Winter Milage?

[Ouiji Veck]

My fuel light is coming on early by about 30mi (@ 125-130mi)

Do ya suppose this is just winter gas?

I often rationalized that the denser air would give higher mileage but

I can see that may be only true w/ carbs.

Maybe with the cold days my temp sensor doesn't come up to normal

opp temps too. I HATE getting under 40mpg.!!

[tripletom]

I've never got more than 120miles before my light comes on...worked it out at 35mpg. (UK galls) What sort of speeds do you do OV?

[Tom M]

Both of our cars get at least 2 to 3 mpg less in the winter than the summer. I think it's due to the winter gas formulation we get here in MA combined with the longer warmup time for the engine. FWIW the enginerd in the office next to me says the engine works harder pushing the car through the denser winter air. I don't know about that

 

My Guzzi lives in my basement during the winter, mostly in some state of disassembly, so I can't comment on winter's effect on Guzzi mileage.

[BRENTTODD]

I not sure about RI but in Nj there is no such thing as winter gas its 10% enthol all year long. I bet RI is the same. I have noticed a lot of my repair customer say there mpg has also droped off with the switch to 10% ethnol. A waring to those non stable belivers the new gas does not have the shelf life as the strait gas of olden did. My lukoil rep also told us that the 10% fuel does not take to any water at all. I belive the numbers were(I could be off dont hold me to it) 1 pint of water will ruin 30,000 gallons of 10% ethnol added fuel.

 

Good Luck and Good MPG

Brent

ps not a fan of enthol

[BRENTTODD]

[. FWIW the enginerd in the office next to me says the engine works harder pushing the car through the denser winter air. I don't know about that

 

What a goomer Sh-t like that makes me want to hunt down engineers and show then how the real world works. I got his dencer air right here. By any chance is he the guy who put batteries under your cars back seat or in the fender well where you cant acess them I have been looking for that guy.

[gstallons]

Maybe you could engineer a BBQ grille on the front of the bike to heat the air so it will be less dense and you will get better mileage.

[pete roper]

Maybe you could engineer a BBQ grille on the front of the bike to heat the air so it will be less dense and you will get better mileage.

 

Have you packed the ETS with thermal paste/wunda snot?

 

pete

[belfastguzzi]

I've never got more than 120miles before my light comes on...worked it out at 35mpg. (UK galls) What sort of speeds do you do OV?

Same here. Both car and bike: 120 miles on a tank.

 

Is it from yesterday or today all UK petrol sold is meant to have 2%(?) vegetables in it, rising to a 5% petrol stew in 2010?

[GuzziMoto]

Any place in the U.S. and probably in Europe as well where you get a cold winter season and a warm summer season will have different gas formulations for the seasons. You may have had 10% ethonal added during the winter and now it's all year long, but that is not the only difference between summer and winter. Winter gas has a different blend so it evaporates at a lower temp, allowing easier starrting in the cold. There are other differences as well. So I have found that my mileage is lower during winter as a result.

Petes question about the cylinder head temp sensor is a good one as well.

[Dan M]

Temperature has the biggest effect. The mix is far richer on a cold start up and an air cooled motor takes considerably longer to reach operating temp in the cold. If your sensor is inaccurate as Pete suggested (which it will be with an air gap) you are just compounding the matter.

[Ouiji Veck]

Thanks all..

First off..I didn't include the fact that I've noticed this before.

Just not this drastic. Which will be of importance latter...

 

My 2 favorite explanations. (in no particular order)

 

Guzzimotos : Evaporation of winter blend. I haven't rode half as much as usual

this winter...ergo...the gas has had longer to evap between rides.

 

Pete Roper : Yup...an ok convecting temp sensor may get me ok mpg in the summer

but not so much in the winter.

 

It's warming up so we'll see what the next tank or 3 get and report back.

 

I've been getting a good 40+ mpg since crossing the 20K mark.

Something for you guys getting less to consider...among other things.

 

Thanks to everyone.

[al_roethlisberger]

On average I consistently get 120-130 miles before the idiot light comes on, and that generally leaves me 30-40 miles until "dry". So, that's about 160ish miles per tank around town.

 

On longer constant speed level highway trips, this seems to inch up to about 140-150 miles before the light comes on, with a similar range increase on the "reserve". So on an ideal day, you can get about 200 miles on a tank in this mode, but that's probably pushing your luck. I'd say 180ish miles on a tank is a reasonable expectation even in this case.

 

"High performance" mods and other tweaks may totally throw all of these figures out the window though

 

 

Al

[Ouiji Veck]

Yup....I did 198 one day last year. On the slab, consistent 80mph, summer.

 

Mr.tripple.. When I'm in the Guzzi grove and having fun (most of the time) I throttle

hard away from a stop sign or any time I get in the lower gears just to shake rattle and roll

(just to get the Guzzi grin) then shut it down once I'm doing 60 or 70. (traffic congestion permitting). Most of the time I'm just riding, keep it between 4K and 5K Rs. maybe winding it to 7k

or so out of the corners for a gear.

A lot of the time I'm feeling frisky and don't let it drop below 5K Rs

Sometimes the fangs come out and it doesn't get below 5.5K and is between 6K & 7K a lot.

I imagine on the track it would stay between 6.8 and 7.8 where the power is.

In my experience good aggressive cornering is incumbent upon being @ the RPMs where if

you let off the gas its like hitting the brakes or if you throttle it the front end gets lite.

On a Guzzi thats almost anywhere from 4k to 7k Thats why I love 'em

[docc]

Today the Sport sputtered out at 153.7 miles and took only 4.6 gallons to fill up. I haven't ridden much over the last few months and wonder if 'winter-gas' does evaporate more readily?

[Ouiji Veck]

Docc.....

Sputtered out?? Or light came on? It's the 4.6 gals to fill that gets me.

That means you had at least 1/2 gal. of usable gas in there. I put 5.2 gals in once.

Who knows...every one of these things is "unique". I've got a good one. Must have been built before lunch. The paint never flaked, the spring never failed, the relays never failed,

I get decent mileage, .....

(knocking on my desk like Gene Krupa ...I do believe in spooks...I do believe in spooks )