Since my last fill up,
our gas has gone up .45 cents a gallon !!
The bad thing, is that it is not even summer, yet.
our gas has gone up .45 cents a gallon !!
The bad thing, is that it is not even summer, yet.
There is something funny going on.
- Thread starter Nevada Ed
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Try being on this side of the border.
$4.89 at the cheap Arco but going up fast.
[insert insulting political comment about the Gov here]
$4.89 at the cheap Arco but going up fast.
[insert insulting political comment about the Gov here]
Since we moved to central Texas I've noticed wild fluctuations in gas prices. I'm talking about $0.30/gallon over night. Some days it fluctuated up, some days down.
Can't say it something funny, or unusual; been going on since 1973. I get irritated every time it goes up, but, anymore, I'm not surprised.
As my car needs high test gas, I am really happy that I only need to fill-up once a month
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LVSteve
Member
I was sat at a light yesterday and saw that the El Cheapo station was showing over $4/gallon for gas and diesel. Thank goodness I'm not driving much at the moment, even if my BMW diesel gets 36 MPG around town.
Thank goodness I'm not driving much at the moment, even if my BMW diesel gets 36 MPG around town.
Too bad making your own alcohol is illegal as we could all just make it out of almost any plant (including plain ole grass clippings) and show the middle finger to the oil barons! A friend of mine gets alcohol from somewhere (not saying..) and has run his car on it for years.
We're under $3.00 here
GypsmJim
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Oh the horror!!! Just in the last week I read several threads about the evils of Ethanol.
Back in college I worked part time at a chemical plant. We used ethanol in one of the formulations. One of my coworkers had a 2-stroke motorcycle and he did an experiment. Drained the tank and added 100% ethanol. Made some carb adjustments, timing and spark plugs (he was a mechanic) and his bike ran perfect. When I graduated and moved on he was still "borrowing" his fuel from the plant's tank.
taz666
Member
How many times did he replace rod/crank bearings?
$3.03 ………….
OP
I guess those of us are lucky, here in Reno, for our area, on the west coast.
Costco is at 4.25, average 4.49, Cheveron at 4.89 but
across the state line, Truckee Calif. lets you buy gas at only,
$6.39 a gallon.
Costco is at 4.25, average 4.49, Cheveron at 4.89 but
across the state line, Truckee Calif. lets you buy gas at only,
$6.39 a gallon.
$3.16 yesterday, $3.02 today at most places. Costco was $305 on Sunday, so it's likely less today.
GypsmJim
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The oil system was not deactivated. The ethanol was still run at 50:1.
Ingramite
Member
H.E.B. our local grocery store has gas pumps with the cheapest prices in Kerrville. All of the others, a few cents higher. Sometimes over a dime higher at the stations out on the I-10 exit ramps.
When I retired my drive dropped from 200 miles a day to 200 miles a month so the impact has been reduced considerably. My current record is 4 days without riding or driving. That sounds simple, just try it. Sure, I understand that people in NYC don't own a vehicle.
I still smile at the empty suit joking about "snack-flation" during the Super Bowl. Let em eat cake. Yeah, I get it.
When I retired my drive dropped from 200 miles a day to 200 miles a month so the impact has been reduced considerably. My current record is 4 days without riding or driving. That sounds simple, just try it. Sure, I understand that people in NYC don't own a vehicle.
I still smile at the empty suit joking about "snack-flation" during the Super Bowl. Let em eat cake. Yeah, I get it.
I thought about that too, but if the bike had an auto-oiling system (no need to mix oil with the gas directly) cranking the oiler up a little would compensate for alcohol's lack of lubricity (oiliness).
FWIW, some countries (for example Brazil - last time I looked into it) use alcohol almost exclusively for motor fuel. It just requires some simple tuning modifications, especially with fuel injection.
They make their alcohol from plant waste - leftovers from cane and beet sugar production. We could do the same. Corn stalks and cobs, wheat chaff, and any other waste plant matter can be used to make alcohol.
