Grumpy Bear

This rapid ramping up of fuel cost has forced me to shop fuel instead of just hitting up my usual stations. In so doing the fuel correction is now all over the map. I think this is more a function of the differences in pumps auto shut off than the gauge itself and it had me chasing for a few tanks. Nearly 200 tanks on this unit so I know what the fuel load will be when the gauge, which is LCD, just flickers to 1/2 tank. That the case the best solution is once you find the offset on the same pump over a reasonable number of tanks just put in the exact amount the meter shows has been used and call it a day. I did this on Dizzy about a year ago and quite having EVAP issues by shorting the tank a gallon or so. It hasn't moved much since.

I liked the red on your other rides. Keep it up. You keep a sharp truck.

Now we are in my wheelhouse Any refinery that can run sour crude can and does process sweet. Just can't do it as efficiently. Fact, no refinery in the USA processes ONLY sour crude. They are run on a blend and that the split has more to do with the price of the various feed streams or equipment utilization numbers than the processing equipment itself. When you run sweet in a sour plant there are certain parts of the plant that no long have a function OR are not fully utilized. Sulphur content is what determines the feed being called sour or sweet. So when WTI is sold to Europe it isn't due to a lack of processing ability. It's due to 'limiting profit' running it here. Sour crudes are not just the middle east. Venezuela, Canada, Mexico are also sour. We import all three. Chevron has a very large presents in Venezuela. Chevron's refinery in Pascagoula, Mississippi, and several others along the Gulf Coast, Valero and Marathon Oil are sour plants as are many in the Midwest that use Canada crudes. This all is tied more to profit than to ability. A new refinery built specifically for WTI just makes more money but supply is limited in the big picture. Fact is we only have one refinery in the USA that processes only sweet. Toledo Ohio and it isn't a big one. 180K bpd. There is a second planed for Brownsville to run sweet shale crudes but....also small 160K bpd. Fact, it is cheaper to build and run a sweet plant and there are more high value products in sweet crudes. There is just a limited supply on the planet. Sour plants proliferate in the USA due to past practice when OPEC was flooding the market and it was cheap enough to warrant such a move and US production of sweet was small. There are refineries in the USA that have units that date back to the 1920's. I worked a Getty light gas plant that changed boiler and thermal cracker fuel type up to four times a day based on cost. Ran our butts ragged during the 70's embargo. Nothing in a refinery is not driven by extracting that last penny a barrel. It has nothing to do with the needs of a nation or it's people.

Assembly of an OCI Going about my business I practice what I preach and obtained the result I expected all along. What was that result? A data driven answer! As it turns out, the correct OCI isn't a number of miles nor a length of time that can be standardized for every vehicle in every environment under every circumstance for the entire service life of said vehicle. There a tons of drivers/inputs to a result and the OEM blanket statement printed values are a median value that supports their required result. It has nothing to do with maximizing machine life OR your costs in providing transportation for your family. There is zero support that the commercial quick-lube industry fares any better. Their values are also self serving. Are you really that surprised? And then there are the internet based results. Some even from very reputable people that at the end of day reflect, in large part, an idea that there is a 'standard'. Why? A lazy public; that's my best guess. People like their ears tickled. Even experts will relent. "I demand validation and standardization. I need a place to hang my hat!" (Other than data which is costly, time consuming and irritating to obtain.) They chant like a mantra. Along the way I learned more about people than I did the equipment. But then, I did learn allot about the equipment in spite of all the distractions. People are quite happy to be boiled in oil (pun intended) as long as it takes a long enough period of time before being driven to the inevitable failures that will result. There's even a name for it. ROI. ROI, it's a blunt tool for a complex problem and relies heavy in the lie there is a standard. I have the good fortune of not being the only guy on the planet that is data retentive. I have several units maintained by others with excellent record keeping and multiples of miles past mine on the odometer with several of those postmortem disassembles to proof the puddings their habits produced. I have mentioned....I don't guess and I don't follow the Rat-Catcher of Hamelin's piping. I found mine, lets others follow my every move toward that goal. My reward? The health of my equipment.

Still $5 plus here.

Yes Oklahoma is usually cheaper. Mississippi is the cheapest. Iowa is also pretty cheap.

Ever consider a Valvomax? I have these on every car/truck on the lot. Engine and Trans (those the have plugs or that I've added a plug to). They don't leak, can't get accidently opened or vibrate open. "O" ring dust cap. Not much longer than the head of the OEM bolt. Zero mess. I can drain all of them into a used 2.5 gallon DEF jug which fits neatly under them all when on 6" Rhino ramps. This one is on Dizzy. Peppers prevents the draining oil from splashing all over the anti-roll bar. . One on the trans allows precise measured volume withdrawal of fluid. None of them hang below the frame or even the poly lower covers. Not even in the Mirage's CVT. No way to knock one off. Just say'n...

