P.S. You have familiarity with VEP 5w-30 oil and it stopped burning. Try the 5W-20 VEP: the 5w-20 has the same pour point as the 30w but has slightly less Viscosity and might work to bump your mpg. See how much the VEP 5w-20 helps, then, try the VEP 0w-20 . These VEP oils all appear to have thick pour points. You will learn something this way. Hope this helps.
No butchering, but that's way too high of a change from one grade of oil. There are many, many factors that influence fuel consumption and it's impossible to correlate one minor variable to an observed change in everyday driving. Here are a couple of posts by someone that knows more than I do and he's correct about the difficulty. The second one is about gasoline but the concept is the same. I once posted an article that noted the energy density of gasoline varies up to 4% even at the same gas station, apart from winter to summer blend changes. So at this point you're into the noise without even trying.
Remember it is one thing to observe something but being able to ascribe it to a variable is the much harder part.
I agree. I am beginning to wonder if something in my a/c system isnt dragging it down. We had a break in the heat last week and i made my daily drive with no A/C on, and my windows down, and boom my avg ramped back up to 40 (after fresh top off, but settled in at 36 mpg according to the digital readout. Next day i drove with A/C on, and it dropped down to 26 making the same 1.5hr drive. Ambient temp was about the same. I used to see about a 3mpg difference when running the A/C. Seems excessive. Would 10 mpg be considered excessive running the A/C on a small 4 cylinder commuter car? I do feel like when idling with A/C on, the car vibrates a little more than it used to. I used to never feel any vibration in the seat but now i do. Idling at light and turn a/c off and the light vibration goes away. Turn A/C back on and light vibration returns. Used to idle smooth as silk regardless of A/C status. Any suggestions?
Mpg and performance dip may be attributed to IVD’s? I have periodically used IVD cleaner through the intake in the past, but i’m not sure if it does anything.
How much is it consuming? Im 300 miles from the next change and it hasn't dropped at all. Maybe gone up in level just a scosche. Color has remained a consistent amber throughout the entire interval, which i find interesting. All other products tried turned coal black shortly after change. What interval and how many miles on your soul?
