octane ? on my custom tunes

[blk450er]

I have a 93 custom tow tune on my gryphon (and freakin love it by the way) and know pretty much of all of the gas stations in my area that carry 93. What happens if I am in a situation or area that doesn't carry 93 octane. I thought i read a while ago that if I have to get 92 that there was a way to change something on my programmer to accept the 92 and make the motor run fine. Thanks James

Register today or sign-in to remove these ads!

[Bluejay]

Originally Posted by blk450er

I have a 93 custom tow tune on my gryphon (and freakin love it by the way) and know pretty much of all of the gas stations in my area that carry 93. What happens if I am in a situation or area that doesn't carry 93 octane. I thought i read a while ago that if I have to get 92 that there was a way to change something on my programmer to accept the 92 and make the motor run fine.

Thanks
James

most likely, you will be fine with 92 and doing nothing, but if you hear detonation, then wher you adjust the timing, do a -.5 for each octane.

[GoRacer]

Yes, retard timing - .5 (1/2) degrees per octane level lowered.
So 93 to 92 = - .5
I am using a 91 tune with 87 so I retarded -2.

[tjacobs1]

Great question. I was wondering the same thing. I just got my 93 custom tow tune and haven't had a chance to use it yet. Next weekend will be my first trip with it. Did you like it a lot better than the stock edge towing tune?

[Bluejay]

Originally Posted by GoRacer

Yes, retard timing - .5 (1/2) degrees per octane level lowered.
So 93 to 92 = - .5
I am using a 91 tune with 87 so I retarded -2.

Bill at PHP said that was not really a good thing to do. There are other settings for the higher octane than just the timing. He stated that a radical redution such as that was not recommended.

[blk450er]

Originally Posted by tjacobs1

Great question. I was wondering the same thing. I just got my 93 custom tow tune and haven't had a chance to use it yet. Next weekend will be my first trip with it. Did you like it a lot better than the stock edge towing tune?

OMG YES!!! I thought that the canned 87 tow tune was the best thing since sliced bread compared to stock. I pull a trailer slightly heavier than 4k and thought the canned tune was slick. I ordered an 87 tow and perf and a 93 tow tune. I ran the 87 tunes for a few weeks and they seemed night and day better than the canned tunes, especially the performance side of things. I have been getting around slightly over 10mpgs stock towing. Wiht the canned tune I was getting about 10.5, and with the custom 87 tune I was getting around 11. And then today was the first day with the 93........................ can you see me smiling through my computer!!!!!! I dont know about the mpgs yet with the 93 but on the performnace side of things it goes like this.

Stock I was around a 17 sec 1/4 mile I'm guessing, I actually never ran it stock.

87 canned tow tune (I ran the tow tune because I put on the cai at the same time without the custom tune and PHP recommended tow tune because it was a little richer) I ran a 16.4 1/4 mile for my best time

87 custom perform I ran a 15.78

93 custom tow I just ran today a 15.42!!!

All I have is the gryphon and intake and I don't think that is too shabby shaving a second and a half with just those two. my brohter said that isn't right (sarcasticly) because that's what his older 96 gt ran stock and my truck weighs waaaayyyy more than taht mustang!!

[blk450er]

Originally Posted by Bluejay

most likely, you will be fine with 92 and doing nothing, but if you hear detonation, then wher you adjust the timing, do a -.5 for each octane.

couple of questions for you bluejay, I'm sure you could answer me.

1 what does detonation sound like

2 (off subject) I was wanting to lower my 3-4 shift point a little (not WOT) and it says on my menu it goes by mph but when you go to change it, it goes from 0 - 10 if i remember correctly. Where does this 0 - 10 number mean? Now it doenst shift into OD until about 54 mph and I want to lower it to around 50ish.

Thanks

[blk450er]

Also would it do anything good or bad if I run 89 in my 87 custom perf if I retard the timing 1 deg?

[Bluejay]

Originally Posted by blk450er

couple of questions for you bluejay, I'm sure you could answer me.

1 what does detonation sound like

2 (off subject) I was wanting to lower my 3-4 shift point a little (not WOT) and it says on my menu it goes by mph but when you go to change it, it goes from 0 - 10 if i remember correctly. Where does this 0 - 10 number mean? Now it doenst shift into OD until about 54 mph and I want to lower it to around 50ish.

Thanks

Detonation is a pinging sound when you accelerate.

I can not help you on the shift points, never changed those myself.

[Bluejay]

Originally Posted by blk450er

Also would it do anything good or bad if I run 89 in my 87 custom perf if I retard the timing 1 deg?

If I understand correctly, you are running an 87 perf tune with 89 octane. You would not retard but bump the timing + 1.00. You will be fine with that.

[FordRacer2005]

Just run the 93 octane tune and fill up with 93 octane if possible. If you can't get it than just load the 87 octane tune and fill up with 87 octane. Problem solved.

[blk450er]

Originally Posted by Bluejay

If I understand correctly, you are running an 87 perf tune with 89 octane. You would not retard but bump the timing + 1.00. You will be fine with that.

