Ask HN: Does anyone else notice that gas runs out faster than usual • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Does anyone else notice that gas runs out faster than usual

#31

Post by rolph » Tue, Mar 31, 2026, 9:17 PM UTC

there are things to check for water

https://bartovation.com/product/moisture-leak-detection/qual...

https://www.acustrip.com/cgi-bin/proddesc.cgi?s=40134

if you get into analyzing fuel samples beware that surprisingly small amounts of vapour can make a likewise large bang. just a drop or two of gasoline vapourized and ignited in a mortar tube, will make you change your pants.

https://thisvsthat.io/gasoline-vs-iso-octane

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2,2,4-Trimethylpentane

https://www.waldeneffect.org/blog/How_to_measure_the_ethanol...

Re: Ask HN: Does anyone else notice that gas runs out faster than usual

#32

Post by razingeden » Tue, Mar 31, 2026, 9:27 PM UTC

I did notice the MPG in a 2025 sedan with 19000 miles reading around 9–12mpg this week with a distance to empty of 170 on a full tank. It was more like 330, had been getting worse (200s) and now this.

And I have an old ford truck that absolutely wreaks of gas/exhaust or something rich when it’s keyed on now. Getting 9-12mpg in that thing wouldn’t get me to bat an eye but come on; in the new car?

Wasn’t doing this until I’d just filled it up last week. The last tank I went through was probably from February? I don’t drive it that much. You could say it has a pretty simple exhaust system that wouldn’t do as good of a job at masking theoretical adulterants. That didn’t even cross my mind, I just noticed this horrible noxious smell when I re parked it last night.

Los Angeles at the moment.

Didn’t California just lose a couple refineries who said no thanks and took a billion dollar loss rather than confirm to new environmental regulations?

Re: Ask HN: Does anyone else notice that gas runs out faster than usual

#33

Post by ekr » Wed, Apr 01, 2026, 1:53 PM UTC

cat-turner wrote: post #12

Jblx2 wrote: post #3

Do you always fill up at the same station or same brand? Maybe they are adulterating the fuel (higher ethanol content, etc.). You can get test kits for ethanol content. Maybe your vehicle needs a tune-up? They could also be fiddling with the dispensing measurement, saying that you put in 12 gallons, when it was really only 11. Harder to check than you might think, since some operators were adjusting things to come ou…

I love the smell of gas. It's weird. But I am def the type of person to notice a difference in smell.

That's very interesting to me. When I was a child, I used to love the smell of gasoline as well. Now I get a repulsion from it.

And it's not the only thing like that. Several things that I used to like now I can't stand. Pesto is another example that comes to mind.

As for the question in the post, it's probably been suggested before, but did you check tire pressure?