ARCO gas made me lose 5 mpg!?
 

So I usually get don't get Arco gas but it was on my way and inexpensive so I got some the other day. Now I usually get abou 19-21 mpg, but on this last tank with Arco, I was only getting like 14.5 or so. So can it really have been that poor quality of gas this time that I lost so much mileage or should I be checking for a leak or something? I did not drive any differently, more aggressive or in more traffic than normal during this. I have gotten Arco occasionally before and never noticed this before. So is Arco really that bad and I never noticed or was this just a really bad batch? Also, there was some water dripping underneath my car,but I think a little water/condensation is normal right? It wasn't gas.

Couldve been a number of things. Sometimes when i fill up my tank I will reset my MPG meter. The meter will give you the AVERAGE of the numbers. So if you drive for 30 minutes at 70 mph and your gauge is saying your getting 24 MPG- if you stop for a 3 minutes to stop at the drive-thru and your car is still running, the car will find the AVERAGE of 70 mph & 0-5 MPH driving. Meaning the gauge will not be accurate.

If you haven't touched the gauge, then this doesnt apply. But I was wondering one day why i was getting 31 MPG on the freeway for 4 hours of driving and then I stopped to eat and was getting 15 MPG by just letting the car sit.


Hope I help.

I wasn't referring to the MPG gauge, that was telling me a normal 21.6. What i was paying attention to was that I was down a quarter tank at 60 miles, when usually, it's 90 miles at that point. I got my 14.5 mpg number by dividing the miles I had driven since the last fill-up by the number of gallons I filled up today.

Hmm- Then i would assume its the quality of gas?

I get about 120 Miles before i Hit 3/4 of a tank. 240 miles when I hit 1/2.

I didn't realize the ga could make such a difference. No more occasional Arco, sticking to Chevron and 76

No gasoline would make that much of a difference in mileage and the engine still run...recheck your figures. My guess is a division error.

When i moved to cali people told me to avoid arco..

nope, no division error, 8.67 gallons for <130 miles, either I got a particularly bad batch or it didn't really fill completely full when it stopped last time, though my gauge was showing full, usually, after my division, I am in the 19-21mpg range. I agree gas shouldn't make that much of a difference which is why i was worried about a leak but there isn't anything dripping underneath. I just topped off that 8.67 gallons at 76 today so i will see if it gets better or stays bad. Maybe there is another problem?

The fact that the car was telling me 21.6 mpg also makes me wonder how that number is determined because I did reset it after the fill up.

yeah i have a discount valero station by my house. I use to only get my gas from there in my previous car. I switched to Exxon across the street one day because i was on that side of the road and noticed in that fill up my mpg spiked 2-3 mpg. Never went back to Valero and my mpg stayed at the new mpg. Guess there was a reason it is a "discounted" gas station, shitty gas.

SHELL STATIONS! :tup:

I've noticed much less mileage when I get 76 gas compared to Chevron gas. I reset the trip meter at every fill up and drive until the low gas light comes on. With Chevron gas, I would get close to 340 miles before the lights come on. With 76 gas, I would get just about 300 miles. Numbers are no exact, just off the top of my head.

:iagree:
There's two types of gas I use. 80% of the time its the V-power. The other is a convenience store with guaranteed gas. Quik Trip, a DFW jewel. its guaranteed discount gas... If you've never had the pleasure of entering a Quik Trip? You need to if ever passing thru tx or neighboring states.

SHELL & Quicktrip are my favorite.

I usually get about 460 Miles on a tank of Shell & about 420 with Quicktrip.

Same driving but quicktrip saves me 7 bucks on a tank