolo Diavolo wrote: The other day I was thinking my car was starting to run crappy. Oct 16 16 08:41 pm Link Paolo Diavolo wrote: Nope, but none of My vehicles are modded. What I do notice is lower mpg. Oct 17 16 12:46 am Link 10% Ethanol in regular unleaded ( more variable % in Premium ) That's what absorbs the water from the air and lowers mpg (because of the inherent lower energy content) Regardless - small engines do seem to run better with premium - even recent production. Beware E15 Warranties Void on Cars Burning E15 http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news … /index.htm Automakers continue to quietly void warranties if you use E-15 gas http://hotair.com/archives/2014/02/01/a … -e-15-gas/ ernst tischler wrote: The grey/white sludge in your oil and the white cloud of lead oxide out the exhaust if you stomp on the gas pedal after 1000 miles of calm driving - I remember that. Oct 17 16 04:47 am Link Michael Bots wrote: I don't use E-15 gas in my car even though it is cheaper. Oct 17 16 07:21 am Link Paolo Diavolo wrote: Well, there you go! Oct 17 16 08:45 am Link you are paying full price for a gallon of gasoline that has been watered down 10-15% with ethenol. since ethenol is cheaper than gasoline, why hasnt the price of a gallon gone down? imagine if they did this to your orange juice by dilluting it with 10-15% more water n raised the prices? cars are getting better gas milage ratings and lower emmisions using pure gasoline. but if they are watering down your gas, arent they defeating the reasons for improving cars so we can conserve fuel? in reality, you are wasting fuel. that 10-15% is just hampering the efficiancy of your engine and the consumers are being raped! Oct 17 16 10:29 am Link DOUGLASFOTOS wrote: I hear some fancy gas stations add cinnamon to their winter gas! Oct 17 16 10:42 am Link I used to have a 1970 Chevelle with a 350ci engine. It liked the higher octane fuel and would knock (pre-detonate) with most of the newer fuel. A friend of mine with more knowledge about chemistry said that diesel fuel has more BTU's. So as an experiment, we added 1 gallon of diesel to 10 gallons (10%) to an almost empty tank. There was a noticeable difference in performance and gas mileage (increased). I'm not sure if this would work well in a vehicle equipped with a catalytic converter or not. Oct 17 16 11:25 am Link udor wrote: Hahahahaha! Oct 17 16 11:48 am Link udor wrote: Cinnamon and egg nog Oct 17 16 01:30 pm Link Lead and catalytic converters don't mix. 1 or 2 tankfuls will destroy.. MMO thread https://www.ericthecarguy.com/kunena/2- … ystery-oil "MMO is naphtha oil, the main ingredient in engine flush and penetrating oils" I know it's great for air tools. Oct 21 16 01:31 am Link Michael Bots wrote: Great for air tools in what way? as the lubricant on a regular basis? Oct 22 16 06:38 pm Link because of your recommendation i bought some Marvel Mystery oil the other day and put about an ounce in my oil when I was topping it off. figured id run that for a little bit before doing an oil change. done something similar with seafoam before. i would've put some in the gas tank too except I already had two bottles of octane booster in there.  I think the octane booster helped a little and i also filled up from a small mom and pop gas station that doesn't put any kind of fancy extras in their gas. not sure if that helps? theres one big brand my car doesnt seem to like. guess I'll just start chugging octane booster every winter and staying off the throttle until spring. Oct 24 16 03:13 pm Link Paolo Diavolo wrote: People have been raving about Marvel Mystery Oil for generations. I think the name "Mystery" had a lot to do with it's popularity. It was a clever branding promotion. Oct 24 16 07:16 pm Link Paolo Diavolo wrote: Depends on who delivers to the Mom & Pop station. I have a small no-name station near my mountain house in Idyllwild and noticed the Chevron truck filling their tanks one day. They are not a "Chevron" station so they are not bound to sell at Chevron prices. There are not very many refineries in CA. It's easy to look them up. Oct 24 16 07:38 pm Link I rarely use ARCO, this car in particular doesn't like Shell. Not sure if is actually pinging, wouldnt be able to hear it over the other fabulous engine noises. The car's computer does all kind of stuff to prevent it from hurting itself. Maybe its pulling timing, i could actually watch in real time what its doing, or take a data log and view a bunch of stuff from its brain. lately ive just kept my foot out of it. havent had time to really investigate. All i know is it doesnt have the balls it does the rest of the year and its starting to consume oil, but thats unrelated to wussy winter gas. Oct 24 16 09:51 pm Link Just to double-check meanings, we are not talking about octane as being something that releases more energy, are we? Octane is what allows fuel to burn evenly under higher compression without detonation or pinging. The extra power comes from tuning an engine for performance with timing advance and other variables, not from the energy of the fuel itself. Lower compression engines don't need higher octane. With current era engines, car performance adjustments by onboard computers, sensors, injectors, and other devices is a different environment than older naturally aspirated engines. There are lots of other performance factors to consider. Octane is not a measurement of a "hotter" or more energetic fuel that gives a bigger "bang" ... it's a measure of even burn under higher compression. Formulations to raise octane stabilizes the volatility of the fuel so it doesn't explode prematurely under higher compression. Something like that. Lead was also important for a good quality burn, but that's pretty much illegal now as a major performance component of fuel so the formulas are adjusted in other ways. That's why people try paint thinner, water, xylene, kerosene, diesel, etc, to raise octane and even the burn to utilize higher compression for more horsepower. My analogies are rough, but I think I'm in the ballpark. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octane_rating Oct 26 16 01:12 am Link Paolo Diavolo wrote: This is an old post but 100LL AvGas is not really a low lead gasoline. Its low lead compared to AVGas of earlier times, when it could be as high as 145 octane. That fuel was extremely high in lead. Oct 26 16 01:21 pm Link MerrillMedia wrote: I think LL AvGas still is high lead relative to what automotive gas once was, right? I think the lead content is what raises the octane to100. I think AvGas is also formulated for higher altitude and lower RPM aircraft engines. What are the other mechanical reasons AvGas should not be used in automobile engines? Something about valve corrosion? Oct 26 16 01:52 pm Link 27255 wrote: i think it would gum up the sensors. Oct 26 16 05:41 pm Link |
) exhaust? 
