How much is everyone paying for petrol?

B1, I will have to rate you as one of the Illuminati!

I ask you to reconsider the compression ratios. There will be more fuel packed into a turbo charged or supercharged engine than will be the case in a normally aspirated engine. Therefore, the blown engine needs a lower compression ratio or it will truly be a blown engine!

Originally posted by donwhite
Q. Do you think the American Gang of Four - Geo W, VP Cheney, the Oberfuhrer and Condi Rice - have put out a CIA “contract” on Pres Hugo Chavez as Pat Robertson called for earlier?

Does a bear pick flowers in the woods? (self-imposed censorship)

My friend, the Wolfpack are working feverishly on a way to stop this cat.

In Ohio, it's averaging $2.70 per gallon as of today.

This is a very useful and very educational site about oil: Oil Industry Statistics from Gibson Consulting. It is a lot to take in, information-wise but still very helpful and educational.

Straight down below that website is the explanation of the US oil price breakdown, estimated April 2006:

54% for crude
21% for cost of refining
2% for cost of transporting/distributing
17% for taxes (for road/highway construction and maintenance)
The remaining 6% for marketing and retailers.

Originally posted by donwhite

posted by minority2000uk: “Someone could convert it for me I payed 93.5 pence a liter or £0.935 that’s in the North East of Scotland in Aberdeen.

The exchange rate is from Google. 3.78 liters equals 1 US gallon. Which makes your gasoline equal to $6.48 a gallon here, about double the going price. I say again, is your gasoline taxed as part of the general revenue scheme? Or do you pay road tax only, as in the US of A?

About 75% of the price is Duty levied by the Government. The fourcourts themselves only make a couple of pence profit per litre.

We pay road tax on top of the fuel duty as well.

EDIT: I might add that the revenue gauined from fuel duty is not specifically for the roads. It is a general tax.

[edit on 2/5/06 by stumason]

Originally posted by donwhite

Higher octane fuels are used to combat detonation - known by most of us as ping or knock. Consult your owners manual for octane required and if you wish, see if a lower octane works without incurring detonation in your car. With the computer controlled systems in most of today's car, you can get away with a one step lower octane rating most times. Key points, monitor the engine for detonation and don't lug the engine. [Edited by Don W]

Uh, D/D, by the time “ping” or “knock” can be heard over the noise of a moving vehicle, you are already damaging the bearings, pistons and valves of your engine. The reason most of us do not become aware is we trade our cars often enough to miss the “last gasps” of an abused engine.


todays computer controlled engines, the timing is advanced to the edge of knock and then backed off a bit. it's not as easy with auto trans to get it to knock but it's real easy to get a manual to do it no matter what grade you put in.

thats because the computer and the auto trans are linked. but the computer can't predict what i will be doing with my clutch and gear selection. it only does it when i'm stopped since it's under idle conditions and probably advanced as far as it can with the little fuel and no load that idle uses.

one thing you could do is and water injection so you could advance the ignition further and increase your milage. but you will reach a point where it will peak and drop off

Your mileage can improve with the installation of a vacuum gauge. Keep it above 12-14" of vacuum for best mileage. An example, on a long cross country trip across the desert which involved climbing several long and not-too-steep grades, the vacuum gauge indicated 12" or so running in 5th gear with a stick shift. Shifting down to 4th, maintaining the same car speed brought the vacuum gauge up to indicating 16" vacuum and mileage improved 1 mpg. All done at 70 mph +. [Edited by Don W]

this has basis in the fact of vaporization. the higher the vaccuum the greater the vaporization will be. only vapor burns not liquid, so if there are still liquid drops in the fuel then it takes energy to vaporize taking away from what would be used for work. add this up by the number of times the piston does work and its gets larger.

if you raise either the rvp or were to preheat your fuel then it would vaporize better, or do both but watch out for vapor lock. in the winter the rvp of gasoline is higher than in summer. save yourself 20 gallons from the winter months and put it in your tank in august. you'll get a few more miles toi the gallon.