The problem with our use of alcohol is that all of our alcohol producing & distilling facilities are geared towards using GRAIN. Basically turning food into fuel - which jacks up the price of both the FOOD and the FUEL.
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LVSteve
Member
Just checked around on gasbuddy and Vegas is in that twilight zone where diesel is the same or less than regular at some stations.
I have a "Flex Fuel" Silverado. On a long road trip (600 miles) I ran regular gas (10% Alcohol) one way and E-85 the other. Afterwards I calculated both down to the cost per mile. Couple pennies different. E-85 is much harder to find, so I don't bother with it. For me, it's a contingency use only.
Corn prices are really low right now, and I'm not seeing that at the pumps.
$3.85 here, but I expect it to go up considerable by the end of May.
Running an errand yesterday I drove a short loop to pick up forgotten paperwork otherwise I would not have passed a station $0.30 cheaper (Exxon) than anywhere else, 3.39 vs 3.69.
Those parts of your motor will last longer on pure ethanol than on pure gasoline, as ethanol has less energy (about 30%) and burns cooler. Not only that it is harder to ignite than gasoline and in the case of fire, easier to extinguish
That is one of the big reasons there is an alcohol class in racing
The reason for the recent spike is conflict in the middle east. But, if you want to see the actual reason for the overall gas prices take a look at the earning reports for every major petroleum company for the last 3 years. Record profits each and everyone. Despite what some believe, no one in the electric car industry or government forced that money on them, they wanted it and the consumers paid it to them.
The price of crude has a lot to do with it and the big producers in the middle east set that. Yes, we can drill for more like we did in 2016 and 2017, but the fact is US drilling rig count took a serious drop in 2017 due to low crude prices and the OPEC nations dropped prices to compete, which made US drilling for high cost recovery crude way less profitable. That drop in rig count then begin to drive the price of crude higher again.Then when Covid started US dropped from 19,400,000 barrels a day in to 16,400,00 barrels a day. A 16% drop.consumption which further dropped the price of crude to a short time low of just $15 a barrel and gasoline prices plunged as a result. It is currently back up to over 19,300,000 barrels a day. The actual drop in crude prices on a monthly average was NOT from 2016 ($40) to 2018 ($70) then late 2020 and covid ($41 per bbl) It actually occurred from 2012 ($110 per bbl) to 2016($40 per bbl). Also crude production isn't a lets produce more now deal, from lets drill for more oil now till the actual result of that increased drilling hitting the refineries takes well over a year and more if for difficult to extraction oil like the Balken.
The OPEC nations produce 34 million barrels of crude a day, the most the US ever produced was 20 million per day. WShich gives OPEC way more control over the price of oil than the US producers even at top production and our government has very little control over any of it. If OPEC wants $75 a barrel, they get it and our producers are not going to think lets be generous and sell for less. LMAO. If you could mine gold for $1000 an ounce what would you sell it for when the world market value is $2191? Why do you think oil is different
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taz666
Member
As for bearing wear ... I'm thinking along the line of cylinder wash down.
Once the alky get in the oil, bearing wear increases a bunch.
Once the alky get in the oil, bearing wear increases a bunch.
A friend of mine has an old VW diesel. He's rigged a second fuel tank in the trunk that he fills with used cooking oil his daughter's boyfriend brings him free from the diner where he works. He starts the car with diesel from his main tank and after a minute throws a switch he's rigged on the dash, switching over to the cooking oil. I've ridden with him several times - it seems to work great. He says he adds diesel fuel once or twice a year.
Dead Central Texas gas is about 3.20 right now, in small towns, and maybe 2.99 in larger 'burgs.
Not wanting to risk a political rant the politics of ethanol are, nonetheless, interesting. Back when alcohol was being considered for large-scale, and reasonably permanent, additive to gasoline, to "ease our dependency on oil resources," every relevant industry had a position.
The American Chemical Society provided testimony on Capitol Hill that their member companies could produce methanol a whole lot more economically than ethanol could be distilled from corn (and once in a while grain sorghum). They were correct but economics was a little beside the point.
