I filled up in Burbank Ca. for $1.98 a gallon. 76 on Sunland and Glenoaks.

Regular Unleaded was $2.25

I was told by a truck driver that diesel costs 1/2 as much to process.

Why are the prices of fuel and gasoline so similar?

thank you


Nick

I do not know the answer to that question. I can tell you that the price difference in my area is not as large.

$1.75 Diesel vs. $1.79 unleaded

I think part of it, may be that the taxes are higher. If you were to price a gallon of heating oil, you would probably find it substantially less than pump diesel (and more in the price range that you were advised it should be in).

__________________
It is a truism that almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so. Robert A. Heinlein


09 Jetta TDI
1985 300D

Because they can. I am guessing with the trucking industry dependent on diesel, the oil companies are reaping huge profits by keeping the price similar.

Also the politicians are probably reluctant to desire lower diesel prices as the public would then quickly educate themselves on false notions that diesel is worse for the environment. With very few new diesels being sold here and some states even outlawing the sale of diesels, this would not go over well.

__________________
Alan Hamm
'87 300SDL 277K Miles
'89 560 SL 68K Miles

It's not the oil industry, it's taxes. Big trucks cause substantially more road damage and wear than cars, that's their reasoning for taxing diesel at such a high rate.

__________________
1984 300D Turbo - 4-speed manual conversion, mid-level resto

1983 300D - parts car

1979 300TD Auto - Parts car.

1985 300D Auto - Wrecked/Parts.


=========================

"If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there". Lewis Carrol

Auto diesel should be taxed less in that case. In some places diesel pumps have separate nozzles for autos and trucks. Unless it's a truck stop, its nearly impossible to fuel a semi at a regular gas station plus the pumps are regulated to a lower flow so it would take forever to refuel one.
It's just another way state governments rape the public for all they can.

__________________
DJ


84 300D Turbodiesel 190K with 4 speed manual sold in 03/2012

If you guys aren't burning your used engine oil, the price of Diesel fuel hasn't become high enough yet. The idea of higher fuel prices is to discourage use or go to alternate fuels.

I burn my used engine oil: not even a plugged filter in over 10,000 miles of use.

P E H

Doesn't all the crap in used oil bother the IP or injectors?

__________________
1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Hatteras,

I don't take it from the crankcase directly to the fuel tank, it is first filtered. Anything that gets thru the filter cloth I use, will get trapped in the cars filters. So far after 10,000+ miles burning the used engine oil, I have had no problems. I use about a 2% mix.


P E H

There used to be a big disparity between diesel and gas where I am (20 to 30 cents in favor of diesel)... But in the past couple weeks gas made its way back down to $2.11 and diesel made its way up to $2.09, so the diesel price advantage is gone for now .

On the other hand, the price of biodiesel isn't looking so bad anymore!

__________________
'81 300TD Wagon 355k (Miss Diesel)
'83 300SD 180k
'84 500SEL 190k (Parting it out)

the cheapest diesel around here is finally lower than regular gas, by about .04-.05/gal, but this happened only recently.

__________________
1984 300D Turbo - 231k....totalled 11/30/07 RIP

Is burning used motor oil anywhere near as 'clean' as burning diesel? I'd imagine it'd be pretty filthy.

__________________
Ash Peltier - tools, truck, tales
---------510-331-4118-----------
1982 240D - (272,000)
1998 Honda VTR1000F(RT) Superhawk Freeway (58,000) "Madrid"
1996 Toyota T100 4x4 (84,000) "Mary Kay"

I just poured 5 gallons of filtered WVO (peanut oil) in to the MB. Thats about a 25% WVO mix and I was pleasantly suprised how much cheaper the fillup was, I think @$1.38/gallon if you figure the cost of a "full" tank as the oil was free. I am planning to offset my fuel cost by simply burning up to 50% WVO in the summer. No conversions, not a big hassell. Diesel here is running $1.75-$1.89, unleaded is a few pennies more. RT

__________________
When all else fails, vote from the rooftops!
84' Mercedes Benz 300D Anthracite/black, 171K
03' Volkswagen Jetta TDI blue/black, 93K
93' Chevrolet C2500HD ExCab 6.5TD, Two-tone blue, 252K

Peanut oil? where do you get it? What filter do you use?

Heating oil? Does anyone use it instead of regular fuel?

Used engine oil- Where do you get the filter? 2% is that about a quart per tank full? Does the car smoke?
I have three 5 gallon buckets in the garage.

Thank you

Nick

Regular unleaded is in the $1.70's range
Diesel is in the $1.60's

95% of the time it is cheaper than gas. Normally it is 10 cents cheaper.

__________________
Michael LaFleur

'05 E320 CDI - 86,000 miles
'86 300SDL - 360,000 miles
'85 300SD - 150,000 miles (sold)
'89 190D - 120,000 miles (sold)
'85 300SD - 317,000 miles (sold)
'98 ML320 - 270,000 miles (sold)
'75 300D - 170,000 miles (sold)
'83 Harley Davidson FLTC (Broken again) :-(
'61 Plymouth Valiant - 60k mikes
2004 Papillon (Oliver)
2005 Tzitzu (Griffon)
2009 Welsh Corgi (Buba)

I use red #2 fuel(heating oil) in my tractors. It's $.55 cheaper than road fuel. The difference is taxes. Road diesel fuel has 5 cents a gallon more tax than gasoline. The polititions do love their taxes. Now that they have taken the color out of road fuel, and dyed the off road fuel red, you better not get get caught with red fuel in a road machine, or they will collect some BIG bucks from you.