blackgt87

I know I had seen 400 as the hp rating on 87 octane somewhere, but the ford website shows it at 402. Doesn't change anything, I still want the power.

Rather B.Blown

No dealers around here that I know of even have gas pumps, they take them to a gas station and fill them up when you buy the car. Most of the local dealers have accounts with locally owned gas stations that run a tab for them to pay monthly for the fill ups. I know my SGT and 500 were filled with 93, because I drove them to the gas station with the salesman and pumped it myself.

11SHELBYGT500

I agree with that and 3.00 a week wouldn't bother me.

blackgt87

They need to add a facebook style "like" button to these forums.

zilla8

That was the case with my dealer.I asked my salesman to be sure to fill my car up with 91 the highest we can get in Cali.

He assured me he would but I did'nt beleive him for some reason
I just ran through that first tank and It's been nothing but 91 since.

SD CALSPCL

I have posted, in a similar thread concerning octane, and the only thing that concerns me is ethanol in the gas. Here in South Dakota, the pumps are marked. Regular and Mid-Level both contain 10% ethanol. So, I use only premium which is 100% pure gas.

The additive packages are also different for regular and premium. Here is the link to the Top Tier gas page if anyone is interested:

http://www.toptiergas.com/

Again, this is a personal preference.

Hytek

I read on my local Shell's pump the other day "all grades may contain up to 10% ethanol" which is odd. I thought theirs was 100% w/93. I've went to that link before, I think u posted it last I saw, but I have yet to research my local stations more on that brand.

Rather B.Blown

This site has been pretty accurate that I've seen. Keep in mind that its user generated though, so take it for what it is.

http://pure-gas.org/

Hytek

Good stuff! Sucks the closest one to me is over an hour away. I'll research more though.

Not to get off topic, but could pure vs. Ethanol added have anything to do with these tune issues, or contribute to them?

justindo

Every dealership I've seen takes their cars to a local gas station, which is almost never a "top-tier gas" station but a brand you've never heard of, and fills them with 87 unless you're with them and make them fill up with 91 explaining that the car requires it. I bet that virtually all GT500s that are on the lot and/or are delivered to customers have 87 in them unless the customer supervises the fill-up. Unfortunately, it's been my experience that the personnel at dealerships selling mainstream cars treat a GT500 the same way they treat a Fiesta, and that is to say not terribly well. Good service is one of the things one tends to give up when choosing a top model from a mainstream brand instead of a lower model from a luxury brand.

I would guess that the exception to this would be high-line dealerships where every car they sell requires premium (e.g. definitely Porsche dealers and probably BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Jaguar, Lexus, and Infiniti dealers).

jimmbbo

Wish I could differentiate TWO HP out of 400.... or 402.... or 412... you must be a god.

jimmbbo

[QUOTE=blackgt87;6114886]Why the eff would I wait to "push it to 412 hp"? That's exactly why the warranty is there. If this thing is gonna break I want to know now, not after I have had it for a year. I'm not pushing anything anyway, that's what it makes from the factory./QUOTE]

dunno... Mebbe because I grew up spending hundreds of hours building, rebuilding, racing and "souping up" engines and like to treat machinery with respect...

IMO, if the operator treats his machinery well it will serve him well for a long time... If you beat the sh*t out of it from the git-go, you place unknown stresses on brand new parts and assemblies. Abusing engines early in their lives has often shown up AFTER the warranty expires, in cracked rings, unsatisfactory sealing, oil consumption, early replacement...

In any event, I fail to see the harm in doing a break in as recommended by the people who DESIGNED, MANUFACTURED and BUILT the motor... But hey, it's your money....

11SHELBYGT500

Not sure how you read that I could I was just stating the correct numbers from ford. It's 402 hp on 87 not 400...and I AM HE

jimmbbo

....

blackgt87

First off you must not have spent much time building and racing engines or you would have learned a thing or two about how they work. It has nothing to do with respect. You don't place "unknown" stresses on anything. You place the exact same stresses you would if you race the engine after it has 10,000 miles on it. Besides you sound like a real motor head engine builder type, since you wont even run premium fuel to get the rated hp from your engine...

Creating higher cylinder pressure is not "abusing" an engine at all. In fact its the oppposite. Engines that have been loaded well during break in will have the rings seated better, and will make more compression, use less oil, and therefore last longer (oh and make more power). I have dyno sheets to prove the power increases from proper ring seating.

And what is the recommended break in? Do you even know? The only thing I have ever read was "Avoid running the engine at a constant speed for prolonged periods of time" or something to that effect. Which is basically don't get on the highway and set the cruise when your motor is new. Why? Because thats the lowest load situation possible (similar to babying it), and the lowest cylinder pressure, and the rings will not be properly seated.

If you know some other recommended break in procedure published by Ford please share it.

MikeR

From page 5 of the owner's manual:

BREAKING-IN YOUR VEHICLE

Your vehicle does not need an extensive break-in. Try not to drive continuously at the same speed for the first 1,000 miles (1,600 km) of new vehicle operation. Vary your speed frequently in order to give the moving parts a chance to break in.

Drive your new vehicle at least 100 miles (160 km) before performing extended wide open throttle maneuvers and at least 1,000 miles (1,600 km) before towing a trailer or before performance/competition conditions.

blackgt87

Thats exactly what I am doing! My motor didn't go above 5,000 rpm until it had over 200 miles on it and didn't see WOT until way after 100 miles. I still don't think it has seen any extended wide open throttle maneuvers lol.

vistablue mustang

Here in Jersey we have 87, 89 and 93 at just about every station I have seen. I have been running the car on 89 since I emptied out the dealer fill up, I also only use Shell gas. There are not many brand name gas stations in my general area, plenty of self owned/no name stations though and let me tell you I have paid for using them.

In our 07 Edge and 08 Focus (neither of which we own anymore) I would fill them up at this one station close to my house (Gasco) and during the winter when you would have the heater on this nasty burning smell would come out of the vents (like burning oil) for a min or two. I thought it was an engine problem but when we took delivery of the 08 Focus and it did the exact same thing after a fill up there I got suspicious.

I switched stations to Shell and drove around using only that for a few months and the smell never returned. Thus I only use Shell gas now, seeing them listed on that web site a few posts up confirms what I have felt performance wise in our vehicles.

TheReaper

I drove out of the Dealership at WOT and never babied it. That was 3800 miles ago. The car uses zero oil and hauls a$$.