Running 93 octane vs 86

[IanRTL]

Originally Posted by S1njin

Both dealers told me to put Startron in my small engines as well, though obviously I'm not going to do that in the Truck.

I read somewhere on this forum that Gary Flint said the truck runs best on 90 octane, though for the life of me I can't find the post. Not sure if its true or not either.

Yep. As long as you use the gas that's in the truck within about 30-40 days, you don't run the risk of the fuel starting to varnish. I fill up every 8-10 days, so I've never had to worry about it.

I have also read the thread where Gary said that about 90 octane, but I couldn't find it either. There are several threads where others have alluded to this statement, so it must have been said at some point. In any case, I use 89 and will continue to do so.

[Ian Brantford]

Originally Posted by S1njin

I read somewhere on this forum that Gary Flint said the truck runs best on 90 octane, though for the life of me I can't find the post. Not sure if its true or not either.

That would be me making recent postings about his past statement regarding 90 as the optimum. I also could not find the original post using Search functionality, so today I read (or at least skimmed) all 254 of his postings that were available. Many posts mentioned using premium fuel for top performance (+10HP over regular fuel, which I'll take to mean 91 versus 87), but I could not find the "90 is optimum" posting.

So, either the original post is gone or I was wrong about it (wrong poster, wrong forum, or just plain wrongity-wrong wrong).

Gary did lots of interviews that ended up in print in various publications other than here on the ROC. Maybe it's in one of them.

[FTM1]

I can't remember but I did read it but I do remember he said he used premium in his Ridgeline at the 2007 St. Louis Meet. I could not see doing it here in the city. I did notice a difference in long distance highway driving as to the way the truck drove using the premium fuel. I think I did get better gas mileage but again nothing to back it up with. But to me the truck just felt smother then normal. This was without any load on a full fill-up tank of premium on a extended highway trip. Premium fuel is no big thing to me because I have used it all the time in my 00 Acura TL that requires it.

[speedlever]

Originally Posted by Ian Brantford

That would be me making recent postings about his past statement regarding 90 as the optimum. I also could not find the original post using Search functionality, so today I read (or at least skimmed) all 254 of his postings that were available. Many posts mentioned using premium fuel for top performance (+10HP over regular fuel, which I'll take to mean 91 versus 87), but I could not find the "90 is optimum" posting.

So, either the original post is gone or I was wrong about it (wrong poster, wrong forum, or just plain wrongity-wrong wrong).

Gary did lots of interviews that ended up in print in various publications other than here on the ROC. Maybe it's in one of them.

I did a brief search the other day and all I could find was something that csimo stated along those lines.

Can you post up a link to one of GF's posts? I'm not sure what his user name is/was.

[FTM1]

Yep Cismo,25YHO & others were at that meet I think he said it in the meeting when viewing the early production Ridgeline film Q&A in the hotel meeting room. Then he said it again when everybody was hanging around on the upper level parking lot late night spot.

[S1njin]

Originally Posted by FTM1

Yep Cismo,25YHO & others were at that meet I think he said it in the meeting when viewing the early production Ridgeline film Q&A in the hotel meeting room. Then he said it again when everybody was hanging around on the upper level parking lot late night spot.

If that's the case, than its 89 for me.

[FTM1]

Originally Posted by S1njin

If that's the case, than its 89 for me.

If I remember it was when someone asked about more powerful engine or something like that.

[Macinudo]

Here is my question. Here in Utah, our grades of fuel are 85,87,91. So would that mean that if I run 87 here, is that like running 89 or 91 at a lower elevation. (I live at about 4000ft msl).

[rollinhonda]

There's some logic there. I think picking the right fuel from the middle octane level (in your case 87) is always safe without spending more on gas than is really necessary.
The manual says 87 minimum and I believe that's meant for anywhere in the US. So it's unlikely i would ever bother with anything less than 87 no matter where I lived.
You might want to bump up to 91 if pulling a big load, etc. otherwise I'd save my money.

[Macinudo]

This post is one of the most interesting I've seen in a while. I'm anxious to give the higher octanes a try.