Gas Additive Question

You’re gloating, CSA, and I’m jealous. I suggested to my wife that we move to Florida when we’re both retired. She said “ok, see you when you come back to NJ for the summer”.

If it’s real cold I use a snowmobile suit and ski mask. Then the snow boots with two pair of socks and of course snowmobile gloves. Thinsulate my man, Thinsulate-best stuff they ever invented. Usually I’m actually sweating after blowing the driveway out with that outfit. Depends on how hard the wind is blowing.

We’ll do the mid-winter trek though down to Disney just to get warm, but really a couple weeks in the sun is about all I can take. Heh heh-actually just kidding. When you are retired you can pick when to go outside.

Something else to do when it’s cold:

I don’t think that there is man enough left in CSA to try this, him hiding down south in the comfy zone as a little soft baby. :smile:

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I try not to baby myself. Exercises every morning in addition to 170 sit-ups every other day, 22 push-up challenge (usually 30 -35) every other day and then force myself to take a bicycle ride at least 15 miles and play golf, pickleball or go to the beach or pool. Now tell me I’m hiding down here in this sunny paradise like a soft baby, ha, ha!
CSA
:palm_tree::sunglasses::palm_tree:

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Sounds like the ideal arrangement. Do you need a ride from the airport or help locating here?

By the way, we’ve got some other old Mopar guys here, driving old Mopars.
CSA

On the radio this morning they were cautioning against talking when it gets this cold (-29). I wasn’t awake enough to remember if it was a doc or not but the gist was the cold air can freeze up your vocal cords, then you really got a problem. So if ya gotta be outside, just shuffle along quietly or use hand signals. I dunno, I’m still afraid of snakes and alligators. They did say though a cold snap like this for a couple days will kill off the tree killing beetles. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.

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Well, ain’t we all, who has to live through and suffer the consequences of a harsh winter?
At least the lowest has been 14 F so far at my place, but that’s more than enough for me.

Thanks, but no. I’ve been visiting southeast Florida for years
It’s like the sixth borough of new York City. I’ll be down there in February to warm up.

Main reason you don’t need an additive for extreme cold temps is the 10% ethanol in gas.

The second biggest reason is the in-ground gas tanks at gas stations. They don’t leak like they use to. The old steal ones would leak and thus let ground water in. I’ve seen people fill up at a gas station and less then 20 miles down the road their vehicle died because the water content in the gas was extremely high.

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I was waiting for someone to mention the 10% ethanol, I am certainly not going to pay $4 to buy a bottle of Heet to add MORE alcohol to my tank.

If anyone has a diesel car, untreated diesel fuel can gel at -25. Most of the trucking companies I worked for bought only treated fuel but a lot of owner operators used to save money by buying the cheaper off brand fuel and when the temps dropped you would see them on the shoulders of the interstates.

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THAT right there is a German “here, hold muh beer” moment"

Seems to be a little bit of hillbilly in ALL cultures!

That Porsche 550 driver must have been freezing his goodies off. 550’s were race cars. They weren’t even available with heaters!

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If you want to pal around with mid-westerners, come to the west coast of Florida!

Thanks, but I’m most comfortable in NYC or NJ. When I first moved to the Philadelphia area, people would hear my Brooklyn accent and lock up their valuables.

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When I drove a diesel the station usually had a mix of #1 and #2 for the winter. Still I used to use a conditioner/anti-gell when it got below zero. One time at about -20 the car started to gell up on the way home after a 30 mile drive and I started using the conditioner after that. The good ole days.

Whether or not a fuel additive will make any difference to your car depends on a couple things: the type of additive you’re considering, and whether or not your car actually needs it. If your car could benefit by one of the few additives that actually offers a tangible benefit, then sure, go right ahead.

A real concern learned from experience. Do not get gas from a gas station that has a fuel truck filling the gas station tanks. It stirs up the water in their tanks and gets into yours.

It was a warm -6 this morning in my area of Pennsylvania this morning. My Focus started right up (as I suspected it would) with no gas line treatments, block heater, or anything else! I even decided to live on the edge and NOT fill the tank before the storm (so I had about 1/4 tank!) OR change my 3-4 year old battery :wink:

OP, your car will likely be just fine in the cold weather :slight_smile:

Like I said, the gas line treatment to me is not really for making sure your car starts but rather to prevent gas line freeze while you are on the highway. I’ve only used it once in the last few years but if it’s -29 and you are out on the highway, that’s not the time to find out you have water in your tank. So it’s just preventative but probably gotta get down to the minus double digits first before it’s something to worry about.

Speaking of that, I’ve noticed all of the weather folks now refer to the temps with “negative” 15 or “minus” 15 and never just say “15 below”. Around here we just say “below” but they must be teaching this in weather school or something. You’ll have to forgive me though, I think my brain has frozen over.

I had a diesel with a block heater that would start and idle at -20, but it wouldn’t run faster because the fuel was gelling up. My house was at a high elevation where it was much colder than the surrounding areas, so diesel stations I could use didn’t sell treated fuel. I learned to put about 15% kerosene in with the fuel. The station I used wouldn’t let you put the kerosene hose into the tank of your car (no road taxes paid) so I had to put it in a can and then empty the can into the car.

I solved the problem by moving to coastal California.