13' Eco Towing Performanec
Hello Fellow Rv'ers; An update on our Ecoboost's performance on our first little 4500 mile excursion. Started from the 4 corners of New Mexico. Filled with 91 octane and kept using 91 octane the fir...
Forum Discussion
Hybridhunter wrote:Heisenberg wrote:
Without a tuner running higher octane fuel is a waste of money. The "computer" is programmed to run whatever octane your owners manual prescribes. Unless you have a tuner it will not properly adjust for the higher octane. I am an Instrument Technician.
The manual recommends premium for heavy towing. And it uses an aggressive OEM knock sensor calibration, so it does add power as conditions allow based on the amount of octane. Octane is more useful at lower altitudes than high.
Not using it will likely negatively affect power and mileage. Nothing more.
And I'm a caveman, does that make a difference?
I'm a caveman also - but I read the owners manual last night:
Ford F150 Owners Manual wrote:
3.5L V6 EcoBoostTM engine
Your vehicle is designed to run on regular fuel with an octane rating of 87 or higher. For best overall performance, premium fuel with an octane rating of 91 or higher is recommended. The performance gained by using premium fuel will be most noticeable in hot weather or in severe duty applications such as towing a trailer.
I've towed with 91 octane and lower and can't detect a difference in mileage. The problem that I'm having is that wind, terrain and vehicle speed seem to be the dominant factors, rather than type of gasoline.
As an example, I took a 500 mile route at 60mph and got 7mpg. I took the same route a year later and got 13.5mpg. Why? The 30+ mph headwind in the first trip was a 30+ mph tailwind in the second.
