octane adjustment
3rd Gear Member
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 742
From: United Socialist States of America, Comrade.
RE: octane adjustment
nope, that is the tunes matter.
The car stock is tuned to run with the regular gas (87 or 89 octane I think) so running anything higher is a waste IMO, you will be burning gas better, but no higher performance.
If you want better performance and you are decided to run higher octane, get a tune.You will be happy.
The car stock is tuned to run with the regular gas (87 or 89 octane I think) so running anything higher is a waste IMO, you will be burning gas better, but no higher performance.
If you want better performance and you are decided to run higher octane, get a tune.You will be happy.
5th Gear Member
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 3,986
From: Michigan
RE: octane adjustment
ORIGINAL: torch red
If your car is STOCK...higher octane is fine but useless.....your CPU will be fine
If your car is STOCK...higher octane is fine but useless.....your CPU will be fine
Everytime you start your car and accelerate the ECU/CPU/ECM (whatever you wanna call it) will advance timing until it knocks. Then it backs it off. So therefore, if you run premium fuel the ECU/CPU/ECM will advance the timing further netting you a wee bit more power. At most you might see a 3 or 4 hp increase. But usually you get better mileage with better fuel, unless the static compression ratio is 8.5:1. Then it wont do any good, it actually might run worse if your CR is too low.
-P.
4th Gear Member
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 1,877
From: New York
RE: octane adjustment
My answer was basic...Not wrong.. i answered his question of wondering if his CPU will adjust ..I said your CPU will be fine...but in IMO u never will feel that 3HP gain..so there fore useless
ORIGINAL: P Zero
You are wrong sir.
Everytime you start your car and accelerate the ECU/CPU/ECM (whatever you wanna call it) will advance timing until it knocks. Then it backs it off. So therefore, if you run premium fuel the ECU/CPU/ECM will advance the timing further netting you a wee bit more power. At most you might see a 3 or 4 hp increase. But usually you get better mileage with better fuel, unless the static compression ratio is 8.5:1. Then it wont do any good, it actually might run worse if your CR is too low.
-P.
ORIGINAL: torch red
If your car is STOCK...higher octane is fine but useless.....your CPU will be fine
If your car is STOCK...higher octane is fine but useless.....your CPU will be fine
Everytime you start your car and accelerate the ECU/CPU/ECM (whatever you wanna call it) will advance timing until it knocks. Then it backs it off. So therefore, if you run premium fuel the ECU/CPU/ECM will advance the timing further netting you a wee bit more power. At most you might see a 3 or 4 hp increase. But usually you get better mileage with better fuel, unless the static compression ratio is 8.5:1. Then it wont do any good, it actually might run worse if your CR is too low.
-P.
Thread Starter
3rd Gear Member
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 784
From: California
RE: octane adjustment
so an extra 20 cents a gallon... or $3 a tank for better mpg? Hmmm... I ve read something also about the spark plugs not taking nicely to that, for instance, breaking off due to over abundance of carbon built up... any ideas?
2nd Gear Member
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 344
From: VA
RE: octane adjustment
I've been running 89 in mine since last year, since I found that 87 ethanol blends in my area are fairly flaky and I would get some pinging from time to time.
I talked to a ford tech at a stealership awhile back about it, and he said that they'd been getting lots of complaints recently about intermittantpinging on 87, so they'd been pretty much advising people to go up to 89 (provided everything else with the car is working fine) since it appears to be a very common complaint.
So I asked him about potential carbon buildup using a higher octane. He said that really shouldn't be too much of an issue even with 93; just check your plugs a little sooner than you normally would and take it out every once in awhile and open it up on a good stretch.
Of course we both grinned at that.
And that led into my question about custom tunes and his grin changed dramatically to a grimmace.[&o]
I talked to a ford tech at a stealership awhile back about it, and he said that they'd been getting lots of complaints recently about intermittantpinging on 87, so they'd been pretty much advising people to go up to 89 (provided everything else with the car is working fine) since it appears to be a very common complaint.
So I asked him about potential carbon buildup using a higher octane. He said that really shouldn't be too much of an issue even with 93; just check your plugs a little sooner than you normally would and take it out every once in awhile and open it up on a good stretch.
Of course we both grinned at that.
And that led into my question about custom tunes and his grin changed dramatically to a grimmace.[&o]
5th Gear Member
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 3,986
From: Michigan
RE: octane adjustment
ORIGINAL: torch red
My answer was basic...Not wrong.. i answered his question of wondering if his CPU will adjust ..I said your CPU will be fine...but in IMO u never will feel that 3HP gain..so there fore useless
My answer was basic...Not wrong.. i answered his question of wondering if his CPU will adjust ..I said your CPU will be fine...but in IMO u never will feel that 3HP gain..so there fore useless
ORIGINAL: P Zero
You are wrong sir.
Everytime you start your car and accelerate the ECU/CPU/ECM (whatever you wanna call it) will advance timing until it knocks. Then it backs it off. So therefore, if you run premium fuel the ECU/CPU/ECM will advance the timing further netting you a wee bit more power. At most you might see a 3 or 4 hp increase. But usually you get better mileage with better fuel, unless the static compression ratio is 8.5:1. Then it wont do any good, it actually might run worse if your CR is too low.
-P.
ORIGINAL: torch red
If your car is STOCK...higher octane is fine but useless.....your CPU will be fine
If your car is STOCK...higher octane is fine but useless.....your CPU will be fine
Everytime you start your car and accelerate the ECU/CPU/ECM (whatever you wanna call it) will advance timing until it knocks. Then it backs it off. So therefore, if you run premium fuel the ECU/CPU/ECM will advance the timing further netting you a wee bit more power. At most you might see a 3 or 4 hp increase. But usually you get better mileage with better fuel, unless the static compression ratio is 8.5:1. Then it wont do any good, it actually might run worse if your CR is too low.
-P.
Its not useless, you will notice an increase in MPG. If you break it down to cents per mile, youll notice the actual difference between the lower octane and higher octane MIGHT be a tenth of a cent. Simply because you go further on higher octane.
In my '85 GT, which has almost 11:1 compression the difference is dramatic at how much my gas milage changes. With 87 I MIGHT get 200 miles out of a tank, and with premium I get almost 260. When I mixed race gas with 94 I got over 300. Thats nothing to sneeze at.
-P.
