46 votes
Accepted

What is in fossil fuels that we can't mass produce?

Oil as it comes out of the ground is a mixture of hydrocarbon compounds that are the remains of deposits of algae and microscopic animals, also called phytoplankton and zooplankton. Scientists have ...
saurabh64's user avatar
  • 1,062
42 votes

What is in fossil fuels that we can't mass produce?

What's in fossil fuel that we can't reproduce is energy. We've been making synthetic fossil fuels in one form or another for about two centuries: town gas (a methane substitute), synthetic gasoline, ...
Mark's user avatar
  • 747
37 votes

Symptoms of Lean or Rich carb settings on a motorcycle

Lean and Rich Symptoms in Motorcycle Carburetors In your post you indicate that some of the symptoms you have read are contradictory. I will try and clarify between the two conditions and attempt to ...
DucatiKiller's user avatar
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37 votes
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Do cars consume less fuel when in Neutral?

If the car is equipped with a modern fuel injection system, it will likely use less if left in gear and allowed to run against the transmission with no throttle as modern fuel injection systems can ...
Steve Matthews's user avatar
35 votes

What is in fossil fuels that we can't mass produce?

The other answers are right, technically. As they say, what's in it is energy, or hydrocarbons, or whatever you want to call them. Burnable stuff. Unfortunately, the first two laws of thermodynamics ...
Dewi Morgan's user avatar
29 votes

Small amount of wrong fuel type put in the tank

The main concern with using petrol in diesel systems is that diesel is used to lubricate the fuel pump, which petrol cannot perform adequately, which will shorten the useful life of the fuel system. ...
Zaid's user avatar
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27 votes
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What causes a 20% difference in fuel economy between winter and summer?

Your fuel economy change is caused by the fact you're not using the same fuel. Fuel changes twice per year from summer blend to winter blend and back again causing a change in the Reid Vapor Pressure (...
spicetraders's user avatar
  • 1,533
23 votes

Ford Focus hard to start after fueling

The next time you plan to buy gas, open the gas cap, do not add gas, leave the gas cap open for the amount of time it normally takes to fill the tank, then replace the gas cap and start the car. Hard ...
MTA's user avatar
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19 votes
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Accidentally put regular gas in Infiniti G37

It isn't going to matter in the long run and shouldn't cause you any issues to run the car with the tank of fuel you put in if that's what you decide to do. Cars don't have an octane sensor. What they ...
Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2's user avatar
18 votes

Ford Focus hard to start after fueling

Modern cars all have what is called the evaporative emission control (EVAP) system. This is a system of valves, tubes, and a charcoal canister that is supposed to capture the excess vapors from the ...
jwh20's user avatar
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16 votes
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Does a carburettor engine apply fuel at high speeds when the pedal is no longer depressed?

At a base level, carburetors meter the amount of fuel they let into the engine by the amount of air that is moving through them. Vacuum is created by the piston moving in the engine and creating an ...
Justin Lloyd's user avatar
16 votes
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Small amount of wrong fuel type put in the tank

The main problems from misfueling a diesel car with petrol stem from the fact that (as Zaid points out) petrol doesn't provide the lubrication effect of diesel fuel and as a solvent it can actually ...
motosubatsu's user avatar
  • 9,980
15 votes

LTFT and STFT values are off and don't make sense

I think I have an answer But bear in mind that this is my assessment with the limited information at my disposal. I'll walk through my reasoning here. If someone finds a flaw in my logic then I'm ...
Zaid's user avatar
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15 votes
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Is it really not advisable to let your fuel tank get low on fuel?

The problem with running the tank low in older cars is that the fuel cooled the fuel pump. The fuel pump would just hang out in the bottom of the tank with all the fuel and the fuel would wick away ...
vini_i's user avatar
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15 votes

Why is the engine on my Royal Enfield Classic 350 shutting down?

IMO you have a fuel starved vehicle. Perhaps some blockage in the gas tank at the petcock filter or an inline filter between your gas tank and the carburetor. When you run the bike the fuel might ...
DucatiKiller's user avatar
  • 32.9k
15 votes

Does a carburettor engine apply fuel at high speeds when the pedal is no longer depressed?

