Octane booster vs premium fuel

FarmerFox · Feb 3, 2021

I am a farmer and have a half dozen trucks on the farm. I'm in the middle of nowhere, and have a 500 gallon gasoline tank. I'm not keen to switch to premium for ALL the vehicles on the farm, or to have another fuel tank (I also have two 2,000 gallon diesel tanks).

So, the question is... Is there a good reason not to just use the regular, 87octane fuel I already get and add the appropriate amount of octane booster to bring it up over 91 (as required, according to RAM)?

I'm looking for the simplest solution, not necessarily the cheapest... I get fuel in town for my other toys, but for the daily driver TRX, 20 miles each way is a waste of time I just don't have...

Thanks.

RBGP_TRX · Feb 3, 2021

most octane boosters don’t really work. I’ve had success with Torco, but it gets expensive if running in a DD car.

Caliche · Feb 3, 2021

FarmerFox said:
I am a farmer and have a half dozen trucks on the farm. I'm in the middle of nowhere, and have a 500 gallon gasoline tank. I'm not keen to switch to premium for ALL the vehicles on the farm, or to have another fuel tank (I also have two 2,000 gallon diesel tanks).

So, the question is... Is there a good reason not to just use the regular, 87octane fuel I already get and add the appropriate amount of octane booster to bring it up over 91 (as required, according to RAM)?

I'm looking for the simplest solution, not necessarily the cheapest... I get fuel in town for my other toys, but for the daily driver TRX, 20 miles each way is a waste of time I just don't have...

Thanks.

I read somewhere that there is the potential that the octane booster can damage the engine.... sorry can’t remember where. Cheers

MAXGroup · Feb 3, 2021

You're in a pickle. I see another tank in your future

Caliche · Feb 3, 2021

Yeah that’s what I am going to do. It costs a little bit more but the convenience is worth it.

Hawser · Feb 3, 2021

Growing up we had a gravity tank for Gas and 2 for diesel on the other side of the yard. Dad noticed tracks indicating that someone was stealing Gas, so without telling anyone outside of our family he switched it to diesel the next time it was filled. He assumes that he found the thief about 1 week later as a car that should not have been in the neighborhood abandon on the side of the road 1/2 mile from the newly minted diesel tank. The thief and my dad never talked about it, but they both knew the other understood the full story.

FarmerFox · Feb 3, 2021

Hawser said:
Growing up we had a gravity tank for Gas and 2 for diesel on the other side of the yard. Dad noticed tracks indicating that someone was stealing Gas, so without telling anyone outside of our family he switched it to diesel the next time it was filled. He assumes that he found the thief about 1 week later as a car that should not have been in the neighborhood abandon on the side of the road 1/2 mile from the newly minted diesel tank. The thief and my dad never talked about it, but they both knew the other understood the full story.

Similar issues here (my family has been on our home farm for 122 years now). All of our tanks are not only covered by cameras now, but also key-codes or no power to the pumps. Been a long time since the last of our gravity tanks went away. Lol.

n8er · Feb 3, 2021

Hawser said:
Growing up we had a gravity tank for Gas and 2 for diesel on the other side of the yard. Dad noticed tracks indicating that someone was stealing Gas, so without telling anyone outside of our family he switched it to diesel the next time it was filled. He assumes that he found the thief about 1 week later as a car that should not have been in the neighborhood abandon on the side of the road 1/2 mile from the newly minted diesel tank. The thief and my dad never talked about it, but they both knew the other understood the full story.

I LOVE this story! Let them burn themselves and then just smile at them every time you see them!

Bambi · Feb 7, 2021

Hawser said:
Growing up we had a gravity tank for Gas and 2 for diesel on the other side of the yard. Dad noticed tracks indicating that someone was stealing Gas, so without telling anyone outside of our family he switched it to diesel the next time it was filled. He assumes that he found the thief about 1 week later as a car that should not have been in the neighborhood abandon on the side of the road 1/2 mile from the newly minted diesel tank. The thief and my dad never talked about it, but they both knew the other understood the full story.

Woulda been better switching diesel to gas as woulda blown the motor

that or water

TRX73 · Feb 7, 2021

Honestly il probably run 87 in mine when i get it. Iv had several vehicles calling for higher octane gas and always used 87 and never had a problem

Bambi · Feb 7, 2021

TRX73 said:
Honestly il probably run 87 in mine when i get it. Iv had several vehicles calling for higher octane gas and always used 87 and never had a problem

Srsly? 80-100k truck and you are gonna use regular? That is insane to me. At best it will put out less power. At worst you will get knock all over

nutgambler · Feb 7, 2021

People put 87 octane in their C6 Z06 's instead of 93 octane to save money..From what I remember they said it took like 5 full tanks of premuim for computer to return to normal horsepower and they had knocks and bad timing ,,,
Your truck ,but I think bad idea

F8Demon · Feb 7, 2021

TRX73 said:
Honestly il probably run 87 in mine when i get it. Iv had several vehicles calling for higher octane gas and always used 87 and never had a problem

LOL! Thats awesome let us know how that turns out! Besides knocking the hell out of the engine and causing damage, your mileage will also go down and will be a wash. Those dumb engineers, they have no clue, yeah put 87 in!! Just let us know if you ever trade the truck so we can all avoid. 87! Ya just can't make it up!

