93-octane necessary?

[isis]

What is wrong with you people? 87 works. 93 works better. 93 costs more. Decide what to put in your own truck

Get off my lawn.

 

[Jason Snokhous]

What is wrong with you people? 87 works. 93 works better. 93 costs more. Decide what to put in your own truck

Get off my lawn.

I don’t understand the point of the last part of your post. The point of this forum is to chat about our experiences and opinions. Run regular gas in your truck if you want. Don’t worry, nobody on this forum wants to tread on your lawn.

 

[FordTechOne]

This is not a matter of a preference...it's a difference between design intent and engineered tolerance for those that choose not to follow the OEM recommendation.

The 3.5 H.O. is designed to run on 93 octane. Period.

If you choose to run lower octane, the PCM will compensate by pulling ignition timing and boost. Which means that the engine is not operating within the performance or efficiency parameters it was designed for. The engine control software is incredibly sensitive and can detect spark knock within miliseconds, but the software still requires spark knock to occur before timing and boost are retarded. Not something that I want occurring in my engine if I can prevent it.

The other thing that needs to be considered is fuel quality. If you buy 87 octane from a fuel station (especially non-top tier fuel station), there is no guarantee that it meets the 87 Octane MON/RON requirements. If the PCM is designed to compensate for the spark knock caused by 87 octane and the octane in your tank is actually 85, what do you suppose will happen? Will the PCM be able to react and compensate quickly enough, of will you crack a ringland? I'm not playing that game.

I would understandably expect this thread on a regular F-150 non Raptor/Limited forum, but I'm honestly surprised to see this discussion here.

 

[Rick at FMS]

On the GEN1, Ford clearly stated publicly that 87 was 401hp and Premium was 411hp. It’s even in the owners manual.

So what is the “official” HP and Torque from Ford for 87 since the manual states 87 is the minimum for the GEN2 also?

Nothing in the owner’s manual about this like the GEN1. Absolutely positive the advertised 450hp is with 93 even though you only see it in the Canada literature. I am not debating about what is better to run, just what the official numbers are from Ford on the HP/TQ.

 

[EricM]

This is not a matter of a preference...it's a difference between design intent and engineered tolerance for those that choose not to follow the OEM recommendation.

The 3.5 H.O. is designed to run on 93 octane. Period.

If you choose to run lower octane, the PCM will compensate by pulling ignition timing and boost. Which means that the engine is not operating within the performance or efficiency parameters it was designed for. The engine control software is incredibly sensitive and can detect spark knock within miliseconds, but the software still requires spark knock to occur before timing and boost are retarded. Not something that I want occurring in my engine if I can prevent it.

The other thing that needs to be considered is fuel quality. If you buy 87 octane from a fuel station (especially non-top tier fuel station), there is no guarantee that it meets the 87 Octane MON/RON requirements. If the PCM is designed to compensate for the spark knock caused by 87 octane and the octane in your tank is actually 85, what do you suppose will happen? Will the PCM be able to react and compensate quickly enough, of will you crack a ringland? I'm not playing that game.

I would understandably expect this thread on a regular F-150 non Raptor/Limited forum, but I'm honestly surprised to see this discussion here.

Octane snob.

Since you see broken Fords all day- let me know when someone's EB engine fails due to 87 octane.

The OP asked if it's necessary. It is not. If it were necessary- Ford would require premium, like plenty of other automakers do.

 

[quikag]

Octane snob.

Since you see broken Fords all day- let me know when someone's EB engine fails due to 87 octane.

The OP asked if it's necessary. It is not. If it were necessary- Ford would require premium, like plenty of other automakers do.

It's not necessary and your engine is unlikely to explode, but why run a 450hp turbocharged V6 on crap gasoline? If the $8 delta or whatever for a tank of regular versus premium stretches your budget, you shouldn't have bought a Raptor in the first place. Not trying to be blunt or flippant, but it's the truth.

 

[Rick at FMS]

Octane snob.

Since you see broken Fords all day- let me know when someone's EB engine fails due to 87 octane.

The OP asked if it's necessary. It is not. If it were necessary- Ford would require premium, like plenty of other automakers do.

The OP asked what produces 450hp, running 87 (USA literature) or 93 as shown in the Canadian literature, then asked if 93 was necessary "to obtain those HP/TQ numbers". I found in the Ford USA site that it is needed to obtain 450hp. I am more curious what the official Ford numbers are for running 87?

On a side note: I personally ran 87 in my GEN1 most of the time but always filled it with premium and my 5 gallon jugs whenever I off-roaded. On my GEN2, so far I have only ran premium in it. Why? Probably because I don't drive it much and I guess to spend more money. I mean, I got 10mpg on my GEN1 for the 6yrs/100k miles I had it, yes 10 always and mainly on 87 so I was used to spending money on gas. The GEN2 gets better gas mileage so overall I am spending the same money buying premium with better MPG, it's a wash. The delta here is about 80¢ so almost $30 more in a fill-up vs. 87.

https://www.ford.com/trucks/f150/features/power/#2021-f150-features--8f36440efef86e012fd8089fb4e388a4-ai

 

[FordTechOne]

Octane snob.

Since you see broken Fords all day- let me know when someone's EB engine fails due to 87 octane.

The OP asked if it's necessary. It is not. If it were necessary- Ford would require premium, like plenty of other automakers do.

So running the fuel grade recommended by the manufacturer makes someone a “snob”. Got it.

The OP asked which fuel is correct for the advertised power output. The answer is 93 octane. This was over 2 years ago btw.

 

[xrocket21]

So running the fuel grade recommended by the manufacturer makes someone a “snob”. Got it.

The OP asked which fuel is correct for the advertised power output. The answer is 93 octane. This was over 2 years ago btw.

right

since when is high octane for FI engines something new?

 

[Jonesky]

Screw 93 I way say we put some 100 octane in it and see what happens! Then if we’re disappointed we call the Goose! (bourbon post).