How much of a difference will it make if i switch from 87 octane to 89 octane. My truck pings and knocks alot when i get on it hard. Pings occasionly in overdrive going 50mph up a hill.

1998 Dodge Ram 1500 Slt Larmaie
116,000 Miles
360 V8 5.9 Liter
K&N Air Filter
Panasonic cd Deck
Pioneer Speakers
245/16 Bridgestone Dueler APT Tires

 

89 will help some. I would check the intake gasket leak and maybe try some injector/combustion chamber cleaner. make sure your cat isn't starting to plug(can cause pinging). check the tsb on routing the plug wires.

 

Once when gas was in the 3.00 + area i used 87 quite often.It pinged bad and i hated it.I started going with 89 then it stopped.I now and then put like 5 gallons of 93 in to clear it out some and bring the octane up.They say run 87 in these vehicles, i run it in my 187k mile 94 vision and it runs good.But in my 01 ram i run nothing less then 89.Run a tankload of 89 n you`ll hear the difference but i dont know if you`ll feel it.A friend tonight to his superchips programmer and reprogrammed my computer and i felt a huge difference in it.But i told him to take it out cause he had the programmer and if something happens he is the only 1 to remove it and getting a hold of him is worse then catching the flu.So try some 89 and it should clear it up(pinging).

thanks
pat

 

my '01 w/hypertech will ping on 87 and have NO power going up a hill because the gas mix is firing too soon and i think its working against itself. 89 or 93 makes a HUGE difference both in eliminating the ping and getting power out of the motor. pinging is not good for the engine - don't ignore it.