In winter they alter the gas mixture so that you can run in cold conditions without messing up the environment. I can't remember off the top of my head what is exactly altered, but yeah. It should affect you in PA, it gets cold and snows right?

 

Wickey, I am spent most of my years in Minnesota and you all know it gets like 30 to 50 below zero on a regular basis there (not wind chill, real temp) and I never heard of a winter blend. Sometimes we put "HEET" a product that absorbs moisture in the gas line, but thats it. Plus a water heater to insure a startup in the morning. The tires would be flat on the bottom and I would have to park the car in the gear because I couldn't shift it, and point the car in the direction I wanted to go in the morning. But I never heard of a winter blend in gas. Oil yes, but not gas. Hometown: International Falls Minnesota.

 

Sgt - Most of us poor souls stuck with winter/summer blend are in areas where the EPA has decided the smog layer could use a little thinning. Different times of year means different atmospheric conditions contributing to smog, so they doctor the blend for that time of year to cut down on the problem particulates. It's probably all a crock designed to justify high gas prices at certain times of the year, and to add insult to injury you have to put up with your vehicle running like crud for the extra money.

 

I have run on winter blend when in the Twin Cities (Minneapolis/St. Paul) but in my hometown we don't usually see the winter blend. I know what Heet is, and I know about winter weight oils. But the winter blend of gas has been around for a long time. Being up in International Falls you wouldn't have the smog issues to deal with so they have no need to fiddle with the gas mix. I have had my truck in 30 below temps and I could shift it fine, even without having a heater to warm the tranny before I tried to use my shifter.

 

i get 8 mpg with 33" and 4.10 rear end at 70 mph, yet at 60, i can get anywhere from 12-18 mpg. all depends on weather temp and if she feels like being testy or not.


Fords are like women. They run hard and good while taken care of, but one blip and all hell breaks loose...

 

i'm averaging 11.2-11.7 every fillup. i made it to 12.5 once.. but that's it. stock with 3.5's i think and 31 inch tires. 4 speed manual. 87, though, first year for fuel injection so i might be hurting there.. and i think i need to change plugs/rotor/wires soon, aka this year..

not to mention i'll be adding an electric fan, too. and a K&N intake. along with exhaust and such.. we'll see if it gets any better.

 

This time of year I get 11.5-12 mpg in my '81. I live down 5 miles of soft (when wet, which is usually) farm road and I have no heat yet on the intake manifold (due to duals) but I do have warmed air and a manual choke. It sits tall, with very blunt aerodynamics. Last summer it got 13-14.5. i suspect I could get better with an Offy DP and holley 390, and I'd consider swapping in an efi 300 if my motor weren't so new. With gearing and 32" tires, it turns 2250rpm at an actual 60.

 

Yeah, I would consider swapping in an efi 300 in mine also, but I don't think that would help much. I to have problems with it being cold and wanting to stall out when I step on the gas. Once it warms up its fine. I should have gotten a little V/8

 

Silver Streak hit the nail right on the head with this posting....

Quote:

One thing that hasen't been mentioned as an influence on mileage is speedometer accuracy.

How many trucks are out there still running on the original everything?

If the speedometer is off 10%, the calculated mileage could be off by even more because the truck could also be going 10% slower than indicated.

For example, if your speedo says you are going 60 mph, but you are really only going 54, you will be using less gass because you are going slower. At the same time, the odometer is throwing the miles up there 10 % faster than it should. Two 10% errors can add up to a total error of about 22%.

So if you have NOT accounted for and speedometer error AFTER switching to Larger tires and/or Higher gears, the MPG numbers you are putting out are purely BOGUS.

Here is a Speedometer/Tire Size Calculator....

http://www.paspeedo.com/calculator.htm

Do your Calculations and then see what your #s are.

 

my '84 f150 4x4 300 6cyl. 4 spd, bull low /reverse, 33x12.50-15 tires pulls around 17 to 18 mpg, i don't think you will get much better than that from the 300 I6

 

i get my numbers not by speedo, but by taking mile markers on the highway/ mapquest milage and dividing it by how much gas i put in her. i do top it off so my numbers tend to be a bit lower.

 

On a good day I'll get between 13-16 highway/city mpg's. I have highway gearing and the C-6 slush box on my 84 1bbl. Hopeing to see at least a bit of an increase when I redo new intakes/exhaust and 2bbl carb later this spring.

 

my buddies '94 stepside short bed XL with a 5spd and 2.73 gears got 32mpg one time on the highway with the cruise control on. i was with him and double checked it five times and it still came out to 32. this was on the interstate

 

I do a speedo/odo check vs mileposts on everything I drive (I'm a truck driver). Any check I do is for a minimum of 10 miles, to nullify possible mile post misplacement and provide greater accuracy. As currently equiped, the speedo on my '81 is accurate and the odo is pessemistic (corrected = reading x 1.034). The figures I posted are uncorrected - that's how I enter them in the logbook, and the built-in pessemism gives me a slight margin of safety when figuring range.
Coincidentally, the speedo and odo in my '77 both have a correction of 1.035, as equiped.
To calibrate your speedo/odo for any speed, you need to know the time (seconds) required to cover a mile at that speed. To find that time, divide 3600 by the speed:
3600/55mph = 65.5sec; 3600/60 = 60sec; 3600/65 = 55.4sec; 3600/70 = 51.4sec
If you are timing yourself through mileposts, divide 3600 by time in seconds:
3600/58sec = 62.06mph
I always have a calculator with me to figure fuel milage and average speed. This is just another use for it. The best way to get out of a ticket is to not earn one to begin with.

 

Whoa. I knew .. I mean... I had knowledge... at least... *koff*

No option for the 31x10.50R15 so I bumped it up to 255/80R15 which brought the calcs to 31.06X10.03 which is close enough.. and found my legal 65mph freeway is really 72mph... Better work on that batting-the-big-blues at the nice DPS officer thing...

Seriously, though, always been a drive with the flow on the freeway kind (just doesn't seem safe to go too slow, albeit within the limit, anymore, the way other people drive)but it's still a cold splash of reality to see. Nice tool, thanks for posting it...