Ongoing General Automotive Thread 2.0

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by Ashasx

you must be absolutely railing the thing because I'm getting 27 mpg = 8.7L/100km in pure city driving

I've done pure city driving so far, there's just over 600km on the odometer now and my avg fuel economy is 13.2L/100km. Wouldn't say I'm absolutely railing on it, but I have been driving more aggressively than normal. At least this guy has me beat

https://www.reddit.com/r/mazda3/comm..._just_reached/

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by timun

That said, my "toy" (beater POS) V12 only gets about 8 mpg in the city (~30 L/100 km), 15 on the highway...

I don't know if you've already posted what it is, but... Jaguar XJS / XJ12?

[timun]

What, you don't think I might have a Ferrari or Lamborghini?


XJ12.

[TorqueDog]

It was the only V12 I could think of that could qualify as both a toy and a beater in the same breath.

I've always thought those were such cool cars, but also one I'd dare not touch due to the potential minefield that is keeping anything with a Lucas EFI system running properly.

[timun]

Meh, it's just glorified Bosch Jetronic. It seems really complicated at first blush but it's mostly intimidating because of the 12 times worth of everything.

That said it did fail to start at a grocery parking lot right before I parked it for the winter. But that had nothing to do with the fuel injection system! That was something to do with the old analog car phone system.

[TorqueDog]

As of November 1st, all Co-Op Gas Stations will carry exclusively ethanol-blended gasoline. Previously, only their regular and mid-grade was E10, and their premium 91 octane was ethanol-free. That has now changed. Pure-Gas.org is reporting that more or less all stations in Canada will have some degree of ethanol blending, either E5 or E10. I don't know what the criteria is for a station to avoid having to blend with ethanol, but as far as I know, only Chevron 94 is still ethanol-free in Calgary... possibly Shell V-Power Nitro+ 93, but I haven't checked yet.

[burn_this_city]

Shell is all ethanol blended as far as I can tell. The 93 definitely has ethanol, but maybe the 91 is still pure gas. Seems like other than Chevron 94 everything is E10 now.

[Bill Bumface]

With my current car, surprisingly Husky 94 was the only thing that would log with no knock (I think the ethanol helps manage heat better). Chevron 94 logs like crap, and Petro 94 was even worse. I was pretty sad when Cenovus bought Husky and ruined everything.

I haven't logged the shell 93 yet.

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

Shell is all ethanol blended as far as I can tell. The 93 definitely has ethanol, but maybe the 91 is still pure gas. Seems like other than Chevron 94 everything is E10 now.

I reached out to Shell earlier this year and this is what I got:

Originally Posted by Shell Canada

Gela (Shell Canada)
Apr 1, 2022, 17:10 GMT+1
Hello,

Thank you for reaching out to us.

Please check the information below:
• Bronze (87 octane) - up to 10% ethanol
• Silver (89 octane) - up to 5% ethanol
• Shell V-power Nitro+ (91 octane) - No ethanol
• Shell V-power (91/93 Octane) - up to 10% ethanol, only available in BC and Manitoba

Do not hesitate to contact us if you have other issues or concern.
Regards,
Gela
Customer Operation Specialist
Shell Canada

I was later told (can't remember from where) that anything tagged as "V-power Nitro+" would be ethanol-free and only the non-Nitro+ was blended.

I used to use Petro's Ultra 94 in my BiTurbo-V8 Merc and my previous BMW E90 N54 TT-I6, both with great results since I had the boost cranked up considerably. But I've been pretty adamant about using ethanol-free 91 in the Aston being a naturally aspirated 4.7L V8, so this is going to probably force my hand to start using ethanol-blended fuel in it (unless Shell's Nitro+ 91 is still ethanol-free). The RRS is fine to use ethanol since it's the supercharged 4.2L.

[Ironhorse]

Do any of you guys use a battery powered blower to dry of your car instead of a pile of waffle towels? If so, any recommendations?

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Ironhorse

Do any of you guys use a battery powered blower to dry of your car instead of a pile of waffle towels? If so, any recommendations?

No, but have you ever tried a blade? Extremely effective on glass, but also works to get about 90% of the water off the rest of your car, in a matter of seconds. Then you can use towels to finish the job.

You can get one for $20 or less and I highly recommend it - life changing for drying your car efficiently.

[Erick Estrada]

Unfortunately all Shell blends now have ethanol including the 93.

[TorqueDog]

Sh-tty.

[Ironhorse]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

No, but have you ever tried a blade? Extremely effective on glass, but also works to get about 90% of the water off the rest of your car, in a matter of seconds. Then you can use towels to finish the job.

You can get one for $20 or less and I highly recommend it - life changing for drying your car efficiently.

I've used a blade in the past. I'm no longer in love with them after I watched a buddy put a big a** scratch in his door from a small piece of something that didn't wash off and came along in the blade.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Ironhorse

I've used a blade in the past. I'm no longer in love with them after I watched a buddy put a big a** scratch in his door from a small piece of something that didn't wash off and came along in the blade.

Yeah, I can see that happening I suppose. I am careful, and I have a wrap on my vehicles, so I have never had a problem like that.

[photon]

My car wouldn't start today (could be a bad battery, will have to get it checked), so I picked up one of those small portable boosters.. took forever to charge but it worked. Kinda weird to have something so small boost your car.

[photon]

Wouldn't restart after driving around for a while and leaving it running while I got some stuff, so could be the battery is dead.

Plus now my window is acting weird.. it's one of those that the window goes down a bit when you open the door and back up when you close it.. except it doesn't go up any more (doesn't even sound like it tries), it just goes down a bit. Open and close the door a few time and the window is half open :/

I can roll it up fine with the switch while in the car. Hopefully something that will reset itself when the car can start with the window fully closed and not some sensor or expensive electronics part.

[btimbit]

If it doesn't start working normally again just disconnect the battery for a bit to reset all the cars electrics.

[DoubleK]

Can someone remind me of the rules around car batteries?

I replaced the car battery on my wife's car today. I had bought the new battery at Costco in St Albert, on a road trip to Athabasca a couple weeks ago. The battery was dead before we left and had to be boosted before we left. Didn't want to risk it and err on the safe side.

Do you get a refund if you return the old one? I seem to remember that being a thing, but don't see anything on the receipt and can't remember what the cashier said.

[btimbit]

Yeah usually there is, it's called a core charge/core return. Depends on the place though, not everywhere does it