So this might be a stupid question but it's something i noticed. I had just recently upgraded my muffler to a flowmaster 44 series on a 3.9L and sound decent for a V6, however at the time i had Shell's 93 grade v-power gas. As i filled up with Sunoco 87 regular gas right away i noticed i lost more of the throttle sound and was a little quieter. My stupid question is, can a higher grade gas give a better sound for your exhaust because your getting better performance from the engine? or after a short amount of time and use, which is not even a week, does the sound and performance die down a little.

 

Actually, you'd be getting less performance with the 93 octane, not better. There are no "knock sensors" in your '00.

The 87 octane burns faster. The 93 octane is still burning in the cylinders when the 87 is done. Your truck does not require 93, unless you've modified the engine with higher compression pistons or the like.

My guess is you're just getting used to the sound.

 

well i noticed i do get better ride out of the 93 grade and i get more hesitation out of the 87 so i don't know. the weird thing is right before i filled up the 87 it still had a better throttle sound then when i left the pump it was quieter so i dont know, i might after this fill go back to the 93 and test my theory. I am looking at upgrading my engine anyway with a chip and rebuilding the engine.

 

My Dakota ran better on high grade even though it ran on regular

I think what happens if you run with high grade for a long period of time the PCM adjusts to the high grade so if you drop down it runs kind of off till the PCM adjusts to the lower grade gas.


So yes my experience is your engine can get used to high grade even though it was designed to run on regular gas. I ran high grade for many years and every time I used the lower grade it ran crappy. I finally decided to get my PCM and engine used to mid-grade it took a month to adjust but now I run only mid-grade gas.


Call me crazy

 

Glad im not the only one to think so with the gas lol. have any of you experienced a ticking noise with the front of the exhaust? I have this tick and its really noticeable when the truck is gear while accelerating, and if i hit a puddle it really ticks hard and i loose some compression till it dries out. any ideas where or what its coming from?