Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Current Tank Update - 28 August

This morning the fuel tank needle passed down through the 3/4 tank mark.
Normally this happens at about 150 miles, but today it was only 130
miles. This is discouraging because I was all happy and thrilled at my
mileage of 42.01 mpg on my last tank.

Why am I passing through the 3/4 line so early this tank?

This MAY be due to my long, stop-and-go trip home last Friday, and an
unusual morning traffic jam yesterday.

Or, it MAY be because the Woodbridge Costco fuel pumps are calibrated
differently than the Fredericksburg Costco pumps.

But, if the Woodbridge Costco pumps were calibrated wrong, wouldn't they
have said that MORE gas was pumped than actually got in my tank? I
suspect that nefarious gas station calibration would obviously favor the
store, which would mean the one Costco would have given me LESS gas but
indicated it pumped in MORE. This can't be, because I allegedly only
pumped in about 10.5 gallons and my fuel economy was great as a result.

If evil activity was going on, the pump should have SAID it gave me 10.5
gallons but GIVEN me less.

Oh, maybe it did, and that's why my needle has fallen so quickly...

Or maybe it's just because I drove home in hot weather on Friday
stopping and going in fits and starts...

A larger consideration is maybe I should start calculating average fuel
economy over two or three previous tanks, to account for variances of
gas pump calibrations.

Or maybe I ought to start pumping my gas into a 5-gallon carrying tank
and filling my tank with a previously-validated amount of gas.

There is a lot for me to think about.

The good news is that it's not supposed to be too hot today, and there's
still time for me to drive smartly and work to increase the fuel economy
of what appears to be becoming just an average tank.

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