Increasing my mileage!

[toastygoodness]

sometimes the pumps aren't calibrated well either. i think somewhere in washington, a 76 got fined for being like, 4 gallons off or something. O.o

[mathog]

Originally Posted by toastygoodness

sometimes the pumps aren't calibrated well either. i think somewhere in washington, a 76 got fined for being like, 4 gallons off or something. O.o

That is regulated at the state or county level. For instance:

http://acwm.lacounty.gov/

http://www.co.contra-costa.ca.us/index.aspx?NID=2205

Must be an awful job though, spending all day either pumping gas or driving to another station to do it again.

[larrymoencurly]

Consumer Reports said the 2011 US Honda Civic w/ automatic got 19 city, 47 highway (their test, not US government's), while the Corolla got 23 city, 40 highway.

Isn't the octane advertised at the pump the average of MON and RON, and MON can be as much as 6 points lower than RON?

I'm sure your 2003 Corolla is compatible with E10 because ethanol blends have been mandatory in the US for many years, and even my 1993 Ford Escort's 8-bit computer is programmed to tell the difference between pure gasoline and ethanol blend (compares oxygen sensor average voltage with air:fuel ratio).

A good mechanic won't just check for error codes because half the time an engine malfunctions, no error codes are generated. He or she will also read the data stream from the computer to see if any readings are out of wack, like a temperature sensor reading too low or the fuel injector pulse width being narrower than normal (can indicate drippy injector). Also the fuel pressure has to be read separately, but it's probably OK unless there's hesitation.

[stevo1210]

Not sure about that one, but the Corolla here is made in Japan and probably varies a bit from the US model. I know for a fact that the US version has less power and is completely different in shape to the Aus/Japan model. My car is actually a Toyota RunX, but rebadged to Corolla for the Australian market... just like the new Corolla is the Toyota Auris, rebadged to Corolla for this market.

Anyway, I did ask people on other forums about e10 and Toyota says it should be okay to use e10, but quite a few people have reported issues of excessive valve pinging at idle and so forth... I don't drive that car so much these days so a dollar or two difference after a full tank of 95 vs. 91 e10 isn't too much hassle I suppose.

[larrymoencurly]

Back in the 1990s, an automotive engineer who worked at the local General Motors test track said E10 was OK because cars designed for sale in the US had long been manufactured with fuel system parts that were compatible with alcohol, and the only problem occurred when switching a car that had long used 100% gasoline because the alcohol would dissolve deposits inside the fuel tank and clog the fuel filter. Changing the fuel filter once would solve that.

[ratdude747]

My understanding was that in addition to compression issues, running an e10 vehicle on e85 would kill the plastic fuel parts over time, rendering them into jello.

[stevo1210]

I dunno wtf I've done, but I've averaged around the 10-11L mark for the last few weeks and since it's spring now, even the A/C is running. I also fill up close to my work now instead of the one I fill up near home. Gut feeling tells me that the station near home is either screwed up or my car just went on a diet?
I hope it stays this way, that way I can tell everyone how green my car is and how I pay $40 at the pump instead of $120 for a week.

[digge]

I have a 07 civic and do about 8L/100km the way i usually drive, for long drives i can go as low as 6,3L/100km. When it comes to fuel you should make sure the car is tuned for the fuel you are using. Not using whatever fuel its actually tuned to will decrease mileage.

[freegard]

I had several issues with my 1994 LS400 Lexus including 15MPG when it usually gets 21 to 24MPG. CEL on but no codes to read; hunted for idle, would not allow hard acceleration, i.e. the engine would literally die as it tried to pass 2000RPM. I changed all the Nichicon caps out and every one of those problems disappeared. Nichicon is a good brand but apparently not so good back then for a window of time.
Heard they were using CFCs to clean the flux off the wave soldered boards. The CFCs would leach into the c aps and destroy them over time. There is a bulletin on it.

[Junk Parts]

Stevo your honda engine should be very clean on the inside. This is because the E10 fuel you have been using is 10% alcohol. When alcohol in burnt it produces a great deal of water in the process. This extra water in the form of steam does remove the carbon from the engine. Back in the day I used to use a few gallons of that old Texaco 10% alcohol fuel to clean out my hot small block v8 after I had driven it in the city all week. During the clean out black soot would gather on the rear bumper. The old racers used to say that with alcohol it takes twice as much to go half as far. In this old saying you can see why your Honda doesn't do so good on the alcohol/gas mix.
For the past few weeks I have been using my father's 04 automatic Civic. Yes it has the same D series engine as your Civic has. It uses 86 RON pump gas. In local driving around here its getting 24 to 27mpg. I would say that your mpg problem is caused by the use of E10 fuel.
I had a 1984 Prelude with a carbureted 1.6 and a five speed manual trans. It would return 54mpg on the highway at 70mph. My friends 89 injected Civic hatchback always came in at around 42 to 47mpg when we were on the highway. The best the old 1986 2.0 automatic Accord that I have now can do is about 21mpg. There is nothing wrong with it. The 86 Accord was just a gas hog from the start. This same 2.0 engine was fitted with fuel injection in 1987. The injected ones do return good mpg.

[stevo1210]

Originally Posted by Junk Parts

Yes it has the same D series engine as your Civic has. It uses 86 RON pump gas.

Well the engine in mine is the R18A. Not the D series anymore. Since we don't have much EPA like in the USA, it pumps out 105KW cause we don't have that EPA stuff. Obviously more polluting but thats not my problem.
Also, our lowest RON here is 91 for e10, then 95 for regular unleaded and 98/99RON for premium.

[Time2Retire]

Originally Posted by stevo1210

Obviously more polluting but thats not my problem.

Until global warming causes the seas to rise until they cover Australia.

[pfrcom]

Originally Posted by stevo1210

Also, our lowest RON here is 91 for e10, then 95 for regular unleaded and 98/99RON for premium.

I think Australian regular unleaded is 91, 95 unleaded is 95, and premium unleaded is 98

And E10 is regular unleaded 91 with Ethanol

[stevo1210]

Originally Posted by pfrcom

I think Australian regular unleaded is 91, 95 unleaded is 95, and premium unleaded is 98

And E10 is regular unleaded 91 with Ethanol

Funny that one. Some stations I see 91 unleaded and 91 e10, then the station i fill up at has regular 95 and e10 91?

[ratdude747]

Originally Posted by stevo1210

Funny that one. Some stations I see 91 unleaded and 91 e10, then the station i fill up at has regular 95 and e10 91?

In the US, we have 87, 89, and 93 (regular, mid-grade, and premium)... and almost all has up to 10% ethanol (if it's legal, as per EPA allowance). That isn't marked as "e10" or the like, since 10% is considered "too low" (by the feds) to be worth noting.

We also have e85 for flex fuel cars, which costs a bit less but isn't as big of a price incentive as it used to be (corn is scarce and despite massive subsadies corn ethanol got expensive).

[pfrcom]

Originally Posted by stevo1210

Funny that one. Some stations I see 91 unleaded and 91 e10, then the station i fill up at has regular 95 and e10 91?

Links for Shell and Caltex, the market leaders in Australia because of supermarket discount dockets

http://www.shell.com.au/home/content...he_road/fuels/

http://www.caltex.com.au/ProductsAnd...n.aspx?ID=1704

http://www.caltex.com.au/ProductsAnd...miumFuels.aspx