Octane Level Does Matter

[Jeff-Ohio]

2 things. The nod Raptor you drove, did it already finish pdi and dealer already filled with 87, or was that gas from ford? And second, data log timing and knock, it's the best way to verify.

It was definitely the gas from Ford. It still had plastic on everything and they had to take it out of what he called "transportation mode" so that I could drive it. This might go against the findings that I think I am seeing, but that is the answer.

 

[BBQPorkins]

Never run anything lower than 91 in a turbo vehicle...I know this is something new to some of you. I've been driving turbo cars for years and I've seen people doing exactly the same thing running 87 and they have driveabilty issues as well as eating coil packs like they are going out of style. good luck

 

[df4801]

What does Ford rec. you run in it?

They are the ones that should know

 

[Truckzor]

I don't understand why anyone would run low octane fuel in a 20psi turbo motor with 10:1 compression. It just doesn't make sense. The fact that the computer can make it run without blowing up doesn't mean it's a good idea.

 

[Azholley]

To very briefly recap my Gen 2 experience, I took delivery of my 2017 Raptor on December 26th and it has been in the shop on two separate occasions for 8 days each due to irregular acceleration (light surging when hitting the gas). Late last week I got to drive another new Raptor that was just delivered to the dealer that was working on my truck and, to my surprise, it drove the same way. I was somewhat pleased that my truck probably wasn't defective, but I was also disappointed that it wasn't driving anywhere near as smooth as anything else that I had ever driven. Based on the test ride, the service department released my truck and I happily took it home.

To get to the point, I had been running 87 Octane in it from Shell. Yesterday I ran it all the way down to empty (with only 12 miles left until I would be pushing it) and refilled the tank with 93 Octane. I can't 100% say it fixed the problem because I am basing my feedback on about 50 miles of driving, but my truck drove 100% different this morning (no surging, jittery acceleration, etc...). If you are feeling anything irregular when accelerating or even maintaining a constant speed and you are running a low octane gas, you may want to completely run it out of the system and try something with a higher Octane. I can't say that I noticed any difference in performance and the gas mileage seems to be running about the same, but the truck is running 100 times smoother. I will continue my test and report back when I am 100% convinced of the results.

I don't mean to go off topic a little bit but something you said jumped out at me... you shouldn't run your truck to gas light or that close to empty... raptors have a high output boosted motor thus making their fuel pumps with high pressure. This means when your gas is low you'll be sucking air into your fuel lines and causes your fuel pump to over heat. If you have to do this again I'd recommend throwing a bottle of Octane booster in your tank rather than trying to get it as empty as possible to restart with fresh fuel. Just my opinion... also from my experience I stay away from shell gas with my fords. I always get a damn knock ****** running and CE lights. Every time!


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[Jeff-Ohio]

I don't mean to go off topic a little bit but something you said jumped out at me... you shouldn't run your truck to gas light or that close to empty... raptors have a high output boosted motor thus making their fuel pumps with high pressure. This means when your gas is low you'll be sucking air into your fuel lines and causes your fuel pump to over heat. If you have to do this again I'd recommend throwing a bottle of Octane booster in your tank rather than trying to get it as empty as possible to restart with fresh fuel. Just my opinion... also from my experience I stay away from shell gas with my fords. I always get a damn knock ****** running and CE lights. Every time!


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Thanks for the reply. Based on my initial test, it looks like I will be using high octane gas from here on out (93).

 

[Azholley]

Thanks for the reply. Based on my initial test, it looks like I will be using high octane gas from here on out (93).

That's a good choice


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[ovrlnd]

The only thing the octane level affects is knocking and the ECU should be able to compensate for that by lowering boost pressure. You'll get better performance with higher octane, at the cost of MPGs, but anything else should be unaffected.

The Raptor has a lower compression ratio than the standard 3.5EB.

This I don't know for sure on the F150 but fuel pumps are typically internally cooled and mounted high in the tank. Running out of gas may let it overheat, but running low shouldn't bother it.

If you have problems with fuel octane, that's Ford's issue not yours - have them fix it.

 

[AKSteve]

We don't even have 91 octane gas here in Alaska. 90 is the highest you can get. Someone really needs to start bringing up or refining some 93 octane gas. I might add a pint of Torco octane booster after I've had my Raptor for a while to see if it makes any difference.

 

[Sasquatch77]

MONEY!!! If everything drove fine on the lower octane gas which is much cheaper, I saw no reason to spend an extra $20 something per fill up. Even though I am far from poor, we only make so much money, so I try to spend it on things that matter; looks like it now matters.

I can completely agree with this. I have a tuned 2012 Raptor and it required 93. I was spending WAY too much is gas, and then I read up on the SVC Tune. This tune is fuel octane sensing and will cut itself back based on what octane I run. Jeff and his team there did a hell of a job getting that right!! Now - if only Ford could do the same!