Horrible Fuel Economy & High Diesel Prices...Getting Old!

[2Gen3Gen]

Well, my truck has been parked for just over a week now :{ . Ive taken over my kid's Camry that gets over 30 mpg.

I sure miss driving it, until I pass the fuel station and see unleaded at $2. 69 and Diesel at $3. 29... ... ... :-{} Hmmmmm

I just got a notice that as of 12/31, my health insurance is going to double! . . Now I have to go find new health insurance. Good luck. No one wants to insure you if you have been to the Dr in the past year or two. It makes you a high risk! This economy is in the toilet! Im going to hate to see what it will cost in a year to feed my horses! Maybe things will get a little better once the last kid moves out and it is just the wife and me. Less food, the lights will get turned off when you are not in the room, etc. Excuse my rant

 

[BBowers]

I am new to the site, but I will say this, I have a 2005 3500 cummins quad cab 4x4 dually with auto. With a truflow foam filter element, triple dog programmer on performance setting, ps cetane booster, marvel myst. oil, acetone, and no cat. I get 22 mpg according to the overhead computer on level ground at 55 mph, about 20 at 58. Hand calc. method has shown a max of 18. 3 mpg. On a long trip on stock setting, about 250 miles mostly rural roads at 60 mph I got 17. 0 mpg. This is all driven at grandmotherly acceleration rates and playing with the throttle to get her to shif to OD aas early as possible. The rest of the truck is bone stock, 18k miles.

 

[BBowers]

i am only getting 17-18 max with no cat, tru flow foam filter, ps cetane booster, marvel m. o. , bullydog triple dog on performance setting, and the rest of the truck is stock, 2005 3500 dually, auto 4x4. Speed is 55-60 for these readings, hand calculated. Stupid overhead computer says 20-22 mpg!!!

 

[BBowers]

That really is spoken like someone who thinks it's all gonna be OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOKAYYYYYYYYYYYY!!! Right!! No, the oil companies are robbing us blind because they extract FREE raw material for their base product. Farmers to factories, they all pay for raw materials. Refining costs money, so does exploration, but should they have zero expenses? Where is fusion power? Cheap biodiesel? Stopped by oil magnates!! My father worked in the oil patch (Gulf) for years, so I know that though it costs millions to explore, extract, and refine, this equipment is durable and rebuildable indefinitely. They still make somewhere around 3-4 thousand percent profit I would guess. Their true returns are likely kept secret even against the rules of the FTC. But look who has the real power, the FTC? Dad was paid poorly and had a bachelors degree!! So, even though oil companies pay their folks well, the owners and execs make the real money, it is not used for philanthropic uses nor is the company given to the workers as was Carnegie Steel. How much money is enough? Diesel is CRAP compared to the level of gasoline refinement, why am i paying $3. 49 a gallon? It used to be cheaper by far than regular 87 octane gas. Regular is now 2. 59 here!!! And we have a barge terminal for Chevron 10 miles from my house!!

 

[BBowers]

what is a tst pmcr?where can i get one? is it better than a triple dog programmer?

 

[kernen]

Fuel economy & acetone

I noticed that one of the replies to this thread used acetone. I have heard this can improve fuel economy in gas and diesel rigs. 2 oz/4oz per gallon of fuel. Any input on this subject is appreciated.

 

[MCecil]

For those of you old enough to remember, adjusted for inflation, gasoline and diesel today is actually cheaper than it was in the 1970's. Even at $3. 50 a gallon, that equates to about 42 cents in 1975 dollars whereas the average price of gas in that era was over 50 cents. Still pretty cheap compared to what others pay.

According to the US Dept. of Energy (DOE), diesel prices are ~250% higher today than in January 1980. Inflation is just one factor in the mix to normalize today's prices to 1980. DOE's weighting method: "Real (inflation adjusted prices) price data is deflated by the Consumer Price Index, source BLS, where year 2005 = 1. "

And for those that complain about oil companies making record profits, so what? Are you telling me that a business has to forgo making a profit just so you can't buy that new jet ski this year (or whatever hobby you partake in). If someone felt you were overpaid, and should be paid less so their products would be cheaper, would you agree to cut your pay?

