My car has been from NJ to Boston, to Bufalo, to Myrtle Beach, to Columbus, to Cleveland, and to Detroit. Really even on open fun road, I only have about a 30 minute attention span. Besides, the more fun the road is, the lower my mpg. 140 miles a day at 8-10 mpg would hurt the wallet something fierce.

 

That is true; I don't have a daily car commute so I haven't had the shock of bad mpg hitting my wallet yet.

 

I work through lunch. Can't say it's optimal. But it is better than a 12 hour day.

And like I said, the drive is helped by being fun with minimal traffic. The limited access portion of road around Hocking Hills is great fun.

 

Hmmm - Hocking Hills - ever drive 664? It's more of a North South road but I have had some fun on that stretch. The only issue is it's so fun and still a 55 that the combination of road banking, gravel/dirt run off into the road from driveways/hillside, and the constant rolling hills can make it a little dangerous. On that road I have to keep telling myself that it's not a race track and if I hit any gravel in the road at the speeds I want to go, I'll be an aluminum stain on a tree somewhere.

 

I've never driven 664, but I very much want to.

Another 4 laner is Rt-35 between Chillicothe and Jackson. 4 lanes of new, semi-limited access with lots of banking and elevation change. The temptation to achieve sustained speeds of well over 100mph is overwhelming. I keep meaning to drive it some lonely Saturday or Sunday morning at sunrise.

 

cheap gas is not cool on mine at least i get some funky noises on it i only use it when im broke and have a long highway trip that i can just use a little and be back down to empty when i get home plus it feels so sluggish i gues you have to be madddd in tune to feel it even my girlfriend notices when i use cheap gas and she yells not to cause she knows now how it feels on 93 its so much smoother and it gets better mileage i mean like 4 or 5 but hey the car drinks gas as it is any little is best always using cheap gas i feel is bad doesnt matter how much power it has i have a paseo for emergency use and when i drive it i use 87 when i use 93 it feels stronger and i get better mileage too even though that little thing gets like 35 as it is

 

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One caveat - engine manufacturers build in a margin of error. If I make a product that works on A 100% of the time and B 90% of the time, I will recommend A because I don't need 10% of my customers giving me flack. The Renny can knock on regular but a good quality regular at mild usage and mild temperatures is probably as safe as 91 in Arizona during the summer. The real question is - does it knock or ping or not?

 

The little tyke's grandparents are free though, if you can get 'em.

 

Jesus H. Christ, someone get this guy a keyboard with functioning period comma, and shift keys. Look at him, struggling to communicate without them. Poor fella.

 

Wanted to give an update on the condition of my car, and figured this place was as good as any. Last week, I started getting the CEL for the SSV (the secondary intake port valve, or the "manual tuning valve" as the CEL would have it) being stuck open. About a month or so ago I noticed it sticking (didn't put two and two together at the time though), so I suspect at this point the carbon has built up so that the valve is now stuck. Thankfully it is stuck open, which doesn't have too much effect on the performance of the car either way. Suck closed, and life would suck. At some point in the next month I'll take a Saturday to remove the SSV and clean it out (DIY is located elsewhere on rx8club).

Anyway, I've done about 18k miles on this long drive so far. In the winter time, I suspect the intake doesn't heat up as much as it would in the summer, which could inhibit the carbon deposits shaking off. Also, I had to cut my redlining down to once or twice a day for a while because of road conditions.

So - did the long drive with limited redlining cause enough carbon to build up and finally stick the SSV? I think it could have. Then again, the car has 94k on it, and I don't know how it was treated the first 52k. So I'm sure the cumulative effect of engine use has a role to play, too.

I do think you could draw the conclusion that a long drive like mine requires more diligent redlining than shorter trips might, particularly in cold weather.

 

I can't believe you make that long of a commute. I used to commute from Lancaster to Athens for class at Ohio University and I thought it was a bit much. The drive is nice, but it definitely gets old.

I think you should try using higher octane fuel to help burn off some of that carbon build up. You can also try alcohol injection. I'm not very familiar with it, but it is my understanding that it helps keep rotaries running strong and clean.