Performance , 91 octane in 2022 ranger vs 87

[Loweredon33s]

While it's true that there is no more energy content, the Ford Ecoboost engines use OAR, or Octane Adjust Ratio, so they do indeed make more power on premium fuel.

Search for Ecoboost OAR. There are tons of articles about it and how well it works.

First Result

100% right. 87-91-93 octane will increase power if there is power to be increased within the stock tune. Meaning that if the conditions are right (heat mostly) then higher octane will increase power. We have tested it a couple times on our dyno and it usually results in about 15-20 to the wheels. Sometimes more but not often.

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[Dgc333]

I get a kick out of people, and not just here, that “know” they get more “power” when they use higher octane fuels. When in a sense octane is an inhibitor to combustion. Of course some engines require this retardation of combustion because the engine itself is designed to operate at higher compression values. Our Fords, being turbocharged, can to a small degree benefit when being taxed (towing?) and actually Ford mentions this.

But in these cases you are not really getting more “power” per se, just inhibiting pre detonation and I guess some loss of power during certain driving situations.

Of course, some higher “tier” fuels, which are almost always a refiners “High Octane” fuels, also contain certain “detergent” additives, which have been proven to be beneficial to some small degree over time.

Our engines are not particularly high performance, even if you “tune” them. They are very much “just a Ford” off the shelf engine.

“…higher octane gas doesn’t change the energy content of a gallon of gasoline. A higher octane rating means that your engine is more resistant to knocking. So, buying it will be a waste of money unless your engine requires a higher octane gas.”

https://www.mach1services.com/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-high-octane-fuel/

Every 4 cycle internal combustion engine will make the most power when maximum cylinder pressure occurs approximately 20 degrees after top dead center (the actual timing is going to be dependent on the particular engine).

To obtain the max cylinder pressure at the right time the spark has to be initiated before top dead center. The ideal timing BTDC may/is not always compatible with the fuel being used and can/will result in detonation. This compromised timing will result in less HP.

Prior to computer controlled engines and the early years of computer control the engines were tuned to run at certain timing that was compatible with the octane fuel specified. These engines did not benefit from higher octane without retuning the engine.

Modern computer controlled engines now have the ability to adjust the timing curve of the engine based on the fuel being used. As previously mentioned the Ford system uses a calculation factor called Octane Adjust Ratio (OAR) where the timing is always being pushed and if it does not detect detonation the OAR is moved further negative (or positive if it does detect detonation). Over time the computer learns the octane of the fuel being used so it does not have to start from a low octane fuel ever time the engine is started.

In the case of the 2.3 in the Ranger higher octane fuel also allows the engine to increase boost pressure so there is a significant increase in power between 87 octane and 93 octane.

The 270HP rating of the 2.3 is obtained on 87 octane, it has been showed with many Dyno runs that the same engine with no tuning but with 93 octane fuel will make 300+HP. Ford even went so far with the ratings on the same 2.3 in the Bronco to rate it on both octanes, 275HP on 87 octane and 315HP on 93 octane.

Prior to fuel injection being common place "premium" fuel would have additional detergents over "regular" fuel. The premium was also higher octane. When fuel injection became common place the government mandated a minimum level of detergents in fuel regardless of the octane. Some of the fuel companies and auto manufacturers banded together and recommended even higher levels of detergents could be beneficial and created the "Top Tier" consortium. So today if you buy fuel from a brand that is a member of Top Tier you will get additional detergents regardless of the octane rating of the fuel.

 

[seanellaz]

Can these trucks even handle race fuel to begin with? What made you even think to put that in the gas tank?

Mostly a combination of ignorance and curiosity. The truck ran rough, I got a warning that the catalytic converter was malfunctioning. A couple of tanks of 87 octane gas + catalytic converter cleaner in the tank fixed that thank goodness. One could probably get a tune for 100 Octane gas turning the truck into a perhaps short lived monster.

 

[CP0861]

Here is my experiences using both 87 octane and a mix of 91 -93 octane. No it isn't scientific nor did I use a dyno. My XLT FX4 is stock.

I have been running 91 or 93 since I bought my truck. A few months back I switched to 87 octane due to the price difference. I ran at least 4 tanks of 87 octane.

Here are my results running 87 octane:

Engine ran rougher
Noticeably less power
A loss of 4-5 miles per gallon.

It took 2 full tans of 91-93 octane to get back to where I was before running 87 octane. Even with full prices being what they are, I will stick with 91-93 octane.

And for those wondering why I use 91 and 93 , it is because not all stations have 93 octane fuel. Some only have 91 octane.