If I owned gas company stocks, I'd be ****** that my return on investment (ie the money that I paid for the stock) was reduced because the oil company felt like they should allow me to pay less at the pump.

Yeah, maybe the oil companies are making profits right now. . But do you actually understand the risk of oil exploration and the huge amounts of capital required to find oil and refine it???

Record profits are the aim of all businesses, and anyone has the right to a fair return on their investment. However, if collusion, price-fixing, racketeering, or any anti-trust activities are involved to increase profits it becomes another story. Do you recall the price fixing scandal back in the 60's, in which the major oil companies were involved? Or perhaps the "windfall profits" fiasco of the late '70's when Congress had the goods on the Majors, and both the legislators on the hill and DOJ let them off the hook?

Now the Majors have found a new gimmick and are out OPEC'ing OPEC! The benchmark crude used to set the US spot price is Cushing, OK WTI which comprises 5. 5% of the total US production and US production accounts for ~28. 5% of crude oil supply in the US currently. That equates to Cushing, OK accounting for a mere 1. 5% of the supply, yet it sets the US spot price. Who sets the spot price for US crude? Well, it sure isn't the market!

If it were, then oil futures would not be tied to Cushing as they are. Oil futures have been tracking the spot price, which is going up at a rate greater than the World Weighted (WW) spot price (OPEC & non-OPEC weighted average) as well as the OPEC price. The WW spot price, a marketplace which accounts for ~71. 5% of current US crude supply, was $55. 993/bl on Oct 3rd, while the US spot price was $65. 36/bl on that same day. That's a difference of ~16. 8%. Does it make sense that an artificial price on a crude oil that makes up 1. 5% of the US supply has such an impact at the pump? It doesn't to me and smacks of price gouging, especially when every major kicked their prices up that week an average of 12. 4% when all market indicators were trending DOWN.

Looking at the DOE data it has become manifest when the standard was shifted. On Dec 13, 2001, the last imported crude went into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). Before then, the SPR reserves remained rather static, but since then the supply has had a sizeable activity, but with only US crude on the supply side. Is this a coincidence? Perhaps, yet it does make a person rub their chin and say, "Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm. " My own opinion on this is the reason I picked the word "artificial" in the above paragraph. How could the US spot price out-strip the global spot price at the US rate of imported crude?

Come on, either get more schooling and invest in a career to allow you to make more money, or sell your trucks and buy a Yugo to match your lifestyle. Forcing companies to forgo profits never works. Prices go way up due to lack of supply (like if the oil companies cant make a profit, then they wont drill, refine and sell it, less on the open market means really high prices)

For me, five years in the hallowed halls of higher learning was enough to allow me to gain enough assets to retire at 58 and live comfortably. A Yugo?#ad


Forcing companies to return and/or refrain from obtaining ill-gotten gains derived through machinations, manipulations and misconduct is definitely in the stockholders best interest in both the short and long term. Can we say Enron?

The supply and demand argument just won't fly here. Check out the data DOE has on their website. As an example, on Oct 6, 1995 the crude oil stocks were 298,668,000 barrels in market and 591,673,000 barrels in SPR for a total of 890,341,000 barrels. On Oct 7, 2005, one decade later, the stocks were at 306,429,000 barrels in market and 690,520,000 in SPR for a total of 996,949,000 barrels. No problem on the supply side given demand is not out pacing the supply at all.

I could go on much further, but this has already gotten too long. You might check out the data for yourself. It can be seen at:
http://www.eia. doe.gov/

Enjoy your day and God Bless.
Merv

 

[rjones]

Fuel just went to 3. 50 in Mi I get 16 around town same on the Hwy was getting better with my 370's and 12 v than this 3rd gen eng stock... .

