Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Bad fuel mileage after fuel filter change?

btw: How to re-set the PCM?
Please give your instruction.

Dave,

Winter-Grade fuels, or fuels with Methanol added (Oxygenated) for Cleaner Winter combustion have been outlawed in the US since 1999. They have done extensive testing in the North Eastern US and found that adding Methanol to fuel, was causing Methanol to be found in reservoirs, and undergound springs.

Methanol also degrades the lining of our fuel tanks, and the rubber seals in our fuel injectors.

Pete...

Pete,

Thanks for the reply. However, I did have a situation (very strange one,) that a Ford TSB mentioned using winter grade fuels during warm weather. The specifics were with a little less than 1/4 of a tank and hard acceleration, the engine would buck above 4K RPM. I filled the tank up and it went away.

I do remember that MTBE was used or an oxygenate, but now banned. However, I think that ETBE is still being used. The oxygenates are for the so called "clean fuels", but the refiners use other mixtures to control evaporation point (temperature based,). My condition above was due to vapor lock in the fuel line from the particular situation
1. Low fuel level
2. Warm weather
3. Winter grade fuels.


Of course, since gasoline is made up of about 150 types of chemicals/hydrocarbon chain combinations, it's difficult to know what changes they do for each geographic region and each temperature season.

David

Silver, this is assuming you are still having the problem but (not to insult your intelligence) are you 100% sure you put the filter in the right flow direction (the flat part would face the drivers side of the car) they are specific and the routing of the fuel lines is somewhat confusing.

MTBE is being phased out nationally, not methanol.