I have a problem in the Texas panhandle. I am unable to find anyplace to buy gas that is above 90 octane. I have looked everywhere. The only stuff I can find is 87, 89, & 90.
Are there any octane boosters that actually work? What should I do.

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1998 F150 XLT, extended cab 3 door,Pacific Green, towing package, 4.6L V8, 3.55 LS,

Performance Mods
SUPERCHIP, K&N FIPK, Dual Exhaust (18" glasspack), Bosh Platinum +4 spark plugs

Apearance Mods
Lund deflector, Profile Windstream side window air deflectors, Prostripe silver multistripe, Diamond Plate Toolbox, Diamond Blue(HID) simulator Fog Lights, High output headlights (80watt low/ 100watt high)

Electronic Mods
Whistler Radar Dectector, Uniden Police Scanner, 29WX-ST Cobra CB Radio, with a Texas Star 100watt modulator and a Wilson 2000 Trucker antenna. A Clarion Security System with Keyless Entry,

Audio Mods
Kenwood KDC-6011 CD player/changer control head unit.
JL 10" sub-woofer
Fultron "Depth Charge" amp 200w max.
4, TR570-CX JL Audio Coaxial Speakers (factory location)

Come see my truck and my grandfather's truck at http://www.geocities.com/vienna/strasse/1992

 

Hi Jolly Green,

Interesting situation you have there in the panhandle, as you can sometimes get what we call the Mid-West fuel formulations up there, and so you can see the 90 octane "gasahol" blends that are seen primarily in the Mid-West. You may or may not have any of that in your area, and your factory fuel system and the Superchip can operate with up to a 10% alcohol content, though only 5% is better, and no alcohol even better still. Alcohol is generally a bit corrosive to fuel system & other components, so it's not be used in concentrations higher than 10% by volume in the factory fuel delivery system on your vehicle. Those blends work ok as long as the overall energy content is high enough, even if it is "only" 90 octane.

The actual minimum octane point requirement is 90+; to get the rated power gains from the Superchip requries the use of 92 octane at sea level altitude, just to give you an idea of the exact spec.

You don't mention that you're getting any detonation, so that is the first question to ask, are you getting any spark knock? If so, with which fuel?

If you are not getting any detonstion, then I wouldn't give this another thought, just use the best quality premium gas you have available there.

If you *are* getting some detonation, you should give us a call so we can go over your exact situation and circumstances, to see what the best way to go is. With detonation, we'll want to know at what rpm's and at what throttle position this occurs at, or any other details you can give us.

In general, we do NOT ever advise the use of any kind of octane boosters, as they are veyr expensive and tend to shorten the service life of your spark plugs & even the O2 sensors. If you get into a *emergency*, then OK, but otherwise, we usually don't like to see octane boosters used.

Again, if you're gettign detonation, make sure to get in touch with us so we can go over this with you and get it taken care of.

------------------
Mike Troyer
Performance Products, Inc.
National Distributor of Superchips
(540) 862-9515
Email: mtroyer@compuserve.com
Performance Products F150Online Superchip ordering system: F150Online Superchip Ordering System
First National F-150 Online Rally Event Organizer

 

To answer your question I've never heard one knock come out of the engine. I'm not getting any detonation at all and the chip seems to be working fine. I was just worried with all of the post saying "use only 92 or higher octane."
I have no idea about the alcohol thing. I've never heard about any of the gas here having alcohol but that isn't saying much.

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1998 F150 XLT, extended cab 3 door,Pacific Green, towing package, 4.6L V8, 3.55 LS,

Performance Mods
SUPERCHIP, K&N FIPK, Dual Exhaust (18" glasspack), Bosh Platinum +4 spark plugs

Apearance Mods
Lund deflector, Profile Windstream side window air deflectors, Prostripe silver multistripe, Diamond Plate Toolbox, Diamond Blue(HID) simulator Fog Lights, High output headlights (80watt low/ 100watt high)

Electronic Mods
Whistler Radar Dectector, Uniden Police Scanner, 29WX-ST Cobra CB Radio, with a Texas Star 100watt modulator and a Wilson 2000 Trucker antenna. A Clarion Security System with Keyless Entry,

Audio Mods
Kenwood KDC-6011 CD player/changer control head unit.
JL 10" sub-woofer
Fultron "Depth Charge" amp 200w max.
4, TR570-CX JL Audio Coaxial Speakers (factory location)

Come see my truck and my grandfather's truck at http://www.geocities.com/vienna/strasse/1992

 

HI Jolly Green,

OK, good, thanks for clearing that up for me.

To get the rated power gains requries the use of 92 octane or higher at sea level altitude, that is the exact spec. Using 90 or 91 usually results in picking up just a little bit less peak power gain, that's all. As long as you have a good high-energy fuel of 90 octane or greater, you're usually fine.

If your local fuel supply uses any alcohol blends, they have to be labeled as such on the pump, so you would know if you were using one of those "gasahol" blends, and it sounds like you're not.

So everything's OK!

------------------
Mike Troyer
Performance Products, Inc.
National Distributor of Superchips
(540) 862-9515
Email: mtroyer@compuserve.com
Performance Products F150Online Superchip ordering system: F150Online Superchip Ordering System
First National F-150 Online Rally Event Organizer

 

Giant,
Try STP octane booster or a similar octane booster. It is cheap and I notice a difference.

 

This was posted a week ago about Octane booster:

Neal
Member
Posts: 758
Registered: 01-21-99
From: WINDSOR, ONTARIO CANADA
posted 09-11-2000 06:29 PM

HI!... F-TRUCKS : Thanks for the reply. I was also thinking that it might be a bad oxygen sensor. All the symptoms you describe are exactly what my truck is doing right now. A few months ago I tried some of that 104 octane boost, never again! It turned my spark plug electrodes all red and it ran like CRAP! Later I heard that those octain boosters can screw up your oxygen sensors. I'm going to call my dealer this week sometime and see if they now what the code means. My brother is a mechanic and he could'nt figure out what the code meant either!
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NEAL [ the horsepower freak ] NEWMAN
'99' F-150 XLT SPORT, oxford white, reg cab shortbox stepside,5.4, auto, 4.10L.S, captain's chairs, bedliner, GTS carbon fiber headlight covers, ***** CEPECK clear halogen driving lights,

........and his list goes on and on!!

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2000 F-150 XLT, 4x2, 5.4L Supercab, Superchip, Styleside, Black with silver two-tone, 3.55 rear, class III towing package with heavy duty cooling package, Heavy duty shocks, 4 wheel disk ABS, overhead console, sliding rear window, keyless entry, dark graphite interior, in dash CD, factory leather wrapped steering wheel, FORD bedliner, FORD black tubular cab steps, K&N air filter, mar-hyde rubberized undercoating, Modine climate filtration system, Bugflector II, Mobil 1 oil and filter

 

I used to live out in Lubbock Texas, not too far from Plainview. The reason the octane ratings are lower there is because of the higher elevation. For what it's worth, without any pinging, I wouldn't worry about using 90 octane.

Jim

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1998 F-150 XLT SC 5.4L

 

JSCOTT is correct.
I am from Levelland originally. The elevation is high enough if you run anything much higher than 90 in a stock truck even with a chip you would get very minimal if any increases and therefore just waste this extra expense. Go try to buy 90 in Denver!!! If is doesn't ping use 90 and don't worry.

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1999 F250LD Lariat s/c
Deep Wedgewood/Harvest Gold
Class III Tow pkg.
255/70/16 tires
5.4 v8
3.73LS rearend
Auto trans.
16,000 mi.




[This message has been edited by MJVAUGHAN (edited 09-19-2000).]