I've notice the last couple of months my van mileage has gone from 20-21 mpg down to 14-15mpg. It just so happens when the prices started to go down at the same time. It's my understanding that methanol is a culprit of less mpg. So putting two and two together,its a conspiracy, yep that's what it is, it must be because more and more cars are going electric, right? so we unfortunates have to make up the difference by using more gas.

Oh I forgot to mentioned that my wife told me the tires looked like they were getting low. In my infinite wisdom I told her they were low profile tires and looked that way all the time. Well it dawned me that maybe I should check the tire pressure. Took it to Walmart and asked them to check please, report was 10# left front, 15# right front, 21# right rear, and 25# left rear. My tires are supposed to be 35#

I have always taken care of my car till I hit 60 years and then had a mechanic take over repairs. Need to talk to him about checking tires, well long story shortened. Had to apologise to my little wife.

It wasn't a conspiracy after all. It was my fault.

How old are your tires? After enough years, they don't seal against the rims, especially with aluminum rims, and you lose air pressure. I found out the hard way.
Don

I do it all the time and I'm only 34. I used to be very careful about tire pressure but as I get older I've gotten lazy. We own a Prius too so you'd think we would be on top of it. The only car I am careful about is my 55' Mercury because it has no power steering and when the tires get flat you can barely steer it.

If you find it difficult to check your tire pressures, next time you buy tires have them filled with nitrogen. It remains very stable. I found that the pressure remains almost the same no matter what the temperature.

"There are two people in a relationship - one is always right and the other is the husband."

Nick D, that was good, and my wife agreed!!! For me, I am always checking tire pressures, because I pay for the tires!!
For a little thread drift, I have a showroom perfect 1999 Dodge Avenger that has been adjusted, LOL to 300 HP. I got it out for the summer and wife decided to go along for the ride. I laid rubber in 2 gears and discovered, my wife is my speed bump in my fast lane of life!!!

Well to top it off two years ago I purchased them tires at Goodyear so they shouldn't have been that old. I have read that Consumer Reports you have to look at the code printed on the tires and you can find out when they were produced. That doesn't help if you buy the tires before coming across that info. I use to have a chart but lost it Drats., The local service was always finding more wrong things to fix. So they went out of business here in Port Orchard. Wonder Why?????

Saw a news story about some lawsuites being filed against the EPA to prevent the planned increase of ethanol in gasoline to 15%. That'll mess up mileage as well as engines..

My Toyota Camry experienced a steadily decreasing fuel economy last fall. I keep my car in near perfect running condition and try to very throughout with routine and preventive maintenance. Something that I overlooked was my O2 sensor. It was 21 years old and had over 210k miles on it at the time. I did a simple check with my VOM and saw that it was putting out some odd voltages, compared to what the factory service manual specified. $22 later and a OEM O2 sensor, my car went from 24-25MPG in the first week to 29 MPG, and since then I have been averaging 30 - to 32.4 MPG. The sensor paid for itself within a few tanks of gas!

I try to check my tire pressure every time I change my oil. A lot of people never check or change air filters as well. Around here the gravel driveways clog them up fast, and those can really kill your fuel economy.

Cummon You Guys. Nothing is ever optimum for long. New tires get old. Gas gets old.
No matter when you bought it. It had to be somewhere else for a while. Maybe a long
while. I buy from those that pump a lot of product, or sell a lot of tires...Unless I get a
"Deal". Don't we all? When electric cars get old, we'll see how they actually are.

BTW. As I look in the mirror, I note that I have seriously downgraded from my optimum.
I don't have a warranty...Other than that I'm recyclable.

At least you don't work with jokers my son works with. A co-worker of his bought a new Toyota 2 years ago and was always bragging about the gas mileage. So as a practical joke the jokers would add a few gallons to his tank when he wasn't around. They'd do it a few days then go a few days and not add any just to get a laugh at his expense.

Could be worse; you could be living in Cali, where gas prices are still going upppp....

Violates a basic law of Physics---Pressure times Volume divided by Temperature is a constant. (P*V/T = k)

I had assumed that the reason for Nitrogen was that it is inert and does not attack the rubber.

On vehicles these days it's easy to find the correct pressure data but I've always gone by the rule of thumb that anything under 30psi (measured when cold) on a road tire is dangerous, especially at highway speeds. Power steering tends to mask the effects of low pressure and it's claimed that most people can't visually spot an under-pressure tire until it's already below the safety margin.

Well you got one right. I don't care what the law of physics says, I know this from experience. It is called taking a tire pressure guage and monitoring tires with air versus nitrogen. Recommended tire inflation pressures are stated for tires that are cold. The difference, from the high temps of summer to the coldest days of winter, where I live, is as much as 10 psi variation. But with nitrogen it is not a very noticeable change. If you don't believe me read this. http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/ho ... ns/4302788
Many tire shops, now offer free nitrogen fill with new tires.

This is why:


First is that nitrogen is less likely to migrate through tire rubber than is oxygen, which means that your tire pressures will remain more stable over the long term.

It is about molecule size. Think of how fast helium filled baloons deflate.

Pete

We have a Quick fill station down the road (100% American gas) that's 10% ethanol. I was buying my gas there but noticing I was not getting very good mileage.
Hooked up the trailer and filled up there and headed west. By the time I got where I was going I was on fumes. I thought that the trailer made the difference. Refueled at a Mobile (same octane, still 10% ethanol, and within a couple pennies a gallon) and picked up several hundred pounds of books. When I got back (same route) I still had a quarter tank of gas left. That was with the addition of adding several hundred pounds to the trailer. I don't buy gas at Quick fill anymore.

I bet that sign on pump the said up to 10% ethanol.

The way that a tank truck is fill up, it may get all or only part of the ethanol.
Some truck may have up to 20% and some 0%.

Ethanol is normally stored as E95, that is a blend of 5% denaturant (typically gasoline) and 95% ethanol. This is then normally blended at the load rack with gasoline to produce E10, or a blend with 10% ethanol and 90% gasoline.

If one truck is being filled at the load rack it will get 10%, more than likely 10 to 15 trucks are being fill at one time the truck that nears to the Ethanol injected point will get the most Ethanol, in some system.

http://www2.emersonprocess.com/siteadmi ... ending.pdf

Jimmie

Around here I wont touch Quik fill or Hess.
Its noticable with my truck and drastically worse in my motorbike.

Yes, although it's called "Boyle's Law".

One of the reasons N is used in tires is that it's generally 'dryer" than air and as you stated, doesn't rot the tires from within.