Dirtydog, if 87 octane guaranteed predetonation, dont you think Dodge would have posted a bulletin Somewhere banning the use of 87 in the Hemis, which they havent, and is also a condition which is not permanent. It's caused by a few different things, fuel with an unacceptable octane, towing heavy loads, or any kind of unusual load, such as running at wot on the engine that would vary from the nornal, or possibly a poor tune, or running too much timing without adding more fuel, which is what I suspect in some of these wasted engines Hammer is talking about. Many people buy programmers without the knowledge of how they or their engines actually operate. They go in and add a few degrees of timing and see the engine pep up some, so they go back and do it again and again, without adding fuel and fry a cylinder or two. The knock sensors are very sensitive in our vehicles, and if any detection of knock or preknock is seen the computer instantly pulls timing or adds fuel to eliminate it, but in the above scenerio, the timing may be so high that before the computer can take over the damage is already done. If all Hemis predetonated on 87 octane, mine should have been toast years ago, plus you have to remember that the label on the pump says a minimum octane rating of 87 89 93, so whatever you're pumping it could actually be higher than the actual octane number, but it should, by law never be lower. I appreciate your comments, just disagree with parts of it. Just for the record, I have run mine at WOT, raced the truck at the strip, towed a boat that, it and the trailer weighed 3500 pounds, and as of yet never heard the first sound of predetonating or ping, so your statement of all Hemis will predetonate on 87 octane is not correct. I do not want everyone to go out and start buying 87, just trying to correct some of the comments that this particular octane fuel is a death sentence for a hemi, because it isnt on a stock Hemi. If someone starts playing with