Premium gas?
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Joined: Jul 2008
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Premium gas?
New to this forum, so I hope this isn't one you've seen before. I just got an 08 V-10, 6spd manual, 4 x 4 with manual transfer case and hubs. Love the truck. I'm old school, used to thinking that premium is better for large displacement engines. Is it unnecessary? The owner's manual said regular but don't mind the light ping. Just interested in other opinions.
Posting Guru
Joined: Jun 2004
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From: Apex, N.C.
Save your money and burn the regular. Higher octane doesn't mean better performane, in some instances it may even impede performance. The computer and engine are set up for regular. Hope this helps.
Fleet Mechanic
Joined: Aug 2006
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From: Phoenix, AZ
what he said. Octane is flame retardant - the higher the octane the slower it burns. if you use higher octane, you need to either tell the engine to ignite it sooner, or compress it more to obtain a more violent reaction. since compression requires new pistons, the tune, like DKF said, is the usual way they alter the timing of the spark to give the engine enough time to burn the slower burning gasoline.
Postmaster
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 3,130
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From: Massachusetts
And don't forget the imcomplete burn of High octane fuel on a engine that is timed for 87. The delayed burn caused carbon deposits and will hurt engine performance and actaully cause detonation later in life while using 87.
Save money and keep the 87 in there. I have 93K miles on my V10 with nothing but 87
Save money and keep the 87 in there. I have 93K miles on my V10 with nothing but 87
Posting Guru
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From: Burnsville, MN
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More Turbo
Joined: Feb 2005
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From: Graham, WA
I've only seen regular at 87 octane out here on the west coast. Is it true that in the Midwest you can get regular at 85 octane?
Rob
Rob
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Former Vendor
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From: South Carolina
Its true Ford designed the spark tables for 87 octane typically at 200F coolant temp and 75F air temp..Save your money on just running a higher octane fuel UNLESS you have some sort of tuner that increase timing to take advantage of the higher octane fuel.
Senior User
Joined: Apr 2003
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From: Oregon Coast
I ran my 87 F150 out of fuel at my house once. All I had was some 110 octane race gas. I put in a gallon to get me to the gas station. By the time I got to the gas station a mile away I bet I was down to 4 cylinders running. It took over a week of hard driving to get those plugs to clean themselves off. Being lazy I put some 110 in my lawn mower. It lost a lot of power. This same gas in my 13-1 dragster set a national mph record that same summer. I had an 11-1 motor that was tuned for 100 octain Av gas. 92 octain made it heat up and detonated so bad it fluttered the rings so hard it smoked huge. Race gas slowed it down terrible. 100 Av Gas worked perfect. Never run more octain than you need.
Postmaster
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From: SE Texas
JL
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Guys.. picked up the thread on the premium gas, have been running prem/ mid grade for a while...when i run 87 (regular) my valves rattle on the 2000 v 10 . should i keep running the 87? btw, truck has 170,000 miles on it last tune up at 100,000 used ford plugs (autolite) have a k&n filter also.. am getting about 11 mpg unloaded. two years ago i pulled my 5000 lb camper cross country from Ga to arizona and back, mpg dropped down to 10mpg. took it out this past week on a short camping trip only 75 miles one way, and now getting 8 mpg pulling the camper
. friend at the dealer (service manager) said not to worry about the plugs that they were good for 100,000 miles...what else can i do to get the mpg up?(other that install pedals) also, how bad is ethanol? have gassed up a few times around town and noticed the sticker that states " may contain 10% ethanol"? thanks guys Britt
. friend at the dealer (service manager) said not to worry about the plugs that they were good for 100,000 miles...what else can i do to get the mpg up?(other that install pedals) also, how bad is ethanol? have gassed up a few times around town and noticed the sticker that states " may contain 10% ethanol"? thanks guys Britt