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Old 06-06-2017, 11:35 AM   #1
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Eco-Boost

I've been meaning to share this info since we got back from our trip.

I stopped in MN. and bought gas on the way out. What was in the tank was fairly old gas, so I thought what ta heck, I'll jazz it up by topping off with premium. It wasn't far down the road I noticed the fuel mileage had increased considerably. I kind of blew it off as to maybe wind direction or some other goofy thing. Next fuel stop was in eastern ND. I filled with regular. Lost mileage. So the next time I filled with premium again. Mileage went back up.
I figure I had a pretty good check going. Straight line road (I-94) no mountains, and very little in the way of hills. The only constant I had was the wind. That continued to hit us on the front corner all the way out.
I finally dropped back from buying premium to unleaded plus.
There is 3 different octane levels--87--89--91. I eventually figured that the unleaded plus with the 89 octane was doing as much good for me as the premium.
What I noticed was from 1 1/2 to a little over 2 miles per gallon improvement. Also the additional power it delivered was very noticeable. The truck did way less shifting.

If anybody is interested in experimenting like that I would like to hear your take on it.
I think in order for it to be worth while it should be a longer trip where you will be going thru a few tanks of gas.
The additional cost for more octane more then pays for itself in the extra mileage. Then there is the added bonus of more power.
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Old 06-06-2017, 03:22 PM   #2
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Interesting, but like you say, a small sample size...
Maybe the slight increase in power was enough to put you over the threshold of many downshifts ????

Were you going downhill in the premium sections ?

in our ecoboost Explorer Sport, I've tried the same thing, but just didn't notice the difference...
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Old 06-06-2017, 06:34 PM   #3
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Interesting, but like you say, a small sample size...
Maybe the slight increase in power was enough to put you over the threshold of many downshifts ????

Were you going downhill in the premium sections ?

in our ecoboost Explorer Sport, I've tried the same thing, but just didn't notice the difference...

Not really a small sample size on mine. The whole trip was 3485 miles.

If you weren't working your Eco-Boost, the added octane probably wasn't needed, and didn't do any good.
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Old 06-07-2017, 05:58 AM   #4
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Not really a small sample size on mine. The whole trip was 3485 miles.

If you weren't working your Eco-Boost, the added octane probably wasn't needed, and didn't do any good.
I did an experiment like that several years ago, and pretty much made the switch and run 89 octane 90% of the time the other 10% is 91/93, especially if towing. I refuse to put 87 in when towing, and there are certain brands of stations around here that is all they have (our local Casey's).
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Old 06-08-2017, 07:34 AM   #5
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Wind, hills, and speed all make such a difference. I'm not driving an Ecoboost but pulled my trailer about 600 miles last week. I was getting 11.4 mph on the dash and noticed it was dropping. I slowed down a little and held my speed steady but it continued to drop. The next station I stopped at had a note on the pump that reg gas was not available but premium was the same price so I filled with premium. I did not notice any change in power and my mpg continued to drop. My final mpg was 10.2 and I can only assume it was all due to wind.

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Old 06-10-2017, 06:56 AM   #6
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I did a similar test some time back and found that I usually get a 1 mpg benefit with premium. (91/93). Enough to offset the increased cost per gallon at many stations. I now only tow with premium. That's recommended by Ford for towing and I figure it's probably better on the truck.
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Old 06-15-2017, 08:04 AM   #7
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Lloyd,

There are tens if not hundreds of threads on various F150 forums regarding the MPGs, Power, and octane levels on the Ecoboost.

That said some folks have had the exact experience you've had towing. I admit, I tried toying with octane levels on my last big trip out west and didn't realize any MPG pickup, but did get rid of that pinging on the hotter dry days in the mountains. All that said, it's really tough to gauge a 1-2 MPG gain when there are so many other factors including windspeed, temperature, humidity, Trump's tweets that day..yadayada

I believe you 100% (after all you've not steered me wrong yet after 4 years of advice) and we're taking a 5500 mile trip out west this summer so I'll take my trusty log book, set the cruise at 65 and check between fill ups using all three grades. Again, not entirely scientific but once we hit Iowa, it' so flat for several hundred miles that I'd imagine it will be good'nuff constant of variables that I'd can detect a couple MPG pickup... Especially filling up this darn 26 gallon tank every 3 hours! Only thing I can't stand on my 2011. What were they thinking
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Old 06-15-2017, 08:27 AM   #8
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Lloyd,

There are tens if not hundreds of threads on various F150 forums regarding the MPGs, Power, and octane levels on the Ecoboost.

That said some folks have had the exact experience you've had towing. I admit, I tried toying with octane levels on my last big trip out west and didn't realize any MPG pickup, but did get rid of that pinging on the hotter dry days in the mountains. All that said, it's really tough to gauge a 1-2 MPG gain when there are so many other factors including windspeed, temperature, humidity, Trump's tweets that day..yadayada

I believe you 100% (after all you've not steered me wrong yet after 4 years of advice) and we're taking a 5500 mile trip out west this summer so I'll take my trusty log book, set the cruise at 65 and check between fill ups using all three grades. Again, not entirely scientific but once we hit Iowa, it' so flat for several hundred miles that I'd imagine it will be good'nuff constant of variables that I'd can detect a couple MPG pickup... Especially filling up this darn 26 gallon tank every 3 hours! Only thing I can't stand on my 2011. What were they thinking


Mark
We had steady winds on the way out hitting us pretty hard on the left front corner---road was pretty flat all the way to central MT. My cruise was set at 60mph. So in that respect I feel it was a good test. On the way back we were running from 9.5 to 11 all the way to Columbus MT. even coming up thru 4th of July pass and Lookout pass. Then the winds hit! Head on at 40 to 50 mph. Mileage dropped to 6.5 to 7.
I should have pulled off and waited it out, but the neighbor had called me with the news of the tornado that had went thru our area. So needless to say we kept on.
As I stated before, I couldn't tell any difference between the 89 octane and the 91 octane premium---except the price. I haven't seen any 93 octane like some were talking about.
Let us know what your results were.
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Old 06-15-2017, 08:37 AM   #9
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Lloyd,

There are tens if not hundreds of threads on various F150 forums regarding the MPGs, Power, and octane levels on the Ecoboost.

