I own a Nissan Rogue 2011, I am fairly new to cars in Taiwan and I was wondering if gas was cut here with water? Is the quality of gas the same everywhere in Taipei stations?
What would be an acceptable average of gas consumption say from Taipei to Kending? A good average, since every cars are different, depending how you drive etc… but I am asking for an acceptable average and if you too own a Rogue how is your consumption?
I need a full tank to go from Taipei to Kending, it seems excessive to me.
I’m not sure if they are currently selling a mixture of water and gasoline here, but I’d be willing to bet something like that is coming soon. A really cool phenomenon here In Taiwan that no one seems to know about is that you have the option to run your car on regular petrol, like you find in America or Europe, or you can run your car on water.
All of these idiots are lining up at the gas station and paying big bucks when all you need to do is grab a few liters of FIT from 7/11. I don’t drive a car here, but i’m told that if you mix in a few squirts of lighter fluid or paint thinner you’ll double or possibly triple your mileage.
One firm in Taiwan is developing a rain catcher device that channels rainwater strait into your gas tank! It’s in a testing phase right now, but a 2012 launch is the word I’ve been hearing from my sources.
You’re welcome,
T
[quote=“igorveni”]I own a Nissan Rogue 2011, I am fairly new to cars in Taiwan and I was wondering if gas was cut here with water? Is the quality of gas the same everywhere in Taipei stations?
What would be an acceptable average of gas consumption say from Taipei to Kending? A good average, since every cars are different, depending how you drive etc… but I am asking for an acceptable average and if you too own a Rogue how is your consumption?
I need a full tank to go from Taipei to Kending, it seems excessive to me.[/quote]
In answer to your question, yes the Rogue is going to be a higher than average consumer of fuel, but then anyone who purchases an SUV in my opinion should not be concerned at all with fuel consumption; And no, Taiwan does not cut its fuel with water 
If you want to work out your fuel consumption, then guessing by the distance travelled per fill up is not going to give you an adea. You need to measure your distance covered and compare to the amount of fuel you require to fill the vehicle back up to the mark you made at the previous fill. Typically a simple way to do this is to to first brim the vehicle with fuel, zero the trip counter at the fuel station, then do some driving. Later you will return to fill and brim again, this time taking a measurement from your trip counter. You will divide your km up into litres, or the other way around, and then you will have your more accurate fuel economy figure.
Of course this should be a slightly poorer figure than if you typically drive like me with never more than half a tank filled with fuel.
Related question, sulavaca:
Is there ever any alcohol added to the gas here, either by CPC or Formosa (the only 2 refiners, if anyone’s interested)? I know that motorcyclist friends of mine in the States complain that ethanol 90 or 85 can go ‘off’ if it sits for a while, and I’ve never had any problems here with that. Well, I once let my scooter sit for a year (my fault, in other words) but an NT500 carb clean by the local Yamaha guy took care of that.
We seem to have pretty good quality gas here in Taiwan. Just wondering if you concur.
If gasoline is cut with water, it has a noticeable and unacceptable effect on engine performance, such as very rough idling. I don’t think they could possibly get away with it.
Your car wouldn’t even run if there was water added and it would affect the octane rating of the gasoline. It’s possible that ethanol (or other alcohol) could be added (maybe a 10% mix) which would slightly lower the fuel efficiency (by about 25% if you used all ethanol). but so far you are only basing this on driving from Taipei to Kending in an SUV. It’s 458 kms so I’m not surprised that you need to fill up the tank.
bokonon - I would be surprised if your motorcyclist friends were using E85/E90. Normal gasoline (with about 10% ethanol) is available at every gas station and is used by almost everyone. E90/E85 is only sold to those with specially outfitted vehicles (at the factory) AND to people that want to pay a little more for their gasoline (about the same cost but lower mpg). I don’t know why your friends would use it. they might be talking about the 10% (maybe 15%) ethanol mix that is common in the states.
It can and does “go off” after a while. Petrol vapour evaporates and it usually leaves behind an oily, waxy substance which can often cause issues with flow and burn. Cutting this mixture with alcohol does not eleviate the issue. The time it takes for petrol to go off will depend upon main factors such as atmospheric temperature, stored quantity of fuel, exposure to direct sunlight etc. Its from my experience in Taiwan that a car can take around year if parked outside to begin showing issues due to fuel evaporation. One issue can be waxing of the fuel pump, which simply causes it to sieze due to poor lubrication. Issues after that can be waxed fuel lines, injector systems, fuel filters, and then poor combustion, low engine power, and in serious cases, severely increased exhaust emissions.
