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Old 06-14-2011, 10:17 PM   #7 (permalink)
WVengr
EcoModding Lurker
 
Join Date: May 2011
Location: West Virginia
Posts: 22

Bruiser - '97 Nissan D21 Reg Cab
90 day: 23.43 mpg (US)

Aspire - '95 Ford Aspire Base
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Well may have found the problem. I was reading the user manual to see if there was a thing in maintenance that I had forgot. Instead I saw "Fuel: Recommended 91 RON" Since I had a 150 mile trip to make I topped off the tank with 93 octane just to see if the recommended made a difference. I filled up again when I got home 159 miles later and shattered my old mileage record

EDIT: I thought I got 32 MPG, since that's where the gas pump shut off. However this morning I noticed that the gas gauge was down a bit even though I had just driven a few miles back to my house after filling, so i filled up again this morning, this time at the same station I had used when i left, and got a little over a gallon more in, so it is looking more like 26 MPG, but still a marked improvement.

It wasn't knocking so I hadn't thought about octane, but for some reason it made a difference. Not sure why though. Further research is needed to see what octane gives me the lowest $ per mile. Not exactly sure how to do scientific testing on this without draining the whole tank though.
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Retired: Will add the new car once i manage to run a tank of gas through it.

Last edited by WVengr; 06-15-2011 at 11:25 AM..
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