Again this is what I noticed on a stock 2020 XLT FX4. Other than very short trips around my small town, it is al least 20 miles to the nearest big town for shopping or doctor appointments.

My experience has been similar, however, I didn't notice any significant change in MPG.

No tune.

I bought my truck in June and ran 87 for a few months. Then out of curiosity, I switched to 93 for a few months. It ran noticeably better, but I wasn't seeing any significant change in MPG, and since 93 is $0.50-$0.90 more per gallon where I am, the slightly better feel isn't worth $9-$15/tank driving 2k+ miles/month. So I went back to 87. When I went back to 87 after months on 93, the difference was MUCH more noticeable than what I realized when I first jumped up to 93. It definitely ran significantly better on 93....it's noticeably more sluggish and jumpy on 87 - it's actually annoying after months on 93. I'm still on 87 for now....wanna run a few more tanks to nail down MPG data, but I'll probably try 91 soon. That might be a good compromise.

I'll consider a tune when my warranty is out. For now, I've already spent about $4-5k on upgrades (most of that was a cap) and plan on ordering a bedrug soon. I'm tapped out for now!!

 

[Langwilliams]

93 is $0.50-$0.90 more per gallon where I am

It's $.70 to a buck a gallon more here. Plus is 89 here an it's about 30 cents more per gal so that's what I run. I do have a tune with high an low octane tunes an I think the truck does well with the lower tune an 89 fuel. When I had the high tune in an ran 92 or 93 it was def more powerful but a lot of the time I'd just sit there with the tires spinning. This tune seems to hook an go better.

 

[Dgc333]

I live south east of Boston and 93 is over $1 more than 87. 89 octane is a mix of 87 and 93 blended in the pump. The price should be less than 1/2 the difference between 87 and 93 but in my area it is about 80% of the cost of 93.

When premium topped $4 last year I switched to 87 and put an 87 octane performance tune on the Ranger. Even if 93 goes back down to where it was before the Ukraine war I will be staying with 87.

 

[seasprite]

My experience has been similar, however, I didn't notice any significant change in MPG.

No tune.

I bought my truck in June and ran 87 for a few months. Then out of curiosity, I switched to 93 for a few months. It ran noticeably better, but I wasn't seeing any significant change in MPG, and since 93 is $0.50-$0.90 more per gallon where I am, the slightly better feel isn't worth $9-$15/tank driving 2k+ miles/month. So I went back to 87. When I went back to 87 after months on 93, the difference was MUCH more noticeable than what I realized when I first jumped up to 93. It definitely ran significantly better on 93....it's noticeably more sluggish and jumpy on 87 - it's actually annoying after months on 93. I'm still on 87 for now....wanna run a few more tanks to nail down MPG data, but I'll probably try 91 soon. That might be a good compromise.

I'll consider a tune when my warranty is out. For now, I've already spent about $4-5k on upgrades (most of that was a cap) and plan on ordering a bedrug soon. I'm tapped out for now!!

Just curious did you reset your trip meter 1 or 2? This will reset the MPG for the trip selected else its just looking at the average for all the different types of fuel you used and will take longer to reflect any improvements in mileage.
I was getting 22mpg on 87, 24 with 91 with alcohol and 26 with 91 alcohol free during the summer months and 25mpg during winter months

 

[12Bravo20]

Just curious did you reset your trip meter 1 or 2? This will reset the MPG for the trip selected else its just looking at the average for all the different types of fuel you used and will take longer to reflect any improvements in mileage.
I was getting 22mpg on 87, 24 with 91 with alcohol and 26 with 91 alcohol free during the summer months and 25mpg during winter months

I always reset trip meter 1 every time I fill up the tank. That told me right away the difference between running 87 octane versus either 91 or 93 octane. I also made sure to run several tank fulls of each to get a good average.

As you said, resetting the trip meter each time is the best way to tell a difference.

Living in Mid Missouri, most stations have either 91 or 93 octane but normally won't have both. And it seems to vary between the different stations on what they have. So my truck gets either 91 or 93 depending on what the station has available. I also do not have a tune.

 

[AzScorpion]

I get a kick out of people, and not just here, that “know” they get more “power” when they use higher octane fuels. When in a sense octane is an inhibitor to combustion. Of course some engines require this retardation of combustion because the engine itself is designed to operate at higher compression values. Our Fords, being turbocharged, can to a small degree benefit when being taxed (towing?) and actually Ford mentions this.

But in these cases you are not really getting more “power” per se, just inhibiting pre detonation and I guess some loss of power during certain driving situations.

Of course, some higher “tier” fuels, which are almost always a refiners “High Octane” fuels, also contain certain “detergent” additives, which have been proven to be beneficial to some small degree over time.