Water as an added component to combustion can actually improve performance. This isn’t to say however that its always practical to add to fuel, as water presence also adds distinct and negative factors. Another obvious issue with adding water to fuel is that its extremely difficult to mix, and it tends to separate from the fuel quite readily. This usually causes very immediate flow issues if mixed in even a relatively small quantity.
Do tell, do tell. 
T
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Do tell, do tell.
T[/quote]
The key here is latent heat in the state change cooling that charge. And no, you can’t pull this off simply by putting water in the fuel.
Fuel economy and engine size are not directly related.
Won’t that kill your valves adding water over the long term???
Do tell, do tell.
T[/quote]
HERE[/quote]
You’re talking about exceptions.
From your link
The basics: water in your gas = bad.
[quote=“Abacus”]You’re talking about exceptions…
The basics: water in your gas = bad.[/quote]
I’m sorry but you may have misread what I typed. I said that water as a component in the combustion process can increase performance. I didn’t say that cars are generally fitted with this technology, and neither said that it would work with all types of engines. Having said that most drivers of most petrol powered vehicles can notice a distinct improvement in performance during certain weather periods. In the U.K. for example during rare periods of higher humidity and cold air engine power output on most cars was generally felt to have been increased.
I also reiterate what I said before which is that water added to petrol is generally a bad thing, which is in agreement with you.
[quote=“sulavaca”][quote=“Abacus”]You’re talking about exceptions…
The basics: water in your gas = bad.[/quote]
I’m sorry but you may have misread what I typed. I said that water as a component in the combustion process can increase performance. I didn’t say that cars are generally fitted with this technology, and neither said that it would work with all types of engines. Having said that most drivers of most petrol powered vehicles can notice a distinct improvement in performance during certain weather periods. In the U.K. for example during rare periods of higher humidity and cold air engine power output on most cars was generally felt to have been increased.
I also reiterate what I said before which is that water added to petrol is generally a bad thing, which is in agreement with you.[/quote]
You may have not understood what the original post was asking then and provided zero help to him.
I think not. I tried to give more information on the issue with fuel and water with the original post in mind, and tried to distinguish the difference between having water in the fuel and adding water to the combustion process as these are two separate instances and can be easily confused. I’ll leave it to the OP to decide wether my information was of any use or not.
Water as an added component to combustion can actually improve performance. This isn’t to say however that its always practical to add to fuel, as water presence also adds distinct and negative factors. Another obvious issue with adding water to fuel is that its extremely difficult to mix, and it tends to separate from the fuel quite readily. This usually causes very immediate flow issues if mixed in even a relatively small quantity.[/quote]
Thanks for all the info everyone.
I’ll test my consumption like sulavaca mentioned.
I know in France Fuel is cut, there’s a consumer protection agency that reported on that years ago I believe, so I thought it was cut here as well.
Ethanol in petrol can act as a bridging solvent, allowing some water to mix with the fuel.
This is the basis for the recommendation to add ethanol (or methanol) occaisionally to your motorcycle petrol tank, to de-water it and avoid rusting through at the seams.
E10 Ethanol blend, as used in the USA, can apparently absorb 40-50 times more water than straight gasoline, but it still isn’t much, perhaps a couple of teaspoons per gallon. You might get some “water injection” benefit from that but I’d guess it’d be very small. Beyond that the water phase-separates and gives you grief.
Without a bridging solvent it wouldn’t be practical to “cut” petrol with water, since they don’t mix. Even with a bridging solvent it seems unlikely to make you any money.
You sure it wasn’t wine, or cognac?
I dunno if they blend-in ethanol with the petrol here, but I’d guess not, since the sugar-refinery’s are closed, and there’s no “grain-belt” farmers lobby like in the US.
Its supposed to be a bad idea to fill up just after a fuel delivery (though unless you actually see the tanker I dunno how you avoid it) since it stirs up water and sludge from the bottom of the fuel bunker, which can get into your tank.