I just got my 2001 Ram 1500 5.2 L (77,000 miles) about 2-3 weeks ago, and the first fill up I went with regular 87 octane and noticed the dreaded knocking, pinging sound, next tankfull I went straight to the premiun 93 octane, no knock or ping whatsoever, next tankfull just last night, I decided to try the mid-grade 89 octane, I'll see how that acts in the next few days. What does everyone else use in their 318 or 360, just wondering?

 

Welcome to the forum!

If you are pinging with 87, you definitely want to look at that plenum gasket repair. You have to be leaking a lot (or something else wrong) to be pinging with normal use and 87.

You might also try a tune-up if you haven't already... new wires, plugs, dist. cap & rotor.

I used to use 89, not because I'd ping with 87, but because thats the cheapest here in SD. Up until recently, 89 was the only octane with ethanol (10%), which made it the cheapest octane (gov. tax breaks). Whenever 87 would be $2.69, for example, 89 would be somewhere around $2.30-$2.50. After I learned how ethanol will decrease your mileage, I stopped using it.

With my Superchips programmer set to Performance (designed for 91 octane), I now use 92 or 91 octane gasoline.

 

a properly running 318 or 360 will do fine on 87. the pinging is an indicator of vac leak and lean fuel, carbon buildup on pistons. unless you've replaced your plenum, thats the most likely cause. higher octane gas is a good bandaid until you get around to fixing it. do a search on plenum for about a million posts. its a common problem.

 

i'm using 93 octane...only one place around here that sells it though...every place else is 91/92..lol

 

I use 87 since I really don't get any better results from 89 or 93. I thought the 93 might add just a bit of mpg, but no dice.

 

My 95 runs on 87, but my 2000 i bought 2 years old the the orginal onwer, said he'd always used 93 cause it pinged from day one,without 93 he was right, 86,000 miles later thats still all it'll run on 93, IT's never used oil and the plenum has been checked. The dealer told me to while driving to hit 3ooo rpms, fast then let off,the gas 4 times in a row, and the computer would reset the timing. Never worked for me

 

Sounds like some tom foolery to me...

 

It only pays to use higher gas if you truck is tuned for it.

 

I use 93 in my 318. Your truck could have a mopar performance computer because if you have one I think you get a ping if you dont run 93 in it

 

i have superchips i use 91 octain setting so i usally run with 91 , but i will go 87 too even on the performance setting.

jasonw points out some good ideas too , 1st things 1st since you just bought it go sythetic oils, and do a tune up , wires sparkplugs cap and rotor , and the plenum good luck any pics and a signiure will help so we know about your rig welcome to the forum