Quote:
Originally Posted by ptjones
Ethanol has less energy in it which would hurt MPG's normally, but maybe with old carboreted gas engine it makes it run leaner. What your Oil consumption? ....
|
I guess that's true with engines that have a closed-loop injection system since they try to keep the fuel/air mixture as close to the leanest possible all the time. A carburettor (or older injection systems without lamda feedback) operates in the blind and therefore must have wider margins to cope with cold weather and poor fuel. Mixing petrol with ethanol can be seen as an easier and more flexible way to adjust the carburettors jets. (with the benefits of better margins to detonation, lower combustion temperature and lower consumption of fossile fuel)
I actually don't know my oil consumption, but after getting rid of some annoying leakage It's amazingly low for such an old lump of cast iron. I pour in a little bit of oil now and then, perhaps slightly more than a new car consumes. I probably got a very healthy engine the last time I replaced it, which seems to happen now and then with 40 year old cars in everyday traffic.
I have never had an engine, or any car before that could start time after time by such a short pulse from the starter that it only gives one or two piston strokes. When my current engine is nice and warm it starts on just a single stroke most of the times, which is a quite bizzarre feeling. -It sound like a missed attempt, the engine almost stops and the suddenly comes to life. Guess I have good piston rings.
Yesterday I summarized two years of statistics. I'm driving about 28000 km per year and I think it's about two years since I installed the present engine. The cast iron cylinder heads are soft so I have to keep an eye on the valves adjustment and I use high quality lead replacement from RedLine. I rarely go for trips shorter than 30 kilometers so I have quite few cold starts.
I have no electric block heater but would definitely use one if I could. Burn & Glide driving is no fun in the swedish winters. Engine temperature can get low and without an electric cirulation pump the windows turn foggy and the feet and fingers turn blue... -That's definitely a backside of improved fuel efficiency.
I have installed LED headlight replacement since we have a law in Sweden that demands us to always have the lights on, even in daytime. I don't think this have more than marginal effect on fuel consumption but the LED lights will make life easier for my battery while I'm silently gliding through the traffic.