V10 Higher Octane?

[RAllison]

I have a 2002 F350 V10 with 235000 miles on it, and I have always tried to run the higher octane gas. Just wondering if that was a waste of money? Thanks Rich

[colliehauler]

colliehauler wrote:
I run 87 octane in my V-10. I had a tank of non-ethanol 91 octane from my TH I needed to use up. I put it in the truck and did see a performance increase enough to notice the difference.

I make dang sure I only put in non-ethanol 91 fuel in ALL my small engines, anything that sits a while between use. The price difference is negligible.

I do run a can of Seafoam through the fuel system every oil change on the truck.

[time2roll]

path1 wrote:
235000 miles divided by 10 mpg equals 23500 gallons of gas you bought, multiply by .05 price (estimate difference of higher octane) equals $1175.00 you paid extra.

Back in the '60s Dad explained to me the money saved from using regular vs premium will pay for a new motor by the time you need one.
Holds true today.

[colliehauler]

I run 87 octane in my V-10. I had a tank of non-ethanol 91 octane from my TH I needed to use up. I put it in the truck and did see a performance increase enough to notice the difference.

I make dang sure I only put in non-ethanol 91 fuel in ALL my small engines, anything that sits a while between use. The price difference is negligible.

[Grit_dog]

wildtoad wrote:
14 years and a quarter million miles and now he asks?

Lol, that's what I was thinking!
At this point, who cares, it's worked for the last 14 years!
But to my knowledge none of the Triton V10s have a higher octane reccomendation.

To the guy who said runner til she pings and then up the octane, you need to fast forward about 20 years. Most EFI vehicles in the last 20 years have knock sensors that will adjust the timing to prevent detonation, at the expense of performance.
I run my SRT8 on 87 all the time, when the chica is just putsing around town. Performance is not all there but u don't need 425hp on tap to get to soccer practice down the street!
But drop the hammer and you can feel and hear the ignition timing change and reduced performance.

[dodge_guy]

Desert Captain wrote:

dodge guy wrote:
I used to run 87, but when they started messing around with the Ethanol in the gas in 2010 (yes they had it before then, but they messed it up more in 2010), I lost power and mileage. I was down to 5mpg and the truck had a hard time doing 55mph into any headwind! In WI, I filled with 93 non ethanol and it was a night/day difference! power and mileage returned. back in IL I ran 93 all the time and it was fine. I then got a tuner from 5 star that lets me run 89oct. and gets me my power and mileage.

IMHO:

The difference you saw was due to the ethanol not the octane. Ethanol is garbage and yet the government keeps foisting more and more of this junk on us. The big corn lobby makes big oil look like the Girl Scouts. Arrrrg!

:M

Exactly. But the higher octane overcame what the ethanol does to the gas! Which is why it was fine one year on 87 and worse the next, until I started to run 93, then all back to normal.

[Desert_Captain]

dodge guy wrote:
I used to run 87, but when they started messing around with the Ethanol in the gas in 2010 (yes they had it before then, but they messed it up more in 2010), I lost power and mileage. I was down to 5mpg and the truck had a hard time doing 55mph into any headwind! In WI, I filled with 93 non ethanol and it was a night/day difference! power and mileage returned. back in IL I ran 93 all the time and it was fine. I then got a tuner from 5 star that lets me run 89oct. and gets me my power and mileage.

IMHO:

The difference you saw was due to the ethanol not the octane. Ethanol is garbage and yet the government keeps foisting more and more of this junk on us. The big corn lobby makes big oil look like the Girl Scouts. Arrrrg!

:M

[sch911]

TUCQUALA wrote:
I don't consider it a waste, esp towing in the mountains and hot weather. Higher octane will help prevent detonation under those conditions. Then the computer won't back the timing off as much or any. Most of the time, I don't use premium, but will if towing heavy in hot weather.

In reality the computer does indeed back off the timing to eliminate pre-ignition and does a great job. The newer Ford system is very robust. What year is your vehicle?

[Tvov]

I have heard from some mechanics that running high octane all the time in engines that do not specify it can clog valves or gum up heads or something like that? Builds up carbon or some such.

Years ago I had a 1988 F150 with a 5 liter V-8 (may technically been a 4.9?) with fuel injection. A gas station owner told me to try higher octane to see if I got better fuel mileage. I laughed at first, then I tried it.

After a couple weeks of numerous fill ups, I figured out that there was an increase in fuel mileage. If the price difference between regular and high octane fuel was 20 cents or less, I saved money using high octane. 20-25 cent difference, I about broke even. Above 25 cent difference, running high octane cost more. It was interesting.

I don't know if new engines are similar. Anyways, around me these days the difference between regular and high octane is 50 cents or more, so it is not worth it savings-wise.

I do fill up with high octane every so often when I am out of state (Connecticut fuel prices are impressive compared to neighboring states) just, well, because. Sometimes I do seem to get slightly better fuel economy, but not worth the big price difference.

[the_happiestcam]

azdryheat wrote:
If it doesn't ping on regular then there's no need for higher octane.

X2

[dodge_guy]

I used to run 87, but when they started messing around with the Ethanol in the gas in 2010 (yes they had it before then, but they messed it up more in 2010), I lost power and mileage. I was down to 5mpg and the truck had a hard time doing 55mph into any headwind! In WI, I filled with 93 non ethanol and it was a night/day difference! power and mileage returned. back in IL I ran 93 all the time and it was fine. I then got a tuner from 5 star that lets me run 89oct. and gets me my power and mileage.

[path1]

235000 miles divided by 10 mpg equals 23500 gallons of gas you bought, multiply by .05 price (estimate difference of higher octane) equals $1175.00 you paid extra.

Just wondering if that was a waste of money?

Why worry about it after 235000 miles. But you can start saving from now on.

[fla-gypsy]

87 works fine in mine and that's what I use

[wildtoad]

14 years and a quarter million miles and now he asks?

[noteven]

If it is a V10 Ecoboost 600hp! I would stay with 91 octanes