Gas Prices Soar 51 Cents in Just Two Months

CNS News ^ | February 18, 2013 | Julia Seymour

[george76]

Per gallon cost has risen every business day for a month.

Consumers are taking another huge hit in 2013. First, the two percent Social Security tax hike began the year. Now, gas prices are soaring ever closer to $4 a gallon and have jumped 51 cents a gallon since Dec. 20.

According to the Oil Price Information Service, the national average for a gallon of unleaded was $3.21.9 on Dec. 20, 2012. Today, that price is $3.73.0. While there has been a steady increase, prices shot almost 9 cents just over the weekend.

...

It took the media some time to catch on to rising gas prices, as "Good Morning America's" Josh Elliot said two weeks after the climb began that "we have just learned that gas prices have skyrocketed."

Those higher pump prices hurt consumers, who were already paying more for gas than in decades. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported recently that the average household spent more on gas last year, as a percentage of income, than it had in 30 years.

[jjotto]

But you won't find too much love for lighter cars here on FR. "I like me a big heavy armor-sided monster cuz it's like, safer if you get t-boned by a Peterbilt, herp derp....."

Yep. I suppose the very idea of 'conservatism' means there are a bunch of Luddites on FR. At one time, though, the very idea of 'American' meant technological innovator.

Personally, I think vehicles should be taxed annually by the pound over a certain limit to pay for the extra wear and tear on roadways and the inconvenience to rational transport.

[bert]

Back in the early 60’s I went to and worked at the SCAA races in Danville Virginia.

The big deal car was the Corvette. It was to put it mildly, a loser. It could run fast on the long straightaway but spun out in a curve. The Shelby Cobra could clean it’s clock.

The real embarrassment was from cars in the next lower class. They could also beat the corvette. It was an American embarrassment. All show, blowhard, looks.

One day a new car showed up....... the Datsun. It beat all comers. The Brits, the Italians, the Germans. It was technology and engineering on a world beating scale. There was no American car remotely capable of beating the Datsun.

American technology might have created tail fins and dual head lights and what ever but where the rubber meets the road, it was lacking.

[nascarnation]

You’re correct.
I have a Cruze which gets 40 highway, never under 30 in town, and is as quiet as a Lexus.

[proudpapa]

Gas prices started dropping three months before the election and slowly started increasing again almost immediately after the 2nd inauguration...

Coincidence?

[VeniVidiVici]

Anybody else notice that there has been NO handwringing, NO plaintive wailing from the MSM this time on >$4 gas? None. It’s no big deal now, you know, because the economy is doing so much bettter, people can afford it.

I certainly think it's also because their king is in power too.

Hmmm. Isn't that Spike Lee behind him to the left?

[nascarnation]

You're joking, right?

No "Datsun" ever sniffed the rear bumper of a kick ass Mustang or Z28 in the Trans AM series.

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

And Snesley Wipes on his right?

[Frank_2001]

You would think they’d be blaming Obama’s rich oil buddies in Texas!/s;)

[littleharbour]

The reason gasoline prices are so high is because there is no free market. The industry is already so over regulated that we have government approved price fixing. They block new refineries, new pipelines, new oil and gas expiration, and they they’re shocked when prices keep getting higher.

[meatloaf]

We? I’m working on a multi-fuel truck that runs off the free natural gas here in WV when gas prices spike. Sorry, I’m getting tired of grabbing my ankles. Eff’em!

[American Constitutionalist]

I had to do a top end tear down of my car myself because I could not afford the $ 800 to $ 1500 to get it fixed.

Apart from the wire harnesses , computers, fuel injection, today's engines are basically the same except for performance tweaks that have came down the pipeline since decades passed.

Once someone has a good basic understanding of how a throttle body works, and fuel injectors a top end tear down is as same as cars built in the 60's.
A engine is a , no, wait, a ICE engine and a ICE engine.
A intake manifold is basically the same thing as one from the 60's except you have fuel injector ports and no carb.
Actually ? if you look at it ?
The throttle body set up and fuel injector is more simple than a 4 bore high performance carb from the 60's and 70's.
Don't be afraid to work on your fuel injectors, the only thing you need to know is they pull out of the ports after you have loosen the retainer bolts, and you always use new O rings when you put them back together.
I like the performance with the fuel injection system over any carb system.
A new cylinder head top tear down ?
It's the same as doing a intake gasket except you have to also take the heads off.
Things to remember with doing a cylinder head on a car.
Take the old cylinder head to a machine shop and have them check it out to see if it's cracked, that the surface is true, valves are ok.
In some cases it's better to just get a whole new cylinder head.
Always, Always, Always, use new cylinder head bolts when putting a cylinder head back on a engine.
Torque it down incrementally and slowly, and torque correctly by using a torque pattern.
One way to learn how to work on modern engines in cars of today is to take a engine or car that does not run and you don't care about it and take it apart.
That's how I learn to work on the fuel injectors, before I was afraid to work on the fuel injector and mess something up at great expense.
Most fuel injectors are bolted to the intake with bolts to a fuel rail.
Most fuel injectors have O rings on them to seal the fuel injectors in the fuel injectors in the fuel injector ports.
Once you remove a fuel injectors you always use a new O ring and clean the port and fuel injector.

[steve86]

One way to learn how to work on modern engines in cars of today is to take a engine or car that does not run and you don't care about it and take it apart.

Very good post. For the modern cars, OBD-II can make it a lot easier to know where to look when diagnosing, also.

As far as practicing, one of the recent single cylinder four-stroke FI off-road bikes is a great place to get it, especially since rebuilds can come every 50-70 hours (sometimes a lot more or a lot less). All the same stuff there, plus you only make a mistake once instead of four or six or eight times!

[American Constitutionalist]

Your right, a OBD-II scanner is a must on all new cars.
It can either direct you to what is wrong with the car or at least lead you into the right direction to diagnosing it.
Yes, most people are afraid to work on their modern cars but a engine is a engine is a engine whether it's from a 1 cylinder lawn mower engine to a 10 cylinder.
I was afraid at one time to remove the fuel rail and fuel injectors but I took the fuel rail and fuel injectors off another engine just like mine or close to it and found out how easy it to do.
Most fuel injectors have a lower and upper O ring.
Most fuel injectors are on a fuel rail like pipes or a solid aluminium rail tube.
Most fuel injectors are ok and just need cleaning unless the copper coil inside them burn out.
You can try and get a fuel injector from a junk yard but it's a crapshoot, you either get a good one or one that does not work.
Also when taking the fuel injectors out of the fuel injector ports on the intake manifold make sure you clean the dirt, grime, sand, out before removing, use a micro vacuum attachment that you can hook up to your regular vacuum cleaner.
Yes the professional mechanics might not like what I am saying but most people can learn to fix the most basic things on a car, get a book or manual for your car, a OBD-II scanner.
Most sensors on your car can be replaced yourself and save thousands of dollars.

[Notary Sojac]

All that's true, but my comments go back to your original post about aluminum cylinder heads.

With $5 a gallon gas, if you drive 15K miles a year and start out at 18 mpg, there is just no way that swapping out heads is going to save more than $125 a year.

And the possible damage a newbie mechanic is going to do on his car by basically pulling everything off down to the top of the cylinder block, taking the valvetrain apart and reassembling it, and then putting it all together, just isn't worth it for a buck and a quarter.

I am not arguing about the general benefits of working on one's own car, which I totally agree with. But starting out by replacing heads is like starting out at rockclimbing by having a go at K2.