I haven't done it, that was a "what if I done it" question. I was just wondering with our conversation last night. I was too scared that something would happen to the motor. I didn't even know if the gains would be worth it. So as long as one jump in grade is done it should be fine? I dont even know if I'll ever do it but would rather know than not.





As of right now I like the 93 tow tune better than the 87 tunes. It has more performance than the 87 perform in my own opinion, so I guess I'll run that for a while and see of any mpg gains over the 87. If I like it more and it yields more then maybe Ill just have to change one of my 87 tunes to a 93

[JackandJanet]

Detonation sounds like rattling marbles in a can. Once you hear it, you'll never have to ask what it sounds like again.

The change in shift point you were talking about earlier is the "part throttle" shift point. This is actually controlled by both vehicle speed and throttle position. If you change the 3-4 upshift by -10, you are potentially asking it to shift into overdrive 10 mph lower than it currently does. I've set mine that way, because I don't do "jackrabbit" starts. I've also reduced the Torque Converter lockup speed in the same manner, because I'd just as soon have the truck running in 4th gear with the TC locked as much as possible (to save gas).

These settings have no effect though on acceleration or power if you need it. Stepping on the gas will cause a downshift as soon as you pass the throttle position that commands it for the speed you are traveling.

I would not simply load 87 octane into a 93 octane tune without making any adjustments. Yes, the computer IS supposed to pull timing if it detects detonation, but I would not trust it. I'd retard the timing by 3 degrees in this case and I would not really drive it aggressively if you leave in the 93 octane tune. There ARE other differences besides timing between the two tunes. The best thing if you use 87 octane gas is to change to an 87 octane tune.

- Jack

[blk450er]

Originally Posted by JackandJanet

Detonation sounds like rattling marbles in a can. Once you hear it, you'll never have to ask what it sounds like again.

The change in shift point you were talking about earlier is the "part throttle" shift point. This is actually controlled by both vehicle speed and throttle position. If you change the 3-4 upshift by -10, you are potentially asking it to shift into overdrive 10 mph lower than it currently does. I've set mine that way, because I don't do "jackrabbit" starts. I've also reduced the Torque Converter lockup speed in the same manner, because I'd just as soon have the truck running in 4th gear with the TC locked as much as possible (to save gas).

These settings have no effect though on acceleration or power if you need it. Stepping on the gas will cause a downshift as soon as you pass the throttle position that commands it for the speed you are traveling.

I would not simply load 87 octane into a 93 octane tune without making any adjustments. Yes, the computer IS supposed to pull timing if it detects detonation, but I would not trust it. I'd retard the timing by 3 degrees in this case and I would not really drive it aggressively if you leave in the 93 octane tune. There ARE other differences besides timing between the two tunes. The best thing if you use 87 octane gas is to change to an 87 octane tune.

- Jack

Ok thanks, you answered my question exactly about the upshifting. I've noticed for the couple of days driving the truck with and without the trailer that it doesn't shift into 4th until 55mph or sometimes near 60. I could be cruisin at 50 to 55 and the truck could be pulling the trailer fine in OD but it is just screamin at around 2k and it doesn't need to.

I guess I should have been more clear on the octane question too. I dont have any intentions of running 87 in my 93 tune. I already have a 93 tow tune, 87 tow and performance tunes. Originally I was just wondering about my 93 tune and if I were somewhere that didn't have 93, only 92 octane, if there were some way to compensate for it.

But thanks Jack

[JackandJanet]

Originally Posted by blk450er

Ok thanks, you answered my question exactly about the upshifting. I've noticed for the couple of days driving the truck with and without the trailer that it doesn't shift into 4th until 55mph or sometimes near 60. I could be cruisin at 50 to 55 and the truck could be pulling the trailer fine in OD but it is just screamin at around 2k and it doesn't need to.

I guess I should have been more clear on the octane question too. I dont have any intentions of running 87 in my 93 tune. I already have a 93 tow tune, 87 tow and performance tunes. Originally I was just wondering about my 93 tune and if I were somewhere that didn't have 93, only 92 octane, if there were some way to compensate for it.

But thanks Jack

You're most welcome. As Bluejay said, there's really no problem using 92 octane in a 93 octane tune. You probably won't have to play with the timing at all. You might find that the octane rating of your fuel is related to altitude. The higher you go, the lower the octane numbers go. This is because altitude effectively reduces the tendency for fuel to "pre-ignite". In Arizona where I live (2,500 ft), I use 87 octane. As I'm traveling through New Mexico at around 4,000 feet, I fill with 86, and in Colorado at or above 6,000, I'm using 85 octane. I don't touch the timing.

As an additional thought, I also reduced the "downshift" and "torque converter unlock" points by the maximum in my truck. This was because I felt the truck was too eager to downshift or have a TC unlock when under a slight load (such as climbing a gentle hill). It seems to have kept the truck in higher gear ranges throughout.

Again, none of this effects WOT performance or power demand when you really want it.

- Jack