I noticed my car burns more fuel in winter. I don’t use the heater or Air Con. So all being equal why more fuel? Is it something to do with Oxygen density in cold weather? If so, please explain 🙂
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Was no one going to mention that winter gas has a different formulation than summer gas? Winter gasoline is formulated to evaporate easier than summer gas. The more volatile fractions in winter gas have less energy so summer gas gets better mileage.
Your car automatically adjusts your fuel to air mixture to be at at optimum level to balance power and economy. When the air is cold, it is more dense (essentially there is more air in each cylinder) so you need more fuel to reach that same balance point.
In a lot of small aircraft they don’t have automatic mixture control, you do it yourself with a pull knob. The difference in the optimal position of the mixture on a very cold day vs warm one in the summer is quite significant.
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