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Old 08-15-2015, 05:36 PM
GSF1200S GSF1200S is offline
Wrist Twister
 
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 995
Default Re: The "what do you hate about your Ranger today" thread

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ordinary Biker View Post
Higher octane does nothing for your truck without you actually changing how it is tuned. Octane is a rating of how resistant to detonation or pre-ignition a given gasoline is. It is not a rating of the amount of energy contained in the gas.

So as an example, I will be changing the ECU program on my bike, the ignition timing is changed. It is changed such that regular octane gas will cause detonation, also called pinging. So I will run a higher octane gas so that ignition can once again happen at the proper point in the engine cycle.

Edit: A higher octane is not 'bad' for your truck, it just doesn't do anything. So you are wasting the extra money it takes to pay for it.
Agreed, though just to completely answer his question, non-ethanol IS beneficial to power and gas mileage.

A gallon of E10 is roughly 96.7% as energy dense as a gallon of pure gasoline. For a car that gets 30mpg on pure gasoline (ALL epa tests are done with 100% gasoline despite the fact that many of us cant get anything but E10), it roughly equates to 29mpg on E10. And then there is the power loss on top of that.

Ethanol is a joke. Its corrosive and attracts water, its not as energy dense, and its stupid to use a food source for fuel. All this ethanol crap is due to a lobby trying to get rich off selling corn as fuel, and rationalized by politicians claiming energy independence is the cause for ethanol- bull****.

I agree we need to reduce our reliance on fuel sources coming from volatile regions of the world and indeed reduce our reliance on oil completely, but in smart ways. In a world and even country where people are starving, it seems really messed up we use a potential food source and agricultural land for producing fuel to power H2s, Suburbans, and lifted gas guzzling street queens that never see a dirt road much less "off roading."
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2002 Ford Ranger XLT Supercab, 2.3L Duratec I4, 5-speed manual, 4.10 gears, ~100,000 miles
Power nothing with air conditioning; crank windows for life!
Throttle cable mod, retained accessory power mod, 2006 thermostat w/resistor mod
Headlight relay harness, Philips xtreme-vision bulbs
P235/75R15 Michelin LTX M/S2s
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