Bambi · Feb 7, 2021

F8Demon said:
LOL! Thats awesome let us know how that turns out! Besides knocking the hell out of the engine and causing damage, your mileage will also go down and will be a wash. Those dumb engineers, they have no clue, yeah put 87 in!! Just let us know if you ever trade the truck so we can all avoid. 87! Ya just can't make it up!

What Vin is his? Asking for a friend

FarmerFox · Feb 7, 2021

Hard to believe a simple question about octane booster descended into this pissing match. Nice.

TRX73 · Feb 7, 2021

F8Demon said:
LOL! Thats awesome let us know how that turns out! Besides knocking the hell out of the engine and causing damage, your mileage will also go down and will be a wash. Those dumb engineers, they have no clue, yeah put 87 in!! Just let us know if you ever trade the truck so we can all avoid. 87! Ya just can't make it up!

I don't understand why you guys think this is such an issue? My challenger also requires 93 octane and i only run 87. No noise no engine problems and not bad fuel mileage.... and before that i had a cayman same thing i ran 87... iv been working on cars for over 10 years and never heard or had a customer complaint about low octane gas actually causing issues

Hellasaurus · Feb 7, 2021

FarmerFox said:
I am a farmer and have a half dozen trucks on the farm. I'm in the middle of nowhere, and have a 500 gallon gasoline tank. I'm not keen to switch to premium for ALL the vehicles on the farm, or to have another fuel tank (I also have two 2,000 gallon diesel tanks).

So, the question is... Is there a good reason not to just use the regular, 87octane fuel I already get and add the appropriate amount of octane booster to bring it up over 91 (as required, according to RAM)?

I'm looking for the simplest solution, not necessarily the cheapest... I get fuel in town for my other toys, but for the daily driver TRX, 20 miles each way is a waste of time I just don't have...

Thanks.

For whatever it’s worth you should not run lower octane fuel. It’s ok to do with lower performance engines but not ok for high performance engines.you could use an octane booster but that has proven to be sketchy because not all octane boosters are the same. Some perform as they should and some don’t. You might be better off getting a small tank just for your TRX.

F8Demon · Feb 7, 2021

TRX73 said:
I don't understand why you guys think this is such an issue? My challenger also requires 93 octane and i only run 87. No noise no engine problems and not bad fuel mileage.... and before that i had a cayman same thing i ran 87... iv been working on cars for over 10 years and never heard or had a customer complaint about low octane gas actually causing issues

Hey its yours, to each their own. Even if you don't understand compression ratios and resistance to knock, have you ever asked yourself what would be the manufacturers motivation to say its required?

But you did make me laugh again as no challenger requires 93, just 91 or better. Good luck.

5150TRX · Feb 7, 2021

F8Demon said:
Hey its yours, to each their own. Even if you don't understand compression ratios and resistance to knock, have you ever asked yourself what would be the manufacturers motivation to say its required? But you did make me laugh again as no challenger requires 93, just 91 or better. Good luck.

I think you, me and maybe a few others actually have high performance vehicles. Seems most people have never had a vehicle that requires the good stuff and don’t understand they will destroy their engines. They will get pissed when the motor pops and ram won’t warranty it because they used a lesser octane.

FarmerFox said:
I am a farmer and have a half dozen trucks on the farm. I'm in the middle of nowhere, and have a 500 gallon gasoline tank. I'm not keen to switch to premium for ALL the vehicles on the farm, or to have another fuel tank (I also have two 2,000 gallon diesel tanks).

So, the question is... Is there a good reason not to just use the regular, 87octane fuel I already get and add the appropriate amount of octane booster to bring it up over 91 (as required, according to RAM)?

I'm looking for the simplest solution, not necessarily the cheapest... I get fuel in town for my other toys, but for the daily driver TRX, 20 miles each way is a waste of time I just don't have...

Thanks.

Octane boosters only ups the octane in tenths. Example 87 would be 87.1 maybe 87.2. Use the right octane or they won’t warranty the damage that will happen.

TRX73 · Feb 7, 2021

F8Demon said:
Hey its yours, to each their own. Even if you don't understand compression ratios and resistance to knock, have you ever asked yourself what would be the manufacturers motivation to say its required? But you did make me laugh again as no challenger requires 93, just 91 or better. Good luck.

I can tell you from experience and training that compression ratios are not related to the fuel grade. But as the challenger goes yes it was actually minimum of 91 that it called for. Trust me if i have issues with my truck from running regular you all will hear about it!