Which fuel?

[fiestaz]

Originally Posted by prydey

i was thinking along these lines as well. if it turns out it does run ok on 91, i'll recommend the premium every 3rd tank or something.

yeh exactly, or if they happen to do a long trip you could recommend they put a tank of 95 in.

obviously putting in the top notch octane into the car is better, but not necesary. when you have a Lamborghini or a ferrari yeh put 98 in, but when its only a focus that isnt going to get thrashed all the time and do relatively short trips then 91 is perfectly ok.

[prydey]

Originally Posted by fordbaghia

Fine, I'm walking away from it, have fun.

you are correct. i wanted to hear a certain answer. i wanted people to tell me that even though 95 is recommended, they have used 91 and its been ok. funnily enough, there have been a few of these replies.

in your original post (before you edited) you use the analogy of tyre pressures. the thing is, if you speak to any tyre expert, they will nearly ALWAYS recommend a higher pressure than the factory recommendation.

this thread wasn't about me. i'm not that strapped for cash. i use bp98 exclusively in my 5.0. this was more about old people (north of 70) who become quite set in their ways.

chill out dude, its a discussion forum about cars.

[prydey]

Originally Posted by fiestaz

yeh exactly, or if they happen to do a long trip you could recommend they put a tank of 95 in.

obviously putting in the top notch octane into the car is better, but not necesary. when you have a Lamborghini or a ferrari yeh put 98 in, but when its only a focus that isnt going to get thrashed all the time and do relatively short trips then 91 is perfectly ok.

i am picking the car up in sydney on friday and driving it back to adelaide. i will use premium on the journey as i don't want any trouble and i can afford it and i also understand everything people have said on here about the higher octane fuels being cheaper or similar cost long term.

once in adelaide and handed over to the inlaws (father in law no longer drives) it will live in a retirement village and get driven down the shop and maybe visiting some family members, all of whom live quite close.

i was merely trying to look at it from their point of view.

[fiestaz]

Originally Posted by prydey

i am picking the car up in sydney on friday and driving it back to adelaide. i will use premium on the journey as i don't want any trouble and i can afford it and i also understand everything people have said on here about the higher octane fuels being cheaper or similar cost long term.

once in adelaide and handed over to the inlaws (father in law no longer drives) it will live in a retirement village and get driven down the shop and maybe visiting some family members, all of whom live quite close.

i was merely trying to look at it from their point of view.

yeh dont worry i understand where you are coming from. my grandparents are the same, set in their ways etc. the car will run on 91 just fine, doing short trips it would be very difficult to see the difference between the fuels.

[FGX335]

I agree, it is a discussion forum about cars. But when you are offered advice, maybe just ignore the bits you don't like rather than make us all feel we shouldn't have answered in the first place. Happy for you to go either way, just be nice about it.

Also, I said 50 psi, it was meant to be stupid. I run 36 in mine.

[leakey]

I stopped going on a certain Torana forum because simple discussion turned nasty, and it all became about what was genuine and what was not. Basically, it stopped being about enthusiasts and their chosen mark. Dont let that happen here guys.

Hey, just on the discussion. I normally run my tank to close to zero. And I mean that, as the trip stays on zero for quite some k's. I do this, and fill up as I said before, with a variety of RONs.

One thing I do notice though, is that when filling with 98, I find it takes a few K's and trips to notice the higher quality. When it "kicks in" its obvious.

Does this mean there is a sensor that works out what RON you are using? and adjusts the system? I'm not talking about 100m, more like 20ks or so. Anyone else noticed that?

Hey, thread hijak.... I put in my silver door handles... very noice!! Pics later.

[prydey]

knock sensor. the ecu will try to advance the timing as much as it can until detonation (pinging/knocking) is detected and back it off a little. this won't be detectable by you but the ecu is just doing its job. when you change RON, it will take a while for that to come through. most companies will tell you to get the most benefit you will need to run them for extended periods as well.



as an aside, i got a bit annoyed simply due to the fact that i was after personal experience from owners of said cars and not assumptions.

[fiestaz]

Originally Posted by leakey

I stopped going on a certain Torana forum because simple discussion turned nasty, and it all became about what was genuine and what was not. Basically, it stopped being about enthusiasts and their chosen mark. Dont let that happen here guys.

Hey, just on the discussion. I normally run my tank to close to zero. And I mean that, as the trip stays on zero for quite some k's. I do this, and fill up as I said before, with a variety of RONs.

One thing I do notice though, is that when filling with 98, I find it takes a few K's and trips to notice the higher quality. When it "kicks in" its obvious.

Does this mean there is a sensor that works out what RON you are using? and adjusts the system? I'm not talking about 100m, more like 20ks or so. Anyone else noticed that?

Hey, thread hijak.... I put in my silver door handles... very noice!! Pics later.

even though u run it down to zero, there still is a bit of fuel in the tank and pipe lines. so you would notice a progressive difference as you use the fuel and refill.... i recently filled my fiesta with 91 instead of the 95 and 98 i had been using. it was fine at first, but got progressively worse with refills. (going back to 95 or 98 this week thankfully), but yeh it does take time. some sort of sensor or the ECU could also have something to do with it, but my knowledge doesnt extend that far lol.

[alky89]

i think i heard that the knock sensor doesnt advance the timing beyond factory spec. it only pulls timing when it senses any pinging. so if it doesnt knock on 95 for example, there would be no benefit (in terms of timing) in running 98. again, i dont know for sure, thats just what i heard.

[melbzetec]

Originally Posted by prydey

as an aside, i got a bit annoyed simply due to the fact that i was after personal experience from owners of said cars and not assumptions.

I'd go back and read your first post then...that's not what you asked for.

[Neale]

I have an 06 focus Zetec, & I have run it on e10, I didnt like it, it burns alot faster so you pay less at the pump but get less kms. I have noticed that you do get marginaly better economy the better the fuel you put in.

Because Cars are tuned to run on certain types of fuel for different reasons.
Depending on what your car is tuned to will depend what type of fuel to use,so just because you use high octane fuel doesnt necisarily mean you will get more power etc cause your car isnt tuned to run on it. so you could waste your money. & same goes for lesser fuel if your car isnt tuned for it it will not run as well.

In my manual it states "the engine in your focus has been optimised for operation on premium unleaded fuel (95 ron or higher) for all variants except xr5 focus, it is also safe to operate the engine on standard unleaded fuel (91 ron minimum, however if you choose to do so you may notice some loss of performance, economy & increased engine noise." That last bit worries me!!

So Id say run on 95 RON because that is what it is designed for. It also states you may use up to 10% ethanol in your engine but no more or it will void warranty so I would probably aviod E10 it doesnt sound safe for the engine.

Thats my 2 cents worth!!!

[somers181]

Just to add to the confusion/opinions i have tried running different types and after last service the ecu was reset so i can run E10. As i sit in Sydney peak hour traffice each day, performance is last thing on my mind, economy has suffered slightly in comparrison from running 98 or 95 but the cost difference is huge when it takes anywhere from 1 - 2 hours to travel 25kms along Sydney roads.

[prydey]

just reading the manual, it states that whilst optimum power and torque are made using 95ron, it is perfectly safe to run the car on 91ron.

[More revs]

I've used E10 for the last 100,000 Km AND have the advance tweaked 2 deg. It doesn't knock, ping or misfire BUT is peaky. It has a power peak at 3700 RPM and holds a flat curve right up to 6500 RPM. It does have better torque below 3700 RPM using 98 RON - more bottom end. It hates 91, will run ok (no audible ping) but uses more fuel and has no top end to speak of. Presumably it pulls the timing back on 91????