View Poll Results: What gas octane do you use while towing?
Regular Only
51
49.04%
Premium Only
28
26.92%
Premium only during towing i.e. out camping or several day so of heavy towing
25
24.04%
Voters: 104. You may not vote on this poll
Gas poll for folks that tow/haul
08-20-2018, 04:06 PM
#42
What that general rule of thumb about higher elevation you loose X amount of HP?
Remind me again; per 1000' you loose about 1 HP am I correct? I need to check some of my electronics/gizmos I have on hand that has barometer so I know where I'm at in elevation. The only thing I can think of thus far is if and when we do travel south to the boarder as I quote someone else here 'commifornia', we have to go through a pass, other than that I'm not too concerned to most of the campsites we go to aren't too far up on mountains. Of course that can all change in a few years when the kids wants to venture our further.
08-22-2018, 10:19 PM
#43
If the engine is designed to run on 87 Octane gas then using premium is a waste of money and accomplishes nothing. If an engine requires a high octane fuel then using Regular will cause the engine computer to retard the spark to minimize knocking and damage to the engine and then the fuel economy reduction will wipe out any savings from the cheaper fuel.
Octane is a measure of pre-ignition only and not the BTUI's in a gallon of fuel. In terms of gas at the pumps the one gasoline to avoid is Ethanol or E10 that provides a third less power and is not something I would ever burn in one of my vehicles much less one being used for towing. It also reduces driving range on a tank of fuel which is also a concern when towing.
Octane is a measure of pre-ignition only and not the BTUI's in a gallon of fuel. In terms of gas at the pumps the one gasoline to avoid is Ethanol or E10 that provides a third less power and is not something I would ever burn in one of my vehicles much less one being used for towing. It also reduces driving range on a tank of fuel which is also a concern when towing.
08-23-2018, 09:29 AM
#44
Senior Member
Actually, the normally accepted formula is that you lose 3% HP per 1000 feet of elevation gain. It's not completely linear and becomes more noticeable at 5000'+ altitude. This is for an NA engine--turbo motors will perform better because that's what they do!
08-23-2018, 12:17 PM
#45
If the engine is designed to run on 87 Octane gas then using premium is a waste of money and accomplishes nothing. If an engine requires a high octane fuel then using Regular will cause the engine computer to retard the spark to minimize knocking and damage to the engine and then the fuel economy reduction will wipe out any savings from the cheaper fuel.
Octane is a measure of pre-ignition only and not the BTUI's in a gallon of fuel. In terms of gas at the pumps the one gasoline to avoid is Ethanol or E10 that provides a third less power and is not something I would ever burn in one of my vehicles much less one being used for towing. It also reduces driving range on a tank of fuel which is also a concern when towing.
Octane is a measure of pre-ignition only and not the BTUI's in a gallon of fuel. In terms of gas at the pumps the one gasoline to avoid is Ethanol or E10 that provides a third less power and is not something I would ever burn in one of my vehicles much less one being used for towing. It also reduces driving range on a tank of fuel which is also a concern when towing.
PURE 100% ethanol has 30% less power, meaning PURE ethanol burns at 70% compared to pure gasoline. So E10 being 10% ethanol, will have 3% less power than pure gasoline, not 33% less.
Last edited by BlackBoost; 08-23-2018 at 12:20 PM.
08-23-2018, 02:18 PM
#46
Senior Member
You're saying that fuel that has 10% ethanol (which still burns by the way) reduces your power by 33%? I think your math is off, and you mean E85, not E10.
PURE 100% ethanol has 30% less power, meaning PURE ethanol burns at 70% compared to pure gasoline. So E10 being 10% ethanol, will have 3% less power than pure gasoline, not 33% less.
PURE 100% ethanol has 30% less power, meaning PURE ethanol burns at 70% compared to pure gasoline. So E10 being 10% ethanol, will have 3% less power than pure gasoline, not 33% less.
08-23-2018, 05:30 PM
#47
You're saying that fuel that has 10% ethanol (which still burns by the way) reduces your power by 33%? I think your math is off, and you mean E85, not E10.
PURE 100% ethanol has 30% less power, meaning PURE ethanol burns at 70% compared to pure gasoline. So E10 being 10% ethanol, will have 3% less power than pure gasoline, not 33% less.
PURE 100% ethanol has 30% less power, meaning PURE ethanol burns at 70% compared to pure gasoline. So E10 being 10% ethanol, will have 3% less power than pure gasoline, not 33% less.
08-23-2018, 05:37 PM
#48
Senile member
Manual recommends premium when towing or in hot weather on my ecoboost, for good reason. It makes an obvious difference in power AND mpg using 93 octane versus crap 87. I use premium when towing. Truck just runs better, the mpg benefit is nice too.
08-24-2018, 10:28 AM
#49
Same here. I was just correcting his math. He was saying E10 fuel has 33% less power, which is wrong, it's only a 3% difference. The wind direction can affect your mileage more than 3% so it's nothing to worry about.
The following 2 users liked this post by BlackBoost:
chimmike (08-24-2018),
ColoFatherOf3 (08-24-2018)
08-24-2018, 06:28 PM
#50
Senior Member
Some folks on here posting about their lack of MPG gain when towing with their 5.0. Not the same beast! There won't be a significant gain between 87 and 91/93 on an NA motor. It's only on the boosted motors where the engine ECU can raise the intake PSI that the higher octane will (may) benefit MPG.