Mike, two questions for you or any one really.

First, where is the code on the 2002 F-150 Supercabs.

Second, I am planning a trip to Colorado in early Jan. When I was up there last year, all I could find was 85 and 86 octane. 87 if you go about 20 miles down the mountain. I was wondering if it would be ok to use Octane booster to compensate for this. If not I will have to pull the chip before I go.

Thanks for any responses.

 

Hi Brian,

Ok, you find the computer code on 2002 F-150's in the same place it is on all 1997 & newer F-150's, which is in the passenger door frame.

What you do is open the front passenger door, then look in the front part of the door frame, in the area of the door hinges. There you should see a sticker that has 3 letters followed by 1 number on it. Once in awhile, they'll put that code sticker on the *back* of the front passenger door, but that's pretty rare.

Let us know if you have any problems finding it Brian, we can always help.

With regards to using octane boosters, sure, if you use *enough* of the right one, it will raise the octane, however, we advise *never* using octane booster unless your only other choice is to walk. This is because it leaves a pink to purple residue on most thigns it touches, such as your spark plugs & O2 sensors, shortening their service life & causing idle detriment in a short period of time. Don't use it even just once is how I feel. It's not that octane booster will actually *harm* anything, but it leaves that residue & shortens service life of those kinds of parts. It's also going to be *very* expensive to pour in enough octane boost to raise 87 octane to at least 91, let alone trying to get 85 or 86 octane up that high.

The resulting fuel formulation isn't the best, either, so for any number of reasons, if you have to drive where you can't get the required premium gas, just pull the Superchip. You can remove the Superchip in literally a couple of minutes, you don't have to remove the computer to remove or to replace the Superchip after you've already cleaned the connector. Just remove the black plastic pressure clip so the back of the computer can move around, & you can remove and/ore repalce the Superchip that way very quickly & easily. So you can keep the Superchip in right until you get to where you have to fill up & can only get the low octane stuff, just pull it then, right on the spot, if you want.

Good luck!

 

Great advice Mike

Just make sure the key is NOT in the ignition when you remove or replace the chip.

 

Thanks Mike. I appreciate the advice. I had a friend telling me to use the octane booster but I wasn't sure. I use it in my 2 stroke jet ski all the time but the plugs are replaced everytime I ride and it doesn't have any sensors. I didn't really want to buy 4 or 5 csaes of the stuff anyway. Too expensive.

 

I would think that you could get some 103 octane Trick of VP Fule, and then pur a few gallons of that in with every tank to bring the overall octane up. I assume that this would work, my dad does this with his 68 mustang with hardened seals. The 91 just isn't that great for some of the older engins.

In a 25 gallon tank if you put in a gallon of 103 ocatane and then fill the rest up with the 91, does anyone think that would make a diffrence?

 

Hi BrianD,

Sure, no problem! There are a lot of people using those octane boosters, and that's fine, I just won't, because of what they do on these modern sensor-equipped motors. Even if it was "only" what it did to the spark plugs, I still wouldn't use it, as changing plugs on a 68 Mustang is one thing, but changing them on a 2001 Lightning is another matter.


Hi dcovell,

The mixing of octane is fairly linear. I.E, if you mix 5 gallons of 100 octane unleaded racing fuel with with 5 gallons of 92 octane, you'll end up at about half-way between those 2, or in this example, at about 96 octane.

Some people will run 1/4 to maybe 1/2 tank of say, 91 octane pump premium there in California for example, and then add 1 to 2 gallons of 98-100 octane to it, to get a good strong 92-93 octane, etc.

It's basically pretty linear when mixing known octane levels like that.

 

Also carrying enough 103 octane fuel to last for 900 miles there. a couple of hundred miles while I am there, and another 900 miles back, would be very impractical. It would probably take 2x55 gallon drums of the stuff. Then I would have to wory about it freezing in the back of my truck, and I wouldn't be able to see out the back window. Also, what if one of them started leaking, etc... . Good idea for someone that might live there or something. Thanks for the input.

 

hey, I live in Colorado, and was also just up in the mountains
and you shouldn't have any problem finding 91 octane.