What octane fuel do you guys run in your ford?

 

the lowest possible with these gas prices

 

I run the 93 or 91 depending on the station. More power, no pinging and it just about evens out in my pocket. I figure it costs about $4 extra for 20 gallons and I seem to get about 1 to 2 mpg better mileage. Even at 1mpg, the extra 20 miles is at least 1 gallon of gas, or $4, so the net is zero. At 2mpg better I would save $4 for every 20 or so gallons. You have to run the numbers based on your own mileage and the cost differential between the lowest and highest octanes. But somewhere in there the lines cross and it gets cheaper to run the more expensive gas. Remember your Algebra 1??

 

im gunna have to try that.

 

i was beginning to notice that. the other week my fuel light came on and the next station was out of regular and mid grade so i put $20 super in it. it just seamed to last a lot longer then regular would.

 

I'm pretty skeptical of any significant difference (other than a lighter wallet) in the "higher grade" fuel. the lowest octane that'll keep you from pinging...which I would reckon in most cases would be the regular 87 octane (i believe) for about 99% of drivers is the best choice in my opinion. I've read too many things that show otherwise...to "treat" your truck to higher octane is to "treat" your local gas provider to higher profits!

 

This is generally what I've heard too.

Although there are exceptions. Some European cars were designed to adjust to wide variations in octane & run efficiently on both poor & high octane gas. I'm pretty sure these FORDs were designed for a steady diet of 87 octane regular gas. My understanding is that long term use of premium gas can actually cause damage!

Before You Buy Gasoline - Gasoline Chemistry

 

I run 89 octane 10% ethanol, i have since i bought the truck 100k ago... its always the cheapest and seems to run great..

 

These trucks pcm are flashed for 87 octane and cannot take advantage of a higher octane unless you change the perameters with a tuner.

I perfer 92 octane without ethanol works best with my set-up.

 

Perhaps I should've clarified. The European cars I was referring to are designed to automatically "adjust (themselves) to wide variations in octane & run efficiently on both low & high octane gas". SAAB did this in order to accomodate the wide variations in gas in the many countries they export to & maintain performance.

However, software flexibility, whether automatic, or manually downloaded, can only adjust certain key parameters & still fails to "take advantage" FULLY, remaining a compromise that can waste potential. SAAB Turbos were designed for high octane from the ground up, the challenge was running adequately on inferior gas. The main obstacle to octane flexibility is compression ratio, where each ratio has an ideal octane. Attempting to break that barrier, SAAB designed & tested variable compression ratio motors. The unique system responded so well it also actively varied compression ratio based on momentary load changes.

Unfortunately FORD's motors are typical fixed (low) compression ratio designs & its cost prohibitive for most owners to remanufacture them to achieve alternate (high) compression ratios that can fully utilize higher octanes. As is, the 9.0 compression ratio used is designed for & best suited to regular 87 octane gas & these motors can not take full advantage of higher octane. Manually juggling software is a compromise that can only offer a fraction of performance potential & hopefully it minimizes the potential for damage.

Note: "Before You Buy Gas" was a link that explains the risk.

 

low compression? i think all the triton motors are 9.5:1

 

I drive a '01 Buick Regal GS and put 93 Octane in her.

 

87 octane. If you use any higher octane than that you are wasting your money. Unless you engine has been modified to have higher compression, you wont gain any benefit from 89 or 93 octane fuel.
A lot of people think that the higher the octane rating the better the quality of the fuel is. Thats not true. The octane rating has to do with the fuel's ability to resist detonation. Thats why with high-performance engines that have high compression, you need to run a higher octane fuel to prevent detonation/pinging.

 

Octane is exactly right I could not have said it better myself!

 

Octane is absolutly correct... luckly i can run more timing with my 89 octane, and its about 10 cents cheaper a gallon around here in iowa