That said some folks have had the exact experience you've had towing. I admit, I tried toying with octane levels on my last big trip out west and didn't realize any MPG pickup, but did get rid of that pinging on the hotter dry days in the mountains. All that said, it's really tough to gauge a 1-2 MPG gain when there are so many other factors including windspeed, temperature, humidity, Trump's tweets that day..yadayada

I believe you 100% (after all you've not steered me wrong yet after 4 years of advice) and we're taking a 5500 mile trip out west this summer so I'll take my trusty log book, set the cruise at 65 and check between fill ups using all three grades. Again, not entirely scientific but once we hit Iowa, it' so flat for several hundred miles that I'd imagine it will be good'nuff constant of variables that I'd can detect a couple MPG pickup... Especially filling up this darn 26 gallon tank every 3 hours! Only thing I can't stand on my 2011. What were they thinking
One of my favorite options on our 2012 F150 is the 36 gallon gas tank. Pulling our current trailer we can get a bit over 300 miles per tank before I start looking for a station. We typically get between 10-11 mpg most trips cruise set at about 63 mph. I'll be curious to see how much that drops with our new trailer this summer.
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Old 06-15-2017, 08:39 AM   #10
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Mark
We had steady winds on the way out hitting us pretty hard on the left front corner---road was pretty flat all the way to central MT. My cruise was set at 60mph. So in that respect I feel it was a good test. On the way back we were running from 9.5 to 11 all the way to Columbus MT. even coming up thru 4th of July pass and Lookout pass. Then the winds hit! Head on at 40 to 50 mph. Mileage dropped to 6.5 to 7.
I should have pulled off and waited it out, but the neighbor had called me with the news of the tornado that had went thru our area. So needless to say we kept on.
As I stated before, I couldn't tell any difference between the 89 octane and the 91 octane premium---except the price. I haven't seen any 93 octane like some were talking about.
Let us know what your results were.

I will do my best to adhere to the scientific method and limit bias.

93 is hard to find these days for us. Odd. I know three places to get racing fuel close by tho

If I remember, Sunoco is one of the only big companies that consistently carry 93.
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Old 06-15-2017, 08:42 AM   #11
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I will do my best to adhere to the scientific method and limit bias.

Inside joke. I am currently working at NASA as a researcher.
You spelled it wrong. To many letters. I think you meant to say---BS?
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Old 06-15-2017, 08:44 AM   #12
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No, Bias...like in Joan Biaz
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Old 06-15-2017, 09:43 AM   #13
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... Especially filling up this darn 26 gallon tank every 3 hours! Only thing I can't stand on my 2011. What were they thinking
try a 28 gallon tank on an F350 dual cab platinum deezle, that weighed close to 9k - and add 13k lbs of 5er and your bladder didn't have a chance to fill up between fuel stops
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Old 06-15-2017, 10:37 AM   #14
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Especially filling up this darn 26 gallon tank every 3 hours! Only thing I can't stand on my 2011. What were they thinking
I feel your pain, every time I am pulling. I considered looking into the larger 2012 tank and retrofitting it to the truck.
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Old 06-15-2017, 11:05 AM   #15
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Last days at work had a F350 4x4 V10 with 26 gal tank towing a 26' goose neck with a Kubota tractor with a brush hog attached getting 6 mpg with a credit card good at only 1 brand of station, FORD's better ideas??? That engineer should ran out of town.
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Old 06-15-2017, 05:28 PM   #16
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Last days at work had a F350 4x4 V10 with 26 gal tank towing a 26' goose neck with a Kubota tractor with a brush hog attached getting 6 mpg with a credit card good at only 1 brand of station, FORD's better ideas??? That engineer should ran out of town.
Come on Danny, "GO FURTHER"
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Old 06-15-2017, 07:41 PM   #17
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Jim, ' nuff said!
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Old 06-16-2017, 06:53 AM   #18
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I hear ya.

Our first trip in 2011 we had to do the walk of shame. Was burning around 6-7 MPG through the mountains of W. VA. and the only filling station for 50 miles at the next exist was out of business. Didn't want to run her dry and muck up my new ecoboost fuel injectors so pulled over and wifey hitched a ride with a nice lady at the rest area. Oh, and we had a flat 7 hours later. Quite the trip.

Really learned a harsh lesson about these older 26 gal f150s towing. Now I map the terrain on every trip and figure mileage. All the F150s with the 26 gal tank can be retrofitted with the 34, but im not dropping 900 bucks into a 7 year old truck for the few trips we take a year.
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Old 06-16-2017, 07:10 AM   #19
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Jim, ' nuff said!
Humm....not the way I was going with that. Good one
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Old 06-16-2017, 07:37 AM   #20
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Here is the old thread for those of you that would like to stir the pot.
Respectfully that is.
http://www.crossroadsowners.com/foru...2-a-11465.html
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