Mid pack gas/diesel taxes (20 cents a gallon) refineries close to production. I worked the Chevron USA El Paso unit right in the edge of the Permian Basin. Oil company's subsidize the tax base of Texas. Lot's of reasons they have low gas pricing and low state taxes. https://energynow.com/2025/12/mapped-u-s-oil-production-by-state-visual-capitalist/

Diesel is solidly over $6 here.

2024 Mitsubishi Mirage 5/7/2026 44,000 miles 4,038 mile OCI zero makeup oil 3 quarts Red Line HP Euro Series 5W40 + 2 Oz RL ZDDP. Continue to use the AMSOIL EA15K13 filter. I've done enough UOA's on this unit to know that 4K miles in the summer is fine but in the winter 3K is more than enough. Factory recommended 7.5K is unwarranted. Fluid condemned on TBN/color. Stellar wear metals and viscosity retention. Factory 3,750 mile Severe Schedule is almost right. 2 quart spill and fill Red Line Non-Slip CVT fluid, 2,040 OCI. 8 oz Red Line SI-1 Fuel System cleaner. Top other fluids, pressure and safety checks.

Had a Honda once that I changed oil in for almost 200K miles with the same crush washer with never a drip. Let a Quick Lube do a change while on a trip and they mutilated it. I think he thought he was torquing a damper assembly. The hand that rocks the cradle, eh!

Scan Gauge III is awesome. There are three pages you can program with dozens of inputs and scroll. The stats pages and adjustments to inputs. Allot of information.

More stations now at a solid $5 for regular in my area.

Dad (96) is fond of saying, "The things that drove me to the doctor at 60 are now; Lets wait and see a few weeks. Most of it goes away. ".

There was a 30 cent about face last night? Brick must have fell on someone. It would be funny if not so stupid.

Regular is $4.78 to $5.00. 37 to 59 cent over the national average. This ain't Cali.

On April 26, 2026 I paid $4.95 (Premium). Today, 5/1/2026 same brand $5.65! Both stations Shell. Mobil was $6.00 a few blocks away. So 6 days and 70 cents a gallon? If it take a $25 rise in crude to effect a dime in gas, when did crude jump to $200? My Linear Logic fuel monitor has been a rock of consistency for almost 2 year all the sudden can't hit a bull in the butt with a 2X4, and fuel economy over 5 vehicles is down about 5% across the board. Are we playing with alcohol content (relaxed regulations)

$5.00 today. Local news says Ohio, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin are rising faster than the rest of the country due to some issues at the Whiting Indiana BP refinery.

No Can 192K Ecotec3 V6 Just had the intake manifold off Pepper for some injector work. She's never had a can on her. Ran a PAO/POE based oil for most of those miles and has lived about half her life on E-85 switching at 158,813 miles. Top Tier Regular previous to that with an occasional bottle of Red Line SI-1. Uses no discernable oil. Adult driven. Rarely short hopped and rarely driven in the winter (no salt). I tried to get some photos' down those stovepipe ports but could not get the phone to focus on the valve. Jason's borescope doesn't take pictures. What I can do is show a few photos of others and explain how they relate to Pepper. Pepper's Intakes ports looked identical to these in COLOR but with zero deposits on the long side radius or around the guide boss. Just continuation of the brown tones. Yea, cleaner than these. Even the AFM ports looked identical. This is Cameron's port/valve at 100K. Pepper is roughly the same at nearly twice those miles but are semigloss black, not semigloss gray. (this photo is to compare valves only, port is above) Moving on to this photo: This was Dizzy's intakes and valves at 80K. It uses oil, suffers high blow by and the PCV system is of poor design. This motor would have benefited from the can. But the a proper PCV system would have worked equally well. If you tow, if it uses oil, if you drive like every road is Darlington, if you do long OCI's on shelf oil, a can could be helpful. I modified the PCV system on this vehicle and when he manifold was off again a hundred thousand miles latter it wasn't half this bad.

You sure about the makeup?

You have a small farm where you grow everything you eat and save seed for next years crops so you cost is your effort. Your neighbor buys at a world market and the cost of his goods due to 'whatever' doubles. Does yours double too? If so, not much of a point if self sufficiency is there.

Ya think?

I forget; how high are you guys? BTW...how's the wife doing?

Just try'n to be helpful buddy.

I saw those crossings on TV when they were being built. Thoughtful idea I'd say. Deer and the like are creatures of habit. US Army knew this when the burned millions of acers of Montana grasslands to keep Bison from crossing into Canada to starve out Sitting Bull's people. My nephew has such a cross at the site of his death. He, nor his parents, are "Christian". It's just a memorial. No different that a headstone. What do Atheist and Agnostics use to mark such a spot? Oreo's?