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Think its time to switch fuel stations

You aren't going to get very good mileage at -20 to -30 either. I imagine that's part of it.
 
duramaxdude said:
Well, you are going to think I am an idiot if I tell you. I figured out after I bought them that it wasnt a good idea. I am going to buy better ones in the summer when I have some money.

THey are the socalled Hertzog ones from penscola diesel of ebay.
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Nothing wrong with those...but be real honest here, how do you calculate you fuel mileage?

I tally my fuel each tank, and there are considerable variations, but I always know why...then I calculate mileage over each 365 days, which gives a pretty good picture of any real change.

How do you fill your tank, do you do it yourself? Do you fill it to the filler neck? Do you put in 10 bucks and drive until you can no longer tolerate the needle pinned to the left?

If you figured you mileage last after a weekend fishing trip to Kenora lst fall, and again now after driving in 4wd on the mean streets of Carberry in February, such variations in fuel mileage are predictable...

P.S, I go through Carberry every two weeks, can hook up the GMTDScantech, if you send me a PM I'll let you know when I'm flyin' by...
 
duramaxdude said:
Well, you are going to think I am an idiot if I tell you. I figured out after I bought them that it wasnt a good idea. I am going to buy better ones in the summer when I have some money.

THey are the socalled Hertzog ones from penscola diesel of ebay.
Click to expand...

Well I won't say they are the problem, they are Chinese however. If the truck runs and idles smooth, that won't cause that much loss in economy. As Mike said it is winter, more idle, longer warm ups, winter fuel, slow traffic, etc. See what your next tank does.
 
chickenhunterbob said:
Nothing wrong with those...but be real honest here, how do you calculate you fuel mileage?

I tally my fuel each tank, and there are considerable variations, but I always know why...then I calculate mileage over each 365 days, which gives a pretty good picture of any real change.

How do you fill your tank, do you do it yourself? Do you fill it to the filler neck? Do you put in 10 bucks and drive until you can no longer tolerate the needle pinned to the left?

If you figured you mileage last after a weekend fishing trip to Kenora lst fall, and again now after driving in 4wd on the mean streets of Carberry in February, such variations in fuel mileage are predictable...

P.S, I go through Carberry every two weeks, can hook up the GMTDScantech, if you send me a PM I'll let you know when I'm flyin' by...
Click to expand...

My dad does most of it but I usually throw in bettween $20-$60 as I am low on money because I dont have a job yet. I write all my KM down and my litres then convert them to gallons and miles. I say 3.8 litres is one gallon.

The cold weather shouldnt bother it to much because I havent noticed it to much before. I have always let it idle for 7min before I went anywere and so did my dad when he owned it.
 
NVW said:
Well I won't say they are the problem, they are Chinese however. If the truck runs and idles smooth, that won't cause that much loss in economy. As Mike said it is winter, more idle, longer warm ups, winter fuel, slow traffic, etc. See what your next tank does.
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I am filling up with a diferent station for a while so I will see how that does.
 
i find sonoco gold diesel gives a slight mileage improvement over regular diesel, but winter mileage is always worse than in the summer months, i think it is a combination of winter fuel as well as the cold. thats most likely what you are noticing. Also, you cannot really accurately gauge your average fuel mileage based on "20-60 dollar fill ups". you would have to record several tanks and make sure you accurately filled them to the exact same level and tried to maintain a consistent driving style. hope this helps, after all, you are driving a big , heavy truck.
 
chris4521 said:
i find sonoco gold diesel gives a slight mileage improvement over regular diesel, but winter mileage is always worse than in the summer months, i think it is a combination of winter fuel as well as the cold. thats most likely what you are noticing. Also, you cannot really accurately gauge your average fuel mileage based on "20-60 dollar fill ups". you would have to record several tanks and make sure you accurately filled them to the exact same level and tried to maintain a consistent driving style. hope this helps, after all, you are driving a big , heavy truck.
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Well you do have a point but I know for a fact that my truck gauge shows exactly 20 litres per quarter from 1/4 to 3/4. so from 1/4 to 3/4 is 40 litres. I can only get 100 km out of a quarter were before I could easilly get 160 and if I was really nice 180KM.

what is sonoco gold diese. Is it another brand/station.
 