Our engines are not particularly high performance, even if you “tune” them. They are very much “just a Ford” off the shelf engine.

“…higher octane gas doesn’t change the energy content of a gallon of gasoline. A higher octane rating means that your engine is more resistant to knocking. So, buying it will be a waste of money unless your engine requires a higher octane gas.”

https://www.mach1services.com/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-high-octane-fuel/

I guess Ford must be wrong too.


https://fordauthority.com/2021/05/2021-ford-bronco-horsepower-torque-ratings-revealed/#:~:text=Final 2021 Ford Bronco horsepower and torque ratings,of 270 horsepower and 310 pound-feet of torque.

�

Ford 2.3L EcoBoost I-4	Ford 2.7L EcoBoost V6
Standard 87 Octane Horsepower	275	315
Standard 87 Octane Torque (pound-feet)	315	410
Premium 93 Octane Horsepower	300	330
Premium 93 Octane Torque (pound-feet)	325	415

Final 2021 Ford Bronco horsepower and torque ratings come in at 300 horsepower and 325 pound-feet of torque on premium 93 octane fuel for the 2.3L EcoBoost I-4 (275 horsepower and 315 pound-feet on regular 87 octane fuel), beating out the original estimates of 270 horsepower and 310 pound-feet of torque.

 

[Racket]

I have a tune from Unleashed I requested for midgrade and never put 87 octane in mine. Midgrade gas is a relatively minor upcharge, typically 89 octane. Sam's Club/Costco/BJ's sells premium 93 w/ethanol barely above midgrade so that's normally what I am burning or some blend.

The most satisfying performance without giving up mileage and at the best cost has been E30 (94 octane) when I can find it.

I'd sure like to have a reliable source for that - I think Sunoco is the only place that uses blender pumps but not all of them have them.

We shop at Kroger and of course get fuel points; my local store has 90 octane ethanol free which is ungodly expensive without the .65 - .75 discount. So I've filled up twice so far. I wish I could say the motor is smoother and powerful but frankly these Ecoboost motors seem to like the ethanol. I know Ford did not specifically build ours for E85 and don't mention/recommend E30 but damn that E30 is a bargain performance fuel.

 

[dtech]

I have a tune from Unleashed I requested for midgrade and never put 87 octane in mine. Midgrade gas is a relatively minor upcharge, typically 89 octane. Sam's Club/Costco/BJ's sells premium 93 w/ethanol barely above midgrade so that's normally what I am burning or some blend.

The most satisfying performance without giving up mileage and at the best cost has been E30 (94 octane) when I can find it.

I'd sure like to have a reliable source for that - I think Sunoco is the only place that uses blender pumps but not all of them have them.

We shop at Kroger and of course get fuel points; my local store has 90 octane ethanol free which is ungodly expensive without the .65 - .75 discount. So I've filled up twice so far. I wish I could say the motor is smoother and powerful but frankly these Ecoboost motors seem to like the ethanol. I know Ford did not specifically build ours for E85 and don't mention/recommend E30 but damn that E30 is a bargain performance fuel.

Turbo engines on the whole like ethanol - better thermal efficiency than gas gets you a bit more boost than pure petrol gas.

 

[CP0861]

Just curious did you reset your trip meter 1 or 2? This will reset the MPG for the trip selected else its just looking at the average for all the different types of fuel you used and will take longer to reflect any improvements in mileage.
I was getting 22mpg on 87, 24 with 91 with alcohol and 26 with 91 alcohol free during the summer months and 25mpg during winter months

Definitely. I always reset the trip meter and also calculate by hand. The truck's MPG calculation is off (over/optimistic) by 1.1 - 1.3 MPG almost every single time.

 

[JohnnyO]

In normal driving you probably won’t see any difference except in mpg. I average 1.5 mpg better with 89, no difference with 93.

 

[Langwilliams]

Definitely. I always reset the trip meter and also calculate by hand. The truck's MPG calculation is off (over/optimistic) by 1.1 - 1.3 MPG almost every single time.

There's a thread on calibrating the MPG calculation. I did mine an it started off being off by 1 to 1.5 over what I got hand calculated. Now it's usually .3 to .5 different. I used to always get gas at the same station an used the gallon reading when it auto shut off to try an get consistent readings.

 

[seasprite]

Definitely. I always reset the trip meter and also calculate by hand. The truck's MPG calculation is off (over/optimistic) by 1.1 - 1.3 MPG almost every single time.

Haven't reset mine since I started running 91, but I put a tonneau cover on this past weekend so I'm going to reset it to see if it makes any difference. I'll let everyone here know if it does.

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