dave07

Are there any tunes that adjust there parameters to account for different octane ratings? Kind of similar to the stock tune.

Also, if 87 octane is ran on a 93 Bama Performance tune, will the engine adjust for lower octane rating?

cdynaco

I am not aware of any of the tuners including the factory 'adaptive spark ignition' that was first released by Ford with the 08 Bullitt. The aftermarket tunes are octane specific. I have been watching and asking and not read anything different.

southcarolina12

i ran 87 in my 93 octane bama tune by accident like twice. once was because i hit the wrong button and the other time was because i let someone borrow my car and forgot to tell them. it ran fine with it but i did notice a great reduction in power. i think that the bama tunes will adjust to it by using the knock sensors but for the knock sensors to tell the computer to adjust there has to be knock... any level of knock isnt good at all.

conv_stang

I believe unless the tuners turn off the knock sensors. The computer will automatically pull timing if your tune is set for 93 and you put 87 in it. I had no choice while out of town to put 87 as thats all this station had. It pulled so much timing the car felt more sluggish than stock. Once i got home and put 93 back in. It went back to normal.
But now if you get a tune for 87, it will not automatically adjust if you fill with 93.

steve03gt

I talked to BAMA about this, they say it should remove timing to allow the lower octane, but it is not recommended because it may not add that timing back for awhile..

cdynaco

It is not the same as Ford's 'adaptive spark ignition' of the factory tune.

AlsCobra

Simple answer is yes your car can be tuned to run 87 but you probably shouldn't. Run at least the 91 and get a tune set for it. Most octane ratings are lower that what is posted anyways. 87 might actually be 85 or less. I know that cheap gas is tempting but you will gain mileage with a higher octane compared to the lower stuff so it's a wash. Running 87 with a 93 tune might be catastrophic if spirited driving it. Not sure if the correction is fast enough to catch up before it hurts something.

Stage_3

I don't think any tunes adjust for the octane that is put into the car. I never heard of that. The car itself will have to make up that octane difference. If your car calls for 91, I would NEVER put anything but 91 into the tank.
And cheap gas,..that's another no no. For me anyways.

dave07

I find it curious that the major tuners don't take advantage of the "adaptive spark ignition". I wonder if one of them can comment as to why they don't.

steve03gt

I would really like the adaptive spark ignition as it was earlier stated.. I have never needed it yet, but I would like the option that if I ever used 87 in a pinch, I would not need to switch tunes in the middle of nowhere possibly downing my car to a SCT glitch

southcarolina12

i know the 2010 camaro ss's say 91 octane only but it will go into a different fuel map if you put 87 in it and to get back out of that 87 octane fuel map and back into the 93 map you have to pull the pcm module fuse and let it sit for a few hours. it will go back into the 91 but only if you have 91 in it with the 8 & 7 flushed out.

cdynaco

I'm assuming you're talking about after market tuners.

If not, Ford rolled out 'adaptive spark ignition' with 08 Bullitt, carried it to 09 B, then to 10 GT; and mentioned it for the 5.0 as well. So I assume it went to the 3.7 V6 and prob the rest of the fleet.

The reason I won't get an aftermarket octane tune is because I'm at 4200'. Within 40 minutes I may be cruising to Crater Lake NP at 7k', then an hour down to the Rogue Valley at near 1k'. A 4 hr drive puts me on the Pacific at sea level. Regardless of 87 or 91 octane, I want the flexibility for changes in altitude, humidity, etc. that could cause detonation/damage to these hypereutectic pistons.
Yes I can feel the extra low-mid range torque on 91 coming out of curves on two lane twisties compared to 87.
I only run cheap gas from high volume stations like Kroger or Costco for 30 yrs now with zero issues after my buddy got a tanker job and told me the only difference is brand name stations each have their own additives added after the fuel dump. The fuel itself as the same and was delivered at all the stations regardless of the signage.
Heck Shell pings the crap out of my F150 whereas Kroger or Costco doesn't.

dave07

This is exactly what I heard from a family friend. That the same tanker would go from say a Shell gas station then to a Costco station. The only difference being the additives each station puts in like you said.

Stage_3

Yes I was referring to aftermarket tuners Charlie.
Tuners such as Lund, AEM, AED, VMP and such.

cdynaco

Thought so.

I'm not sure why the aftermarket guys haven't included that feature.

I guess I could get a hotrod tune for most times and always reload the factory adjustable tune for when I'm going to various altitudes.

65sohc

My car was tuned for 91 on the AED dyno. Recently I though about adding some Torco Accelerator so I asked Shaun about a 93 octane tune revision. He said my existing tune would adjust to the higher octane.

Stage_3

This what you need Charlie.
Bad *** set up! I'm sure it's big bucks. There was a Mustang at SEMA this year that had the set up.

Jay@Hypermotive

Aftermarket doesn't offer this because of the alterations they put in the parameters, advance timing, spark and lean fuel just a tad for a certain octane will not allow you to run a lower octane unless you want detonation and thus seared rings and walls. Now if you tune your car for 87 you will have no issue running a higher octane.
I don't think that procharger is going to be all that popular as it seems you're limited by the tunes and setup provided by them. An aftermarket tune I would assume would eliminate the ability to change the controls in the stock procharger setup.

Stage_3

I will agree with you there. I won't think with this set up you would need "outside" tuners from pro-charger. It's pretty much all set for you. (It adds a bunch of power and the quarter mile times are VERY impressive with just a stock car with just a X pipe I think it was.I think it was almost 200 horses.)
UNLESS,..........you want to do mods, but in that case, you're pretty much needing to get another block and internals anyways, and then in that case, you would need added tuning, obviously.

dmichaels

I'm not sure exactly how tunes are written for the Mustang, but when I used to tune my Audi, I would watch the correction factors for timing which basically monitored the knock sensors and made appropriate adjustments. For instance, in stock tuning mode (91 octane recommended), I would see almost no correction to the requested ignition advance. I could then advance ignition say 5 degrees and then correction factors would increase, which effectively would pull back timing as needed (typically mid RPM high load circumstances) but then allow more timing advance at lower engine load conditions (high RPM WOT). The overall effect was timing could be advanced, but the engine still utilized knock sensors to limit timing where high engine load conditions where knock was more likely. If I were to then put in 87 octane, the correction factors would be higher, but the engine would still be safe, assuming I didn't advance timing so far that the ECU correction could no longer adequately adjust timing. That is to say, there is a limit to the amount of correction that could be automatically implemented (say CF's of 0-20, and I'd tune for a max CF of around 9 to allow the ability to adjust further for extreme circumstances).

The Mustang ECU may be completely different, but I'd imagine at some level the knock sensors are always being utilized in a tune... haven't seen much on self tuning with this car though, at least not yet