California gas - what is in it?!!! Options

[valerit1]

I drove from Las Vegas to LA. Checked my mileage - normal. Since then refuleled several times
in LA (Chevron). Consinstenly getting 15-20% less miles per gallon then in Nevada. Same driving.
What is with LA gas?

[CelicaST_CALI]

well,there is a little thing thats inside ur car whenever u are,he goes wherever u go,and he controls ur mpg..wanna guess his name???mr right foot

This post has been edited by CelicaST_CALI: Apr 16, 2008 - 10:55 PM

[valerit1]

My smart friend - I said SAME DRIVING (RIGHT FOOT INLUDED), same tire pressure, etc.....

well,there is a little thing thats inside ur car whenever u are,he goes wherever u go,and he controls ur mpg..wanna guess his name???mr right foot

[xs94st]

hmm. i havent driven my car outside of cali before, so i wouldnt know.

maybe..

more traffic?

thats all i could think of.

[Celiracer18]

Its probably blended with more ethanol

[LewFX]

20% water

[96bluevert]

I'd agree w/ celiracer. Depends on where you bought the gas. Did you go w/ a cheaper gas?

[brthrurik]

Ethanol... same problem up here in Oregon... about a 3% drop in mileage since they upped it to 10% ethanol.

[j0e_p3t]

my theory... driving from lv to la is mostly highway driving meaning better gas mileage. in la, where rush hour is pretty much every hour, city driving drops your gas mileage a lot.

[CelicaST_CALI]

ya stop and go traffic will do that

[valerit1]

GUYS!!! PLEASE DROP TRIVIAL ANSWERS!!!! I CHECKED MY DAS MILEAGE FOR YEARS!!!! IN THE SAME
CONDITIONS!!! SAME DRIVING!!!! PERFECT MECHANICAL CONDITIONS _ DONT START ON OXYGEN SENSOR, ETC!!!! I DO DISTINQUISH BETWEEN CITY AND HIGHWAY, STOP AND GO, ETC!!!!
I EVEN CONSIDERED GAS MILEAGE FOR SAME RPM RANGE!!!!. FOR YEARS IN NEVADA IT WAS
20% HIGHER - IN THE SAME CONDITIONS!!!!!! - THEN IN LA. I MENTIONED I USED CHEVRON -
IN NEVADA AND LA, NO EXCEPTIONS!!!! THINK DEEPER PLEASE!! SAME OUTSIDE WEATHER AND TEMPERATURE WHEN I COMPARED MILEAGE!!!!

THE ONLY THING I COULD FIND:

http://home.att.net/~NCSDCA/SCIENCE/poorgas.htm

[xs94st]

dude, wtf. do you think we're going to know the chemical makeup of the damn gas that you are putting in? do you want us to run an analysis on Nevada gas versus California gas? jesus christ, we put out our responses we aren't gonna go to the end of the damn earth to figure this out. people put up their responses, some dumb and some are honest.

calm the fcuk down.

[x_itchy_b_x]

altitude? but id say ethanol. just more of it.

[njccmd2002]

i found the answer..

If your California car is getting poor gas mileage, call the Calirofnia State Legislature, not your mechanic. All gasoline now sold in California must now meet the requirements of the California Air Resources Board, Phase II. The idea of "watering down" gasoline by adding oxygen was to lean out old carbureted cars so that they would pollute less. In an old carbureted car running rich (too much fuel), the move to oxygenated gas significantly reduces carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon emission. However, the old carbureted cars that were running lean, would stall on the oxygenated gas unless they are adjusted to use more fuel. These cars were designed for unoxygenated gasoline that is more volatile then the current Phase II gasoline. When it came time for a Smog Inspection, most of these old cars failed the out of gear smog idle test due to excessive hydrocarbon emission. They failed because a spark could not easily ignite the this very lean mixture of low volatile gasoline and air. A car that misses at idle will not pass Smog Test II. We pay extra for gasoline with less energy so that old carbureted cars running rich will pollute less. For those of us with Electronic Fuel Injection (EFI), the oxygen sensor detects the added oxygen and says more fuel, more fuel

[tomazws]

damn what's wrong with him..

[ScoobyDooCruiser]

In california you get to pay more money to put corn in your gas tank. Not only does it ruin your gas mileage, but it costs more. Yay!

Also, it pisses the mexicans off cause it really raises the prices of corn, and in Mexico most of the corn is imported from US, the equation works out to,

more money + corn in fuel tank = expensive tortillas

if you're looking for a scientific way of describing the gas situation in cali.

[GriffGirl]

It's totally the ethanol I think

yeah yeah yeah a day late and a dollar short, but like the dude up there in Aloha Oregon says... we gotta live with it every winter. I noticed the drop around October IIRC. It's so backwards, ethanol has less emissions but you have to refill more frequently, isn't that just as or more harmful to the environment in the bigger picture? LAME!

[hongkongnerdboy]

kuz its california. what more do you need to know?

[forkee]

20% water

x2

[6strngs]

from november 11th through june ?th a "winter blend" of gas is used which is designed to make cars easier to start when it's cold outside. gas milage drops and gas prices raise.

not only do gas companies change their additives based on season, but also region. So, since Nevada is a very warm state, they do not need as much of whatever additive makes the car eaiser to start on cold mornings that also leads to poor milage.