Volvo Service Tips » Volvo Fuel Economy

Fuel Economy – E10 Gasoline Destroys Fuel Economy

volvotonny — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 01:51:56 +0000

Why E10 gasoline keeps you running on empty.

Ethanol contains high levels of oxygen and burns cleanly, greatly benefiting the environment, but the bottom line is that E10 gasoline will give you less miles per gallon (MPG).

The problems with Ethanol Blended Gasoline – E10

One gallon of ethanol yields only two-thirds as much energy as a gallon of gasoline.

Why?, because ethanol burns hotter than gasoline. And it contains high levels of oxygen which is great for clean emissions. But too much air or oxygen and less fuel during combustion reduces engine performance.

Ethanol also causes catalytic converters to break down faster. This can cost anywhere from $800 – $1200 to fix.

Ethanol not only cause engine damage and performance problems, but can cause rust in the engine.

This is due to the solvent nature of alcohol. Alcohol easily dissolves water into gasoline, and this is bad news for your car because water can destroy your engine.

Ethanol eats up rubber, so watch out for any rubber or plastic parts in your car engine.

According to U.S. Department of Energy figures, the current blend of 10 percent ethanol reduces gas mileage by almost 4 percent, some folks claim it’s more like 20-35%.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has now approved E15 for late model cars, so this will further reduce MPG.

139.5 billion gallons of gasoline consumed in the United States in 2009 contained 10.6 billion gallons of ethanol. 10.6 billion gallons of ethanol burned in 2009 displaced just 7.2 billion gallons of gasoline.

May I add that fossil fuel is consumed to generate ethanol. Corn-based ethanol requires petroleum-based products to both raise corn (farm equipment) and produce ethanol.

Eleven acres of land is required to grow enough corn based alcohol to run just one vehicle every year. That land can be used to grow food for seven people.

How about the subsidies that go to the farmers that grow corn. Personally, I believe ethanol is a boon for farmers but a tragedy for gasoline consumers.

According to the United States Dept. of Agriculture (USDA), the ethanol industry consumed 4.6 billion bushels of corn in the 2009-10 marketing year and forecast’s 4.7 billion in 2011.

Ethanol is considered a good alternative energy because it’s inexpensive, plentiful and high in oxygen. A clean burning fuel that gives cleaner emissions.

On principle I don’t believe ethanol is a good substitute for oil.

Solution

The best solution is to check your car manual, and find out what fuel is recommended for your vehicle.

Most cars can run on regular gas but to prevent knocking or pinging you can upgrade your fuel or simply mix in some high octane gas with regular gasoline.

What is your opinion?

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How To Fail Car Emissions:Discover How Your Car Wast’s Fuel $$

volvotonny — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 01:41:42 +0000

Failing emissions testing is an opportunity to save money because you just discovered that your car is wasting fuel.

City driving not only adversely affects your car but your health too. This is because high levels of harmful car emissions like Carbon Monoxide, Nitrous Oxides and Hydrocarbons can lead to failed emission testing.

Here are some interesting car emission facts you might want to know.

I recently read an article stating that the European Union (EU) is considering phasing out the petrol (gasoline) engine in favor of mass transit to cut down on harmful car emissions.

Engine Combustion for a healthy vehicle (Normal Running):

Under normal conditions, a controlled mixture of fuel and air is combusted in the car engine for maximum fuel efficiency.

Fuel will react with the Oxygen to produce carbon dioxide, nitrogen and water vapor.

Hydrocarbon Fuel + Oxygen =CO2 + H2O+ N2 (simplified equation for complete combustion)

This process, known as complete combustion happens under ideal conditions of Air to Fuel Mixture Ratios (AFR).

This ideal ratio of fuel to air is known as the stoichiometric ratio and is about 14.7:1 (14.7 pounds of air is burned for every pound of fuel). No more and no less.

This ratio describes the ideal thermo chemical process, where all of the air and all of the fuel is consumed during the combustion cycle, leaving no residual exhaust by-products. Nitrogen which is 79% of air passes through the combustion process virtually unchanged.

The benefits of a healthy vehicle:

The vehicle runs more efficiently and wastes less fuel; therefore, saving you hundreds in gas dollars

Engine Combustion for an unhealthy vehicle:

Your car will fail emissions testing because incomplete combustion or partial combustion is taking place and producing harmful car emissions.