Carburettors are very crude in comparison to EFI systems, and so the amount of fuel entering the engine is simply a factor of the amount of air going in, which is controlled by the position of the ...
Nick C's user avatar
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14 votes
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Motorcycle Four Body Carburetor Synchronization Balancing

Background Multi-cylinder vehicles with multiple carbs To port this question over to applicability with cars. This is the same issue that has plagued older Ferrari and Jaguar mechanics over the ...
DucatiKiller's user avatar
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14 votes
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How critical is it to match the stock fuel pressure regulator pressure when replacing it?

You should be fine¹ The beauty of fuel-injection management systems is that they can compensate for slight deviations in operation via feedback. The amount of compensation is commonly referred to as ...
Zaid's user avatar
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14 votes
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Fuel gauge very slow to come up after filling - anything to worry about?

There's 2 possibilities here. The first is that you have an electro-mechanical fuel quantity meter, and that it may be sticking a bit due to a lack of movement. The good news is it did eventually ...
GdD's user avatar
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13 votes
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Do I need any special maintenance plan for a car only driven a every couple of weeks?

It sounds like you're spot on for your car. Words of advice: If you only want to change the oil once a year, use something like Mobil 1 Annual Protection, which is a full synthetic oil. It's good for ...
Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2's user avatar
12 votes
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Why is there a hissing noise when I open my petrol cap?

Regulations limit the amount of unburnt hydrocarbons that can be released into the atmosphere, therefore fuel tanks on cars now have to be sealed to stop these emissions. The noise you hear is air ...
HandyHowie's user avatar
11 votes
Accepted

Why is the effect of a bad fuel pump more noticable at higher speeds?

Background You asked Why is the effect of a bad fuel pump more noticeable at higher speeds? I assume that by 'higher speeds' you mean engine speeds or RPM's. During high RPM operation an ICE ...
DucatiKiller's user avatar
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11 votes
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How exactly does running fuel-lean increase the temperature of ignition?

You have a qualitative description of what happens, but let's break it down to a smaller scale. When we talk about "temperature" of something, we are really talking about how fast the molecules are ...
tpg2114's user avatar
  • 273
11 votes

What is in fossil fuels that we can't mass produce?

They can They have strung together various polymer chains in the lab and their even hydrocarbons. The University of California Berkeley is doing it now. It's not really a question of it being done. ...
DucatiKiller's user avatar
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11 votes
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What's the meaning of a "lean" vs "rich" air fuel mixture

I do not know the etymology of these words or the history of their use in the context of air-fuel ratios, although their dictionary definitions (lean [adj.], rich, too bad I don't have an OED ...
Jason C's user avatar
  • 4,900
11 votes

Small amount of wrong fuel type put in the tank

This will not be a problem - in fact, some of the older truckers used to add 2% of petrol to the diesel to help in winter conditions to help reduce waxing of the diesel fuel.
Solar Mike's user avatar
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10 votes

Lada Niva 1700 Carburetor Model

Blocked jets in the carburettor. Small particles of grit can block any one of the jets in these carburettors. The fuel still gets to the engine through the other jets but the efficiency is much ...
Chenmunka's user avatar
  • 1,433
10 votes

is there always pressure when taking off the gas cap? Does it relate to a full reading on gas guage?

The gas gauge measures the level in the tank by a float lever, not by pressure. So this doesn't affect your gas gauge. The overpressure in your tank is completely normal. Gas has a relatively high ...
sweber's user avatar
  • 7,037
10 votes

Does a carburettor engine apply fuel at high speeds when the pedal is no longer depressed?

Carburetor Circuits Will Still Pull Fuel from the System If the engine is running on a carbureted vehicle, off throttle or not, it will consume fuel. Throttle Settings There are three basic ...
DucatiKiller's user avatar
  • 32.9k
9 votes

What are all the different types of fluid in a car and a short summary of their use?

Depending on the car model and the technology used, not all fluids I mention here do exist. Here is list of all that I know of: fuel (some cars use two typed of fuel, e.g., petrol and gas, so they ...
masgo's user avatar
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