The fact remained that, at the time, commodity prices, particularly corn, were depressed (as now) and Iowa hosted the first primary in the form of their caucuses. Both parties fell over themselves to provide a boost to the number one corn state's economy. This is a much simplified version but that's pretty much how ethanol, distilled from corn, got to be the gasoline fuel additive "of choice" in the U.S.
Full disclosure: I work in the ag industry and many of my fellows benefit from the practice. I'll not say a bad word about ethanol in public as too many of my cohorts are National Corn Growers Association people.
I will say that I pay close, objective, attention to the practice and there is little doubt that distillation of corn for a fuel additive is significantly more efficient than when the practice was begun and generally "pencils out" if only by a little.
The practice of making ethanol from other, usually whole plant, sources is generally known as "cellulosic" ethanol production. Though occasionally promising this practice has not "penciled out" for the most part. Cellulosic has poorer ethanol yields per ton of starting material than grain distillation thus it proves considerably more expensive despite the fact that the starting fodder is usually cheaper than corn. One of the biggest problems is cellulosic distillation plants are more complicated and expensive to build and trucking bales of switchgrass more than 30 miles ruins the economics of the venture.
The farm economy is in the proverbial toilet just now and knowledgeable ag economists forecast the cost of establishing a corn/soybean crop in the heartland this year will exceed profits making break-even cash flow a rarity and losses extremely likely. Currently almost 40% of the U.S corn crop goes to ethanol production so messing with the status quo just now would be a near death blow to U.S. farmers.
Just my two cents. Bryan
Not wanting to risk a political rant the politics of ethanol are, nonetheless, interesting. Back when alcohol was being considered for large-scale, and reasonably permanent, additive to gasoline, to "ease our dependency on oil resources," every relevant industry had a position.
The American Chemical Society provided testimony on Capitol Hill that their member companies could produce methanol a whole lot more economically than ethanol could be distilled from corn (and once in a while grain sorghum). They were correct but economics was a little beside the point.
The fact remained that, at the time, commodity prices, particularly corn, were depressed (as now) and Iowa hosted the first primary in the form of their caucuses. Both parties fell over themselves to provide a boost to the number one corn state's economy. This is a much simplified version but that's pretty much how ethanol, distilled from corn, got to be the gasoline fuel additive "of choice" in the U.S.
Full disclosure: I work in the ag industry and many of my fellows benefit from the practice. I'll not say a bad word about ethanol in public as too many of my cohorts are National Corn Growers Association people.
I will say that I pay close, objective, attention to the practice and there is little doubt that distillation of corn for a fuel additive is significantly more efficient than when the practice was begun and generally "pencils out" if only by a little.
The practice of making ethanol from other, usually whole plant, sources is generally known as "cellulosic" ethanol production. Though occasionally promising this practice has not "penciled out" for the most part. Cellulosic has poorer ethanol yields per ton of starting material than grain distillation thus it proves considerably more expensive despite the fact that the starting fodder is usually cheaper than corn. One of the biggest problems is cellulosic distillation plants are more complicated and expensive to build and trucking bales of switchgrass more than 30 miles ruins the economics of the venture.
The farm economy is in the proverbial toilet just now and knowledgeable ag economists forecast the cost of establishing a corn/soybean crop in the heartland this year will exceed profits making break-even cash flow a rarity and losses extremely likely. Currently almost 40% of the U.S corn crop goes to ethanol production so messing with the status quo just now would be a near death blow to U.S. farmers.
Just my two cents. Bryan
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Wher I live we do not have much choices in gas stations. You need it up here you get it! Dam the prices, full speed ahead! (Apologies to Admiral David Farragut)
We, wife and me try our best to get our gas when traveling. It normally will be at least .20 to .30 a gallon cheaper. Same deal with the boat users, the smart ones will fill up before they leave civilization. Getting that same expensive gas on the lake at a Marina can easily add a dollar or more to a galleon of that Oh so precious liquid!
Ah come on now. You and I know everything is on the up and up.
wink wink
wink wink
With a well setup engine running the correct carbonation or injectors that will not happen, Similar to running propane.
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