Two main causes of emissions are;

The Air Fuel Ratio (14.7:1) is less than the ideal stoichiometric ratio necessary for complete combustion to take place. Excess fuel in the mixture means that there is not enough oxygen to react with extra fuel for complete combust to take place. In this case, the maximum output of heat cannot be attained and you will experience poor mileage. This is commonly known as running a Rich Mixture. A Rich Mixture is responsible for high emissions of Carbon Monoxide (CO).
The Air Fuel Ratio (14.7:1) is greater than stoichiometric ratio and this means that there is too much air or oxygen in the mixture. Too little fuel and excess air produce greater than ideal temperature that binds oxygen molecules to nitrogen to form nitrous oxides. This is commonly known as running a Lean Mixture. A Lean Mixture is responsible for high emissions of Nitrous Oxides (NOx).

Harmful Emissions:

Hydrocarbons(HC)
Carbon Monoxide(CO)
Nitrous Oxides(NOx)

High Hydrocarbons (HC)

High HC is caused by excess raw fuel in the AFR (Rich Mixture). Some of this raw fuel is unburned which leads to the production of carbon monoxide (CO).

Six common failures likely to lead to a high output of Hydrocarbons are:

Faulty Ignition Timing
Faulty Ignition components
A Lean Misfire
Faulty Catalytic Converter
Faulty Air Injection Components
Low Cylinder Compression

High Carbon Monoxide (CO)

High CO is typical in Rich Mixtures because of excess fuel and little air (oxygen). Less than ideal AFR leads to partial combustion. Carbon (soot) and CO is produced in this reaction.

Five faults likely to produce high carbon monoxide are:

Dirty Air Filter
Faulty Oxygen Sensors (O2 Sensors)
Faulty Manifold Absolute Pressure (MAP Sensor)
Faulty Throttle Position Sensor (TPS)
Faulty Engine Coolant Temperature (ECT Sensor)

High Nitrous Oxides (NOx)

High Nitrous Oxides emissions are due to a Lean Mixture (too much air or oxygen in the mixture), greater than ideal AFR.

This condition occurs when the lean fuel is completely burned off; some oxygen is left over in the reaction process.

The heat produced is greater than normal and Nitrogen combines with left over oxygen to produce nitrous oxides (toxic emission).

In a normally running engine, Nitrogen passes through the engine unchanged, but not in this case.

Five common failures leading to high NOx emissions are;

Lean Fuel Mix
Faulty Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) System
Faulty Catalytic Converter (CAT)
High Engine Mileage (Carbon build up)
Engine Overheating

Failing Emissions Testing is good news for your wallet because it means your vehicle is wasting fuel. So, visit your service center and get the problem resolved and save money in the long run.

Sources:

Combustion

Smogtips

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DC Volvo C30 – Volvo’s Hot New Electric Plug-In Car

volvotonny — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 00:19:06 +0000

For all you early adopters, the new Volvo C30 all electric car will hit showrooms early next year. Unfortunately only 100 vehicles will be available in the U.S market and 250 in Sweden as they work out the bugs.

For an environmentally conscious vehicle manufacturer like Volvo, I am surprised that it has taken this long to develop a green vehicle. Take a sneak peek at the new electric Volvo C30.

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Fuel Economy – How to Calculate MPG

volvotonny — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 01:35:46 +0000

Due to the rapidly rising cost of gas at the pumps, it’s important that we know how to calculate miles per gallon for our vehicles. This will save you gas money if can drive longer on the same tank of gas.

How to calculate MPG:

Fill your gas tank to full and drive as you normally do.
Note down how many gallons it takes to fill your tank.
Note down the starting mileage on the main odometer.
Reset your Volvo trip odometer to zero.
Drive your car until the gas gauge lights up and it’s time to refuel and note the ending mileage.

MPG = MILES/GALLONS

If your car does not have a trip odometer you can take the difference between ending mileage and starting mileage dived by gallons of fuel.

(ENDING MILEAGE – STARTING MILEAGE) /GALLONS = MPG

You can take the initial MPG as the base line and repeat the process, but this time drive in a fuel efficient way and see if you can improve on your MPG and save money.

Use this Calculator to see how much money you can save annually.

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Fuel Economy – 4 Cardinal Rules For Saving Money at The Gas Pump

volvotonny — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 00:03:35 +0000

Are you consistently averaging 16 MPG (miles per gallon)or less on a vehicle capable of getting 30 MPG or better?.Fuel economy improvements

By following these four cardinal rules religiously, you are bound to save money at the gas pump.