sonoco has ultra 94 octane fuel for gas engines and 'gold diesel' for diesels. i think it is about 3c more a litre. my truck seems like it runs better on it, but it could just be me. are you using any additive in your fuel? that may help. also, when was the last time you changed the fuel filter. Do you have the stock exhaust/cat ?
 
chris4521 said:
sonoco has ultra 94 octane fuel for gas engines and 'gold diesel' for diesels. i think it is about 3c more a litre. my truck seems like it runs better on it, but it could just be me. are you using any additive in your fuel? that may help. also, when was the last time you changed the fuel filter. Do you have the stock exhaust/cat ?
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My truck is straightpipe and my fuel filter was changed 1400 KM ago. I am using Kleen FLo diesel conditioner.
 
There is no way to tell if the fuel gauge is 100% accurate. Dont go off of that. Only way to accurately measure fuel mileage is filling it to the filler neck, driving, and then filling it to the filler neck again and recording how much fuel was used.
 
You said it came on sudden...have you observed the guage to see if it is winding down or did you get in and discover the fuel was registering significantly lower? Could be the guage and unless you're topping off, you'd not know. On the worse case scenario, theft was mentioned earlier and you do park at school. I'm not discounting the honesty of fellow students and hate to accuse or think the worse but there's always a first time or that one bad apple. Any way to secure the fuel cap/door?
 
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Gauge could be suspect.

I had a 74 Nova that would always give me 50 miles after it hit Empty. One day it left me stranded at 1/8 of a tank
 
my fuel gauge is not accurate at all. i still had 2.5 gallons left when i was on Empty. it takes a long time to get to 3/4 of a tank so i usually think im driving good. then from 3/4 tank to empty it goes fast. never can predict them. its more like a reminder than a actual gauge.
 
I am pretty sure that nobody steals diesel from me. I am the only person at school with a diesel and anybody there should no better than to mess with my truck. They have a death wish if they do. Also my gauge dosent go down if I let it sit so I am pretty sure nobody does that. At home I park it in the shop and nobody will come into the yard without my dad or the dog noticing.

If my gauge would just go down faster than the fuel than it would be full right now. I put fuel into it enough to know that much.


i do use Kleen Flo diesel conditioner does anybody else use this product. I have been using it for a while so it shoould be good.
 
Glad to hear the truck has a "protected" status at school. As for the guage, my needle has suddenly decided it will wave across 1/4 of the guage after it passes "Full" until it registers below 1/2 tank and settles down. No warning at all, sudden onset. Something to consider. Hopefully the different fuel will solve the issues for you.
 
Paveltolz said:
Glad to hear the truck has a "protected" status at school. As for the guage, my needle has suddenly decided it will wave across 1/4 of the guage after it passes "Full" until it registers below 1/2 tank and settles down. No warning at all, sudden onset. Something to consider. Hopefully the different fuel will solve the issues for you.
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Ya I will let you know by the weekend whats happening.
 
Good news. I guess it was the fuel after all. I was driving to town and the fuel gauge moved down slower and slower as the day went on. I went 150 km from 3/4 down to 1/2. last week that was between 90 to 100. So I know its going up. I also noticed it rattles less at start up.

I will put through two more tanks with the other fuel station. It is more of a hassle getting fuel from there but for the extra quality I might just keep that up.
 
I have a couple of places that I fuel up that are close to work, both places are chuck full of big rigs fueling up constantly. Very large discrepancy for me in price, I work in Indiana & purchase my fuel there, today I stopped & topped my tank off, price per gallon $2.54. Two stations local where I live in ILL also sell fuel, rode by one of them on my way home, $2.89 per gallon. The difference is unbelievable. I roll on about 420 miles avg per week, so for me saving 20 cents or so a gallon adds up in a hurry.

I don't always run conditioner unless it's below zero and at least once 4th or 6th tank I try to dump some 30 wt non detergent oil in to lube the IP.

Filling the tank is something that takes time & I don't always have the time to fill it to the neck. So I maintain a log, my running avg is 19.2 currently and it was as high as 20.2 when I bought the truck last Oct.

Just recently changed out my T Stat for an AC delco 190, that upped my operating temp by about 10 degress, hoping to see my avg start creeping up...we'll see.

Glad you found the missing fuel!
 
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