High octane

[Cicada]

Do you use high octane gas in your triton v10
motorhome?

[Z714X4]

Never.
The mfg says use 87 so I use 87. Why waste the extra money?

[J Birder]

It is not the size of the engine that determines the need for higher octane. Rather, it is the compression ratio. The old muscle cars and a few of today's high performance cars have high compression ration in order to prevent pre-ignition. The rest of us (those with gassers) get along just fine with 87 octane.

Unless the manufacturer specifies a higher octane, it is a waste of money. If you have sever pinging, higher octane fuel might fix the problem, but a tuneup, including timing adjustment, wil probably fix it better.

Joel

[1bigmess]

If you use the recommended octane rating and your engine doesn't ping from pre-ignition, than use the recommended octane rating from your owner's manual.

I owned an Acura TL that recommends premium gas, 91 octane. I used 87 in it for it's whole life before it was sold, and never a problem. No trouble codes from the ECM, no pinging. Not all engines are made exactly the same.

[Jim T.]

Originally Posted by Cicada

Do you use high octane gas in your triton v10

motorhome?

No.


Jim & Shirley & Abbie (Scottie)
2013 Newmar Canyon Star 3911
2005 Dodge Grand Caravan Toad

[beenthere]

the modern computers for engine adjust the advance and retard of ignition sequence and have knock sensors...so you can use 87 octane..but when power is needed and you have higher octane gas then the computer will adjust according..in high power situations you can actually get better power as the knock sensor lets the timing adjust accordingly ...again my opinion..but explained to me by engine tuners..jeff

[ShapeShifter]

Originally Posted by beenthere

the modern computers for engine adjust the advance and retard of ignition sequence and have knock sensors...so you can use 87 octane..but when power is needed and you have higher octane gas then the computer will adjust according..in high power situations you can actually get better power as the knock sensor lets the timing adjust accordingly ...again my opinion..but explained to me by engine tuners..jeff

I think you're missing an important detail there: the engine has to be designed for high octane (have higher compression) for the extra octane to make a difference. You may or may not know that, it's unclear in your post. What you wrote could be taken that going to high octane can give you better performance in an engine designed for low octane, and that's not the case.

A modern engine designed for high octane can usually run just fine on low octane fuel, because the computer will dial back the engine performance to prevent knocking/pinging. But if you do run high octane, the engine can run to its full performance and usually get more power that way because it's not dialed back.

But if your engine is designed for lower octane fuel, it is already running at full performance on the low octane fuel. Putting in high octane won't give any benefit in that case, it's just a waste of money.

[epj]

It's worse than just wasting money. The higher octane fuel has fewer BTU's per gallon. Not only will you spend more at the pump, you will visit the pump more often.

[Waiter21]

87 at low altitudes, 85 at higher altitudes.

[mhbell]

No I use 87

[cb1000rider]

Originally Posted by Cicada

Do you use high octane gas in your triton v10
motorhome?

You can, of course, but you're wasting money. It's designed to be driven on 87....

Why do you ask?

[Rockwood27]

I agree with ShapeShifter. My Ford Focus ST was horsepower optimized to run on 93 octane. It will run perfectly fine with 87 octane, but I'll lose about 15 to 20 horsepower. Where I live in the summer, I can only get 91 octane. When I winter in Florida, 93 octane is readily available.

[golfpgb]

I do not run high octane but I do run non ethanol fuel in my 99 V-10.

[charliej]

Originally Posted by golfpgb

I do not run high octane but I do run non ethanol fuel in my 99 V-10.

Where do you find non ethanol fuel? Seems everywhere I go it 10%