 

[Sled Dog]

According to the US Dept. of Energy (DOE), diesel prices are ~250% higher today than in January 1980. Inflation is just one factor in the mix to normalize today's prices to 1980. DOE's weighting method: "Real (inflation adjusted prices) price data is deflated by the Consumer Price Index, source BLS, where year 2005 = 1. "







Record profits are the aim of all businesses, and anyone has the right to a fair return on their investment. However, if collusion, price-fixing, racketeering, or any anti-trust activities are involved to increase profits it becomes another story. Do you recall the price fixing scandal back in the 60's, in which the major oil companies were involved? Or perhaps the "windfall profits" fiasco of the late '70's when Congress had the goods on the Majors, and both the legislators on the hill and DOJ let them off the hook?



Now the Majors have found a new gimmick and are out OPEC'ing OPEC! The benchmark crude used to set the US spot price is Cushing, OK WTI which comprises 5. 5% of the total US production and US production accounts for ~28. 5% of crude oil supply in the US currently. That equates to Cushing, OK accounting for a mere 1. 5% of the supply, yet it sets the US spot price. Who sets the spot price for US crude? Well, it sure isn't the market!



If it were, then oil futures would not be tied to Cushing as they are. Oil futures have been tracking the spot price, which is going up at a rate greater than the World Weighted (WW) spot price (OPEC & non-OPEC weighted average) as well as the OPEC price. The WW spot price, a marketplace which accounts for ~71. 5% of current US crude supply, was $55. 993/bl on Oct 3rd, while the US spot price was $65. 36/bl on that same day. That's a difference of ~16. 8%. Does it make sense that an artificial price on a crude oil that makes up 1. 5% of the US supply has such an impact at the pump? It doesn't to me and smacks of price gouging, especially when every major kicked their prices up that week an average of 12. 4% when all market indicators were trending DOWN.



Looking at the DOE data it has become manifest when the standard was shifted. On Dec 13, 2001, the last imported crude went into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). Before then, the SPR reserves remained rather static, but since then the supply has had a sizeable activity, but with only US crude on the supply side. Is this a coincidence? Perhaps, yet it does make a person rub their chin and say, "Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm. " My own opinion on this is the reason I picked the word "artificial" in the above paragraph. How could the US spot price out-strip the global spot price at the US rate of imported crude?







For me, five years in the hallowed halls of higher learning was enough to allow me to gain enough assets to retire at 58 and live comfortably. A Yugo?#ad




Forcing companies to return and/or refrain from obtaining ill-gotten gains derived through machinations, manipulations and misconduct is definitely in the stockholders best interest in both the short and long term. Can we say Enron?



The supply and demand argument just won't fly here. Check out the data DOE has on their website. As an example, on Oct 6, 1995 the crude oil stocks were 298,668,000 barrels in market and 591,673,000 barrels in SPR for a total of 890,341,000 barrels. On Oct 7, 2005, one decade later, the stocks were at 306,429,000 barrels in market and 690,520,000 in SPR for a total of 996,949,000 barrels. No problem on the supply side given demand is not out pacing the supply at all.



I could go on much further, but this has already gotten too long. You might check out the data for yourself. It can be seen at:

http://www.eia. doe.gov/



Enjoy your day and God Bless.

Merv

Thank You!! Finally someone who knows more than he's told on the evening news.

 

[jvjump]

I am happy to see that someone else knows what is going on. The public needs to stop watching the news. And start watch the stock market and futures. You would see that we are getting riped off. You can see that the fuel stations have paid for the next two months of fuel and are contracting dec right know. We should not see pricing going up and down so much they are sticking it to use. If i could store over 40thousand gallons of fuel i could buy it for under 2. 00 and have it shiped to my door. This is all public information i dont know why more people dont look at it. We are not cattle do not stand in a line unless you know what is at the end. Sorry for spelling i cant find the spell check i am new to this page. P. S the poor little oil company got a 12 billion dollar tax cut!!!