Any opinion of what grade of gas to use on 2001 5.4 4x4. My dealer said mid level 89 octane is actually preffered, but when I put premium in it seemed to respond a little better.
thanks

 

I use mid-grade 89 octane in my truck. It seems to be just right for keeping the pinging out of the motor. I see no need for premium unless your engine is knocking badly. Hope you know what I mean.

 

The engine is calibrated for 87 octane. Use 87 octane. *nods*

 

thanks

 

87...

The only time that higher octane is needed is in a higher compression engine. If you are getting pinging then you need to give your truck a tune-up and/or top end engine cleaning. What happens is they get built up with carbon...these deposits glow red hot causing pre-ignition.

Now if you are using higher than 87 octane then these deposits will actually increase making the problem worse. High octane reduces the engergy content of the gasoline and makes the engine burn cooler.

Heard a commercial on the radio yesterday..."104 OCTANE BOOST" and it went on and on about how it increases horsepower, increases acceleration, and increases mpg. What a crock of BS. Also I hate it when oil companies hype up their high octane gas because it is better for your engine and has all these special additives. Its all just a marketing ploy for you to spend more of your hard earned money so it can go into their pocketbook.

-steps off soapbox-

 

use 87...unless you have a chip programmed otherwize. (if you do not know what i am talking about, then you do not have a chip ) good luck

 

Good old 87 octane is all my truck gets. Without a superchip or other performance enhancements, higher octane stuff is a waste of money, IMHO. If you have a pinging or knocking problem, I view the 89 octane as just being a band aid covering up something else in the engine.

All that being said, I have had problems with particular brands of 87 octane gasoline. Around here, Amoco 87 makes my truck ping like mad! It isn't just my truck either, its my car and my folks F150 and explorer all do it. When that happens, I tend to not buy gas there anymore. Problem solved...

Car and Driver had a test a little while ago where they ran a few different vehicles on different octane gasolines to measure any differences. The general conclusion was that engines that required premiuim noticed the difference in octane, where engines that only required regular 87 octane didn't benefit too much.

 

I have to agree that it is not necessary and could actually hurt performance by using a higher octane gas, unless computer is programmed for otherwise.

 

Just going to agree with everyone else. Unless your motor is setup to use the higher octane, it's not gonna do much for you. I'd just make sure it's a "quality" 87 octane gas. I prefer Texaco, but Chevron and 76 are good ones too. I don't like Arco or Mobil or other "no names". Just prejudice mostly!

Been running Texaco in vehicles for the past ten years and never have the problems I've had with the "cheaper" gas, like rough idle, lower performance, clogged filter, pinging.........

 

Nothing lower than 95 here.
No SuperChip.

 

I'm not sure what kind of gas i use. It's whatever my neighbor puts in his tank. He's always surprised that his toyota gets such poor gas mileage

 

use only what the manual calls for or you will shorten the life of your engine. (this applies only to newer engines 1990 and up)

in most cases gas is made by one refinery for 3 - 4 states. the difference in brands is the addatives. next time you see a tanker driver filling up the underground tanks at your local gas station ask him/her what company owns the refinery and go buy gas at that company! in most cases it will be one of the big 3 exxon/mobil, texaco, bp/amoco

good luck-

 

I use 93. My engine started hesitating and having a rough idle so I switched to 93. Nothing but 93 now.

 

We use RON+MON unweighted average for our octane ratings.

ATTENTION GASGUZZLER007 you might want to check this out: carbon problem with 4.6L

Using higher octane isn't a permanent fix. I'm just warning you to save you some $$ and headaches.

 

I use whatever the cheapest 87 octane around is.

I've always heard that higher octane gas burns HOTTER- which makes sense because a higher point of ignition would resolve the pre-ignition detonation - or ping.
Using higher octane therefore DECREASES power because the computer thinks the engine is running hotter than it should, and then compensates for it.

Having said that, I do accasionally use premium - whenever the car (haven't had this problem on my truck, yet) starts to idle rough, I'll put a bottle of fuel injector cleaner/gas line dehydrator in and fill up w/ premium. Typically this happens sometime during the winter (winter fuels? condensation forming in tank?).