an interesting thing would be use 50% hydrogen peroxide injection. when it heats it breaks down to h20 and 02. giving you more oxygen but also adding water that would help with detination control. the water should raise the cylinder pressure when it turns to steam and give more power with greater conversion to complete combustion. i don't think a gas engine would be able to handle the cylinder pressure but a diesel should, and a diesel wouldn't have to worry about detination since thats how it works anyhow


[edit on 2-5-2006 by bigx01]

I worked out that if you want to buy a hybrid car. You take the loan out, you save money on petrol sure, but the money you are paying back for the loan works out to be more than the savings.
The car eventually pays itself off after 20-25 years.. so is it worth it? NO

Along with people noting what they are paying for gas, they should also note what their vehicle's mpg rating is. Mine is ~23mpg Highway. Gas is around $3.05-3.20 right now.

I payed 3.26 a gallon in So Calif,some full serve are over 4.00 a gal

Originally posted by bigx01

Uh, D/D, by the time “ping” or “knock” can be heard over the noise of a moving vehicle, you are already damaging the bearings, pistons and valves of your engine. The reason most of us do not become aware is we trade our cars often enough to miss the “last gasps” of an abused engine.

todays computer controlled engines, the timing is advanced to the edge of knock and then backed off a bit. it's not as easy with auto trans to get it to knock but it's real easy to get a manual to do it no matter what grade you put in.

thats because the computer and the auto trans are linked. but the computer can't predict what i will be doing with my clutch and gear selection. it only does it when i'm stopped since it's under idle conditions and probably advanced as far as it can with the little fuel and no load that idle uses.
[edit on 2-5-2006 by bigx01]


Granted, by the time you hear pinging there has been an opportunity for damage.

I haven't had any trouble in the damage dept with the carbureted engines I build.
Forged pistons, good rods etc. along with reasonable driving habits as far as lugging the engine goes.
Proper ignition timing enters into it as well.

The engine has been opened up and inspected several times as well as gone through several camshaft profile changes as well as intake system changes.
No damage noted on pistons, valves or crankshaft bearings.

The engine runs an amplified ignition system advanced a couple of degrees from the stock all-in timing figure.

No vapor lock problems with electric fuel pumps.


The same was true with my brothers mechanically fuel injected drag racing Henry J.
At one time he ran a 463 cid engine with 15/1 CR.
The high C/R ratio ran fine on straight alcohol, but some cool mornings the car would be difficult to start.
That cured by putting a gallon or so of racing gas in the fuel cell and starting the engine on 105 octane + racing gasoline.
Started with no problems, but it rattled and pinged a whole lot.
After the heads got a little heat in them, the engine was shut down, gasoline drained, filled the tank with alcohol and the car started easy the rest of the day.

The HJ's engine was inspected internally on a regular basis and we found no damage from detonation.
More than likely due to the low loads on the engine during the 1000 rpm idle warmup.



I would argue the point that a modern, computer controlled stick shift can be made to ping moreso than the same car/engine with an automatic would.
In either case, the knock sensor hears what's going on and backs the timing off to compensate.
The knock sensor is much more sensitive than the human ear.

My roadster is driven regularly, although it does sit through some of the colder weather.
It does get out in the winter with 16 degrees F. being a personal best.

I've had no problems with winter gas when we experience a sudden heat wave.
Higher gas mileage in such a situation hasn't happened either.

The roadster is a light car - 2400# - with a big engine (462 cid) and the CR is 9.0/1.
I run it on 87 octane summer and winter with no ping problems and advanced to the point of best performance.

My Mustang GT (5 speed stick) with computerized, injected 5.0 liter engine got 89 octane in winter and 91 octane in summer due to, I didn't want to have the timing backed off to the point where mileage would suffer or have ping rear it's head.

A penny-pinching co-worker bought a similar Mustang and ran 87 octane in it with no problems.
He got good mileage in it, better than mine, but he drove the flat Central California highways at 55-60 mph in cruise control and 5th gear.
He reported no detonation problems.