The cardinal rules of saving money on gas are:

Cultivate fuel efficient driving habits.
Car maintenance ( tune up).
Fuel efficient Tires.
Low viscosity oils.

Fuel efficient driving

The trick here is to drive smoothly.

Personally, I often try to avoid aggressive driving but I am not always successful.

This is because when I am running late all my smart driving rules get tossed out the window. I am human after all.

Studies have been done on driving habits and at lower speeds, it has been proven that aggressive driving leads to a 6% reduction in fuel economy.

While at higher speeds, typically on the express way an average vehicle going over the speed limit will experience a 33% reduction in fuel economy.

Surprisingly, for powerful vehicles (here I am assuming V8 engines), experience less % penalties in fuel economy. For example, at high speeds smaller vehicles are loosing 33% in fuel economy vs 28% for powerful vehicles.

Car maintenance (tune up)

It’s time for a tune up when you start noticing the following symptoms:

A decrease in gas mileage.
Hesitation on acceleration, or noticeable loss of power.
Rough idling or stalling when at a stop.
Your engine is knocking when accelerating because your car is running a rich mixture. Low octane fuel can cause knocking or pinging.
Your check engine light is on. A defective oxygen sensor could be the reason your check engine light is on. Note that for Volvo’s a loose gas cap can also trigger a check engine light

Fuel efficient tires

You may be surprised to learn that tires can contribute up to a total of 30% savings in fuel consumption when you factor in the rolling resistance of tires that is often not disclosed by tire manufacturers.

Tire design directly contributes to fuel economy when you factor in the forces required to overcome mass due to loss of inertia (force required to overcome a body at rest), aerodynamic drag force ( the tire profile that cuts through air resistance with minimum drag or friction), and rolling resistance due to tire-road friction and how the flexing of tire transmits frictional heat to various elastic component of the tire.

How tire pressure affects fuel economy

The U.S Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHSTA) conducted a survey in August of 2001. The survey was conducted at gas stations around the country. The collected data on 11,530 passenger vehicles showed that many tires on passenger vehicles are under inflated.

From the survey findings, it was concluded that more than one in four of the passenger cars with p-metric tires had at least one tire under-inflated by 8 psi (pressure per square inch) or more.

According to the survey, an 8 psi under-inflation in one tire resulted in a 3.3% decrease in miles per gallon MPG. So, it would be wise to check your tire pressure regularly to ensure all your tires properly inflated.

Low Viscosity oils

On every container of motor oil there are three pieces of information:

The API service rating.
SAE(Society of Automotive Engineers) Viscosity grade.
‘Energy conservation’ indicator. The API ‘starburst’ quality symbol indicates fuel economy and energy conserving properties of the oil.

The API (American petroleum Institute)or ‘starburst’ symbol is a mark of quality that helps consumers identify quality engine oils for their gasoline or diesel-powered engines.

Viscosity grade tells you about the thickness of oil. For example, 5W-30.

The first number, 5 (five degrees celsius) indicates how quickly an engine will crank in winter and how well the oil will flow to lubricate crtical engine parts at low temperatures.

The lower the number the more easier it is to crank at low temperatures or cold weather. W – is the weight of the oil and the second number 30 (thirty degrees celsius) stands for temperature of oil at normal operating temperature.

Viscosity can be defined as the resistance to flow. Highly viscous Mineral oil is thick at low temperatures, but at higher temperatures the oil thins out and starts to flow.

The thicker the oil the harder the engine has to work to circulate the oil and lubricate the component parts especially in the morning when it’s cold outside.

Low viscosity oils (severely refined mineral oil or synthetic oil) are easy on the engine as they retain fluidity at very low temperatures.

Engine oil has several functions:

Reduces frictional heat between the moving parts of the engine (The less the friction the higher your gas savings).
Remove heat from the engine to the cooling system.
Keeps the engine clean. Oil acts as a solvent for contaminants and also suspends small particles that are eventually trapped by the oil filter.
Protects against corrosion.
Creates a seal between the pistons and the cylinder walls to prevent combustion by-products like sulfur from getting through to contaminate clean oil. This is why you should change your oil frequently, to get rid of dirty and contaminated oil.

Thus, low viscosity oil does a better job of dissipating frictional heat. This will result in fuel economy because the engine is doing less work.

Sources:

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