15
Rant: A customer told me his old truck ran better on cheap gas
He has a 1998 F-150 with over 200,000 miles. He said he tried premium once and it started pinging, so he went back to the regular 87 octane. It made me think about how some older engines with carbon buildup might actually prefer lower octane because of the higher compression from the deposits. I've heard similar things from other guys about older carbureted motors. Has anyone else run into a case where a vehicle clearly ran worse on higher octane fuel?
2 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In2 Comments
kevin_hernandez8310d ago
Is that even a real problem? My old beater runs fine on cheap gas, so I never bother with the expensive stuff. Sounds like he just found what works and stuck with it.
4
rileyjones9d ago
My buddy's 2012 Civic started knocking on cheap gas last winter. He filled up with premium for a month just to see, and the noise went away completely. Now he swears by it, even though it costs more. I guess some engines just get picky as they age, @kevin_hernandez83. His mechanic said the higher octane helped with the carbon buildup in his specific model.
6