Fuel system problems in CA?

[steveb@falcon.kla.com (Steven Buchholz)]

Those of us fortunate enough to live in the state of California are now 
using newly reformulated gasoline by law.  Some stations (Chevron, maybe 
others) have been selling this gasoline since early this year.  One of 
the issues with the new gas is the higher likelihood for fuel system fail-
ures, especially in older cars.  I had the fuel line that goes from the 
tank to the filter develop a leak on the urQ shortly after Chevron made 
the switch.  I was wondering if anyone else on the list has had a similar 
experience.  I found an interesting web page on the subject yesterday:

	http://www.vpm.com/pca-svr/rgas.htm

To those of you with older cars in California it might not be a bad idea 
to check those lines.  It was a b!$ch for me since I had just filled the 
tank to its 24 gallon capacity before the leak started.  I'm surprised 
that all of this was implemented without much fanfare, but it sounds like
people are noticing a 10% reduction in fuel economy and are starting to 
raise a stink.  The gasoline companies acknowledge that the RFG reduces 
emissions primarily in cold engines that do not have feedback emission 
control, yet we all are forced to use the stuff ...

To those of you in the other states in the USA you might want to keep your 
eyes open for this stuff.  Apparently the refineries may be lobbying to 
have this gas used nationwide to help recoup their development/retooling 
costs ...

Apologies to those fortunate enough not to have big brother watching out 
for their best interests ... :-(

Steve Buchholz
s_buchho@kla.com
San Jose, CA (USA)