(Edited quote to get the post under 5000 characters.)

[edit on 3-5-2006 by Desert Dawg]

$2.11 U.S. per liter!!

BAM!!


EDIT: YOU WANNA WHINE ABOUT HIGH GAS PRICES? DO IT HERE!

[edit on 3-5-2006 by Christian IX]

Maybe gas wouldn't be so bad if people never used so much filling those clunky hummscalades

it's like 1.06 here in Winnipeg which is still more then 4$ a gallon. whew luckily I commute and I really don't give a crap people should get out more anyway.

I just paid $3.06 at the pump yesterday 5/2/06 in Sierra Vista, Arizona.

In the Dallas Texas area it is between 2.89 -2.99 -3.10 depending on where you go.

Sad thing is that Texas refinds the gas and we are still paying pretty high. O yeah forgot to mention the refineries are only at 85% productivity.

Did you know that if they went to 97% that a full dollar would fall off the price of gas.

Amazing.

Paid $3.04 US today for premium. I think i get about 26mpg. New Orleans, Louisiana.

I bought a bike though. The only reason I filled the tank is because I figure it will be cheaper now, rather than later. I think I may keep it like that for the duration of hurrican season here (filled up) so that if something does come this way, I won't have to wait at gas pumps like last year. Think about the gouging that will happen if a hurricane comes this year. Such things are inevitable since there are so many gas stations, but the thought isn't pretty for someone who drove through northern Mississippi and Alabama after the storm praying to find a gas station with gas no matter what the price...

Originally posted by texmiller

Sad thing is that Texas refinds the gas and we are still paying pretty high. O yeah forgot to mention the refineries are only at 85% productivity.

Amazing.

As a child growing up outside of New Orleans with asthma, one of these refineries had a huge explosion and I was stuck in the hospital for a month because of the stuff I breathed in. Have had problems with breathing capacity ever since (though "grew out of" asthma at 12). It kills me to see that I grew up with this problem because of a simple malfunction at a refinery, and now I'm paying so much for their product. Best alternative fuel I've found yet is... the power of my body to move the pedals of a bike.

I guess you thought I meant 2.11$ per GALLON, instead of LITER, which is what I said.



[edit on 3-5-2006 by Christian IX]

Originally posted by donwhite
The exchange rate is from Google. 3.78 liters equals 1 US gallon. Which makes your gasoline equal to $6.48 a gallon here, about double the going price. I say again, is your gasoline taxed as part of the general revenue scheme? Or do you pay road tax only, as in the US of A?

Well the goverment pop about 60p or more of tax on each liter of petrol sold so you can say we are highly taxed.....think we are one of the worst in europe but I may be wrong.

Its getting stupid in the UK the onlly winner is the goverment as their income from taxes increase due to higher sale margines....as i dont imagine the cost to drill and produce has increased by 10p a litre in about month or 2

Today in Central Missouri gas is $2.68 a gallon, a week ago it was $2.98. Three weeks ago it was $2.13. The sad thing is gas has no reason to go up, they are already making billions in profit. It is like going to Mc Donalds and asking for a double cheeseburger on the dollar menu, and finding out that for no reason or food cost to them, they have made it five dollars.

in canada quebec city QC, 1,20 $ the liter can$

1,20 $can = 1,08 $us (01/05/2006 rate of 0,90%)
1.08 x 3,78 = 4,08$U.S. the gallon


2 points comes out of this, we export 2/3 of our oil to the states and yes Canadian $ havent been that high since 20 years compared to US currency. Have to mention that theres probly hidden taxes into the prices we paid at the station.


[edit on 3-5-2006 by eagle eye]

2.93 per gallon in Rhode Island today, for regular gas.

That gas temperature map is really cool, thanks to the poster that included it. It seems accurate for my area.

I noticed that gas seems the cheapest in the mid-west.. and people in California are getting screwed! Why would mid-west states only be paying 2.40 a gallon? What makes it cheaper out there? Anyone know?