What octane do you use

[Kong76]

I was using 91 ( highest in Ca) but the price of gas is getting out of hand again ( at $48 a barrel.. can you say gouging) at $3.10 a gallon so I will drop back down to 87 octane.

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[AZ_Ryan]

Two different articles quoting FORD on the 302 engine. The Ecoboost may be different.

Car Pro USA -

"The 5.0-liter V8 (I still prefer 302) calls for 91-octane gas to maximize power, but Ford admits that with 87-octane, you only lose 1% of the horsepower."

Car and Driver -

" If you fill up using 87 octane, you’ll be down on horsepower—by about one percent according to Ford. So it’s highly unlikely you’ll notice."

Thank you. That's more like it.

BTW, I should point out that 93 octane isn't readily available in many states. Premium fuel in Arizona is considered 91 octane. Same in most western states.

 

[jon2002]

How are you going to get high loads and low engine speeds without abusing the engine?

Its exactly true because the only way that you can achieve your conditions is by:

1. towing a trailer
2. running an aftermarket tune

The engine module electronically controls and adjusts the parameters to prevent engine damage.

By flooring the gas at low rpms in a higher gear...particularly easy with a manual transmission. I personally do not consider this abusing the engine though.

I've noticed with all my cars in the past, knock was easiest to detect on hot summer days, with ac on, pulling away from a near stop in 2nd gear, with the gas floored. No need to redline the gears to detect the knock. If anything, the high rpm valve train noises masks engine pinging noises.

 

[The Great Gazoo]

 

[AZ_Ryan]

By flooring the gas at low rpms in a higher gear...particularly easy with a manual transmission. I personally do not consider this abusing the engine though.

I've noticed with all my cars in the past, knock was easiest to detect on hot summer days, with ac on, pulling away from a near stop in 2nd gear, with the gas floored. No need to redline the gears to detect the knock. If anything, the high rpm valve train noises masks engine pinging noises.

Yep. Low rpms and throttle. Hot engine with the ac on. 2nd to 3rd shift. Not that hard to duplicate on most cars under those scenarios.

 

[Fieldsey]

I live in Australia so I use 98 octane in my 2016 mustang

 

[daltron]

I live in Australia so I use 98 octane in my 2016 mustang

I believe your 98 is equivalent to our 93~ since you use the RON system and we use R+M/2.

 

[Fieldsey]

I believe your 98 is equivalent to our 93~ since you use the RON system and we use R+M/2.

Oh I didn't know that but thanks daltron

 

[daltron]

Oh I didn't know that but thanks daltron

Yeah no worries, apparently like metric vs. SAE we like to use a different octane calculation as well lol.

 

[FordTechOne]

87 and 89 octane is now crap fuel? Higher octane fuel has nothing to do with fuel quality. All higher octane does differently is burn at higher temperatures and presure to resist detonation.

As others have pointed out, this engine IS designed to run on 87 octane. It's not going to hurt your car to run it otherwise the frigging manuals wouldn't say to run premium. It's not a conspiracy or a myth and you don't know better than the ford engineers who designed the engine.

If you want to believe other wise that's fine. But lets not spread your opinion as fact here.

As for the topic - I have no doubt the coyote engine produces optimal performance on premium fuel, but I call BS on a 20-40 increase in HP.

87 and 89 octane is crap fuel in any high performance engine. They are designed to run on 93 octane, and therefore low octane is detrimental. Not to mention that almost all oil companies these days add detergents to their premium fuel that they don't put into their regular fuel. Chevron (Techron) and Shell (V-Power) are perfect examples.

And for the last damn time...the 2.3 and 5.0 engine ARE NOT DESIGNED TO RUN ON 87 OCTANE. It's simply COMPATIBLE with 87 octane. That's not an opinion, that's a FACT. An engine designed to run on 87 octane will not produce any additional power when using 93 octane, period. I already explained to you how the calibration engineers allow for cheap people like yourself to run low octane fuel, it's simply a de-rate strategy. The engine itself is not "designed" that way.

As far as owner's manuals, they are published to show the cheapest way the vehicle can be operated. That is a direct result of "cost to own", which many sources will publish when comparing vehicles. Which, of course, is a push from the marketing people.

In other words, the minimum octane, the minimum oil quality, and the maximum fluid change and service intervals are published in the owner's manual. 87 octane isn't actually "recommended"; it's simply stated that way to ensure that the target audience doesn't avoid purchasing the vehicle due to fuel cost. With a car like the Corvette, they publish that the vehicle requires high octane fuel, because the price point and the target audience of that vehicle will not be deterred by such information. It's a much different audience than buyers of a $20,XXX Mustang.

Please, do tell...what engineers have you spoken with that told you otherwise? You can "call BS" all you want, the bottom line is you have no experience in the automotive field or anything to back up the nonsense that you are posting. It's simply your opinion, nothing more. And you're not doing anyone any favors by posting it.

 

[strengthrehab]

U less you have a tune or an eco, 87 is fine.

 

[Kong76]

Ill put in what ever makes the tires spin.

 

[FordTechOne]

U less you have a tune or an eco, 87 is fine.

Ill put in what ever makes the tires spin.

:doh:

 

[john wilson]

Eco DD 93.

 

[15 Stang]

I personally do not consider this abusing the engine though.

Your personal opinion is yours, but I believe that the OEM would have a different opinion should there be a warranty claim submitted for the engine or clutch. They have ways of downloading exceedances from the on board computer.
The extra octane accounts for the top 1% of the power band, so if you're running 99% of the available power 90% of the time, that would definitely constitute abuse in my book.
I look forward to your future posts blasting Ford when you have engine problems and Ford doesn't fix them for free.
Have fun with your car.

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