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I got this e-mail notice from Charles River SAAB in MA regarding the summer fuel mix and hard starts on cool spring mornings:
"In 1995, amendments to the Clean Air Act (http://www.epa.gov/oar/caa/overview.txt) mandated reformulation in gasoline in some areas of the country, including Massachusetts. These reformulations including reducing the volatility, or vapor pressure, of gasoline during the summer months. The reasoning was to inhibit evaporation of gasoline and the release of gasoline vapor into the atmosphere, and thus reduce the amount of unburned hydrocarbons emitted. The reason that these fuels are sold only in the summer is that evaporation happens more quickly in hot weather, and thus the pollution problem is greater; also, the fuel is still volatile enough to start in a “cold” engine during warm weather. Were you to have summer fuel in winter, it would be almost impossible to start your car.
"Every spring, in late April and early May, summer fuel arrives at fuel stations. The problem is that in New England, we have plenty of days that feel more like November, and this fuel makes starting your car quite stubborn on a cold morning. This is made worse by the adaptive nature of modern engine electronics. Your car has adapted to burning winter fuel in terms of fuel/air mixture, and will require some “learning” to adapt to summer fuel. The situation can also be compounded if there are some carbon deposits, which might otherwise be innocuous, on your engine valves which will act like a sponge and absorb poorly vaporized fuel, making starting even more stubborn. What do you need to do? Nothing really, other than wait for the weather to turn and your engine to make its multiplicative adaptations. If you do a lot of short distance driving, you may have some carbon deposits which can be remedied with a product from Chevron called Techron, which is a fuel additive, or for severe cases, a more comprehensive Top Engine Cleaning can be performed. You might also see signs at filling stations that fuel contains 10% ethanol. Don’t be alarmed by this. Since 1995, all fuel in our area has been oxygenated to reduce emissions, primarily with MTBE, but also with ethanol. See (http://www.epa.gov/mtbe/gas.htm). Turns out, though, that because MTBE is water soluble, that is an environmental nightmare in the event of a gasoline leak. Out with MTBE, in with Ethanol. This will have no ill effect on your car."
I live in Massachusetts, so I'm not sure this applies to everyone around the US.
Alex
'99 9-5 2.3lpt, 109K mi.
posted by 65.96.253...
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