Oh look, gas prices are up another ten cents since yesterday.
Anything out there that I could start putting in my gas tank that costs less than gas per gallon? Something easily accessible. Not necessarily to replace gas entirely but that, if blended in some appropriate ratio with gas would run the car without damaging it? I have a regular old unleaded gas-burning internal combustion engine from 2003 with no modifications of any sort.
Without being a true mechanic, it seems to me that there’s nothing you could add that would cost less than the gas itself which wouldn’t do any damage to the car. It’s just a matter of how the engine works.
If you’ve got a diesel, you can dump all sorts of crazy stuff in there without damaging the engine. You could even make your own blend of biodiesel for about a buck a gallon, or run it off used vegetable oil from restaurants with some minor modifications to the fuel injection system.
That’s why I bought my diesel!
An 8’ length of rubber heater hose, and access to your neighbors car? Seriously, there isn’t really anything that’s cheaper that would work. If there was - someone would be using it already. Used cooking oil is a good example, but that’s for diesels.
Perhaps you could dissolve a quart of filtered oil per-tank, but I don’t think that’s going to get you very far and would likely eventually ruin certain sensors and emission components.
A mythbusters episode did a segment on a diesel which ran off of filtered vegtable oil without any modifactions to anything. They only had to filter the oil. We have engines out there that will run off any flamable liquid, the military uses them. but the thing is, gas is actually the cheapest flamable liquid out there anyway.
If you have a diesel engine you could run it on vegetable oil.
However as your in the US and not the UK I can’t see you saving much money doing it. You would also drive around smelling like a Chippie.
A couple of guys have tried it this side of the pond and have been nabbed by the authorities due to there tell tale odour.
Unfortunately, here in the UK, fuel tax evasion is actually a crime.
You can be green but you still have to hand HMG £4 for a gallon of anything that you drive your car with :mad:
BINGO!
I take it that you mean he’d smell like a fish 'n chips place, not a whore, right? 
Thats a euphenism for prozzie I’ve not heard before.
Where does it originate from?
I’m not sure where it comes from, though when is the 1860s. Not even American Heritiage gives the etymology, though I believe it comes from Mexico or South America. Interestingly, American dictionaries don’t include the UK usage at all.
For you people recomending used cooking oil and home made biodiesel, don’t forget to pay your tax. You still have to pay the fuel taxes on fuel for a vehicle that runs on public roads. They are going after the people that think they don’t have to pay the fuel taxes.
About a year ago there was an article in the paper about a local concrete company that was using bio-diesel (from reclaimed fryer oil) in their fleet of cement trucks. At that time they were estimating it was a bit more expensive than petro diesel – on the order of a dime a gallon – but were doing it to be greener (and for the publicity, I imagine). With diesel having gone up some 60¢ per gallon since then, they may well be saving a bit by now, but I haven’t heard.
In the cornbelt states, E-85 (85% ethanol 15% gasoline) is cheaper than straight gasoline, thanks to subsidies, but you need to run it thru an ethanol-capable vehicle. Said vehicles can burn straight gasoline as well, but I don’t know if there’s a disadvantage.
Yeah, you get worse mileage. Same things happens to me if I accidently put something like Sunoco into my tank. It’s only 10% corn mash, and my mileage is affected by about 10%, and that crap costs the same as the 100% gasoline at the BP. Err, by 100% gasoline I mean gasoline without Karo syrup in it; I know there are additives etc.
I should know this, but what’s the UK tax situation for electric vehicles?
I’m thinking Diesel generator, running on chip fat, charging batteries while the car is off the public highways.
That is brilliant. I am starting to think attempting to avoid tax is what drives 90% of human ingenuity and invention.
I was under the impression that all gas currently sold in the US was 5-10% ethanol (depending on whether or not it was a winter or summer blend) to replace the MTBE oxygen booster that was phased out. I also wouldn’t be suprised if that were not behind the rising cost of corn.
FWIW,
Rob
Didn’t know that was phased out. Here in Michigan they’re supposed to put signs up letting you know that you’re going to get alcohol in your gas, because lots of older cars (and my lawn tractor) don’t do so well with that additive.
Winter gasoline gives me a similar reduction in fuel economy as does gasohol.
I’ve been told, and perhaps my information is outdated, that Michigan gas does not have added ethanol, unless there is a sign stating so. Anecdotally, the claim seems to be true, as my mileage through Michigan seems to be about 2-3 mpg better than usual for long highway trips, which is what my source told me to expect. I’d be curious to hear what the facts are on this.
Holy…
What? That’s like ten bucks, right?
Which is cheaper, to drive across the country (north/south), take a train, or fly?
-FrL-
At 95 pence a liter (which is the average price of petrol in the UK as of a couple days ago), that works out to be $7.12 a US gallon. (Remember, an Imperial gallon is about 1.2 US gallons).