Has any one else noticed that during the winter, their gas mileage becomes non existant? i drove from basicaly the main city gresham community park to lloyd center, then back, with out much stop and go, took i84 all the way from 242nd/hogan road to lloyd. then the same trip back, and i used over a 1/4 tank of gas on my 3.0l. i was doing about 65-70 which is about 2300 rpms (i have a tach installed). could this crappy gas mileage be comeing from the winter ethanol blend? i get either regular or plus from either chell, chevron, 76, or on the rare occasion from safeway. NEVER from arco. car drives the same, its just a sudden wtf on the gas mileage. i wasn't driving like i stole the car either

/rant

p.s. this drive usualy uses about an eighth of a tank.

 

Several factors come into effect in the winter that harm fuel economy. The first is the winter mix. It has additives that reduce pollution when the engine is cold. These additives reduce the BTU of the fuel by means of dilution. The second factor is that the vehicles run rich during the warm up mode, and since the air outside is colder, it takes longer to warm up. This is further aggravated by habits such as letting the vehicle warmup for 15 or 20 minutes, at which time it is getting zero miles to the gallon. And this is all assuming that everything works as it should, such as the thermostat is working correctly, and all the sensors are in working order.

In most ares, winter ethanol blend is not yet in use. I would look at something else as a contributing factor, such as the above mentioned thermostat.

 

I think I mentioned this before; gas mileage in the winter will be worse than in the summer, even without the ethanol additive. However, most of the additional consumption comes from the first 10-15 minutes after initial startup. You should try to do easy during those times, if not just to help with mileage, it helps with engine longevity. If you're driving in the rain or snow, that's obviously going to take some more energy just to move the car through. Other than those factors, the mileage should be similar to summer driving. You may see a loss of up to 10% mileage with the new winter formulations that have up to 15% ethanol in the fuel.

Are you sure you didn't accidentally load up on E85? Remember that ethanol has about half the specific energy of gasoline (whatever that is today), so 85% ethanol is going to have less than 60% of the specific energy as gasoline. Plus most gasoline only engines may not run very well on it.

 

Yeah, sometimes I have unusually bad fuel milage in short errands. Especially when it is cold. But I notised, that bad fuel milege is when it is hot too. So the optimal for fuel milage outdoors temperature is about +15-25 dgr C. Winter fuel milage is low becouse of driving with cold engine, skidding in mud and snow.....

 

Sometime the bad mileage when hot is either from running AC, or the lower air desity of hot air entering the exhaust. It doesn't mess with the fuel ratios, but it does mess with the thermal efficiency of the engine. The best performance is when the combustion temperatures are high, and the ambient temperatures are low. This is an overly simplified explanation, but the greater the temperature differential in general, the greater the actual efficiency of any combustion engine.

 

Especially correct for Otto Cycle Engines and Turbo/Intercooler engines.

 

hmmmmmmmmmm ok kool. i think it might've been the gas that i bought... i made a similar trip today after fueling up at a chevron out in gresham (vs. a texaco last time) and my needle has barely moved at all. go figure, waste of twenty bux imo. oh well. oh and as for the ac, i can strait up hear the diff. between when its on and off, my engine drops about 2-300 rpms at LOW rpms (like coasting). will be able to rule out thermostat soon, as i will be replacing it when i flush/clean out my cooling system

 

I have old engine, that leaks and burnes oil, but fuel milge is really good, about 10 l/100km on hightway. I know that compare fuel milege with 5st tranny is not correct, but 10 l per 100 km is the good figure for 3.0

 

That is really good mileage for Ford 3.0L. I am continually monitoring my fuel mileage & the colder the air temp the worse fuel economy I get. It ranges from 10.5 up to 16 litres/100km. However in the winter I dont do much long trip driving. If I do, however, I get in the 12-13 Litre/100km range. Air temp definately makes engine warm up longer (ECT), & together with intake air temp,( IAC & a bunch of other sensors) these factors change the fuel injection pulse time. I think Ford got it right though, because driveability is faultless even in -30* C temps.

Aeroman.

 

How about the rain/humidity? My daughter in Portland tells me it's really poured up there recently. Water on the road creates drag, and even if the road is dry, extra water vapor in air in winter means less oxygen for combustion, and less efficiency.
Ray Mac

 

WHen it is raining it seems to me like someone slightly press the brake pedal. And some roads may be skid when wet.

 

lol may skid? i have all season tires with good tread on them AND have like 100 extra pounds from my subs in the back and half the time when i go to leave (and once when i went to go when the light turned green) i just start spinning my tires. some times its fun, but not so much when i'm trying to merge. especialy with tri-met, semi's and other large vehicles coming at me.

thanks for the education!

 

A lot of people just use all season tires, but it really is worth considering using a designated winter tire. AWD helps go and steer in the winter, but does very little to help stop, but winter tires do. I've seen 2wd vehicles with winter tires that could go through the snow better than 4wd vehicles with all season tires.

 

2wd aero with winter tires runs better then 4wd one with all season tires.
All season tires are good for south states, but not for states with real winter with snow and mud.

 

Oh really? If i weren't a broke teen i'd deff. buy some, but alas, i am... i guess i'll just have to drive slow... :-(