rangerdanger
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curious about whether that wavy graph is a result of throttle closure during WOT.Here are the results from our 93 Performance tune versus stock on a bone stock truck.
You're near me. We should compare notes although y goals might slightly different.Attached is my Ranger on 93 octane stock, tune, and tune with off the shelf octane booster (with AFE charge pipes and 3" cat back exhaust). These are all on a set of heavy Fuel wheels and tires. 0-60 is 5.7 seconds with traction issues. Stay tuned as big things are coming for this truck in the next couple of weeks that will require sticky tires and track time....and a good amount more power.
The EcoBoost vehicles advertised horsepower and torque from the factory are typically achieved using 91+ octane premium fuel. So the factory calibration is set up to take full advantage of running premium fuels even without a custom tune for premium. Then when you run these engines on low octane fuels such as 87 it's been dyno proven on the 2.3L Mustang that they can lose roughly 15-20% of Ford's stock HP ratings from lack of octane.
They start out commanding timing for premium and then if it's showing signs of low octane such as elevated knock it has to basically de-tune it self pulling out power and efficiency to prevent catastrophic failure from lack of octane. They also usually include right in the owners manuals that 87 is the lowest octane that can be used safely and that 91 plus octane premium fuels are suggested to get the best performance and efficiency possible, especially when in more sever situations such as towing for example. So it's definitely going to always perform to the best of it's abilities on premium fuel even on a factory calibration for both performance and fuel efficiency as well.
The EcoBoost vehicles have a learned octane rating (LOR) that actually learns your fuel quality while you drive. Most all the EB engines we work with use this adaptive timing system and also have an OAR octane adjust ratio used for ignition and load/boost targets. These readings along with knock allow the EB engines to add and subtract timing / boost as needed to adjust for changes in fuel quality. So the higher octane fuels allow the truck to perform as it should adding timing and boost as it sees fit. Then adding low octane into the equation means the truck sees knock and also senses this through the LOR / OAR areas of the calibration to pull out power as needed. So they always run best on premium fuels since it's not having to limit power based on lack of octane basically.How might the engine react if you switch back and forth between different fuels depending on what you're doing? Say for commuting you run a lower octane fuel but when you want to do a weekend trip or want more power adventuring you switch to 91 occasionally?
Thanks for the clarification. Sounds like I could switch back and forth and the engine should pick up on the fuel quality pretty quickly and tune accordingly. I am going to try 91 as I'm curious about the power difference and whether it yields better mpg/range as well. Right now I'm getting 20 average with 87.The EcoBoost vehicles have a learned octane rating (LOR) that actually learns your fuel quality while you drive. Most all the EB engines we work with use this adaptive timing system and also have an OAR octane adjust ratio used for ignition and load/boost targets. These readings along with knock allow the EB engines to add and subtract timing / boost as needed to adjust for changes in fuel quality. So the higher octane fuels allow the truck to perform as it should adding timing and boost as it sees fit. Then adding low octane into the equation means the truck sees knock and also senses this through the LOR / OAR areas of the calibration to pull out power as needed. So they always run best on premium fuels since it's not having to limit power based on lack of octane basically.
No problem, happy to help!Thanks for the clarification. Sounds like I could switch back and forth and the engine should pick up on the fuel quality pretty quickly and tune accordingly. I am going to try 91 as I'm curious about the power difference and whether it yields better mpg/range as well. Right now I'm getting 20 average with 87.
No problem, happy to help!
Yes switching octanes is no problem on the factory tune since it can adjust from 87 zero ethanol all the way up to 100+ octane unleaded race fuel and / or with up to 15% ethanol stock. Then we have custom tunes that allow for a range of adjustment from 87-89 or 91+ premium as well. So you'd need to switch tunes to take full advantage of premium if you were running an 87-89 octane tune for example. We have several customers on another Livernois Tuning thread a customer started saying they are seeing a couple miles per gallon better than stock with just a tune and premium fuel. One gentleman said best he could get on the stock cal was around 20 and now he's seeing over 22 doing an average of 65-85 MPH on the freeway. Here's the thread for a bit more feedback https://www.ranger5g.com/forum/threads/livernois-tuning-released.2036
No problem, happy to help out!Thanks for the link! I've started to read through that thread as well! Some people in the thread said it could take a few weeks (or tanks) for the engine to adjust to higher octane - is this true?
Also, would you expect to see a huge jump in performance/response between 87 and 89? Or is it more of a small jump between 87 and 89, then a larger jump between 89 and 91? Just trying to gauge relative levels of standard performance and the balance between performance/mpg and fuel costs haha!
I read through the thread that you linked and it looks like you've got great reviews and many awesome benefits to your tune! It's definitely got me thinking!No problem, happy to help out!
The adaptive learning curve after flashing / programming can take a week or so for the truck to fully adapt to the tuning and relearn how you drive again custom tuning wise, really depends on miles driven a day also. On the stock cal since it's not being reset adaptive wise it can take a bit longer for the truck to adjust if it's just a change in octane. So most guys that say they've run a tank or two before they really start to notice the differences depending on how low the tank was when you switched fuels. If you have a mixed tank of low / high octane it can take longer.
The most noticeable difference is going from regular to premium fuels. Just changing from 87 to 89 wouldn't make a huge difference since it's really targeting premium fuel to get the full extent of what the truck can perform like stock cal wise.
Thanks for the kind words and for considering our products and services!I read through the thread that you linked and it looks like you've got great reviews and many awesome benefits to your tune! It's definitely got me thinking!
After reading a bit more, I would probably still want to run 87 since it's the cheapest by a long shot where I live, but being able to get more mpg out of 87 would be great.
How do your tunes do off road? Is there a specific tune that you'd recommend (soft tune vs. performance) for off-road driving?
I've been running Matt at Gearheads tune for about a month now and I absolutely love it! The truck drives and shifts better than stock (very smooth) but when you step on it or put it in sport mode.....what a difference! Oh and my MPG went up too!Here's a dyno session of a stock truck with catback exhaust, then tuned, then tuned with the Gearhead prototype turbo upgrade. All runs were on 93 octane. With the stock turbo, optimum shift point for maximum acceleration is 5600 rpms, after turbo upgrade, wot shift points are 6100-6200 rpms depending on gear change. Tuning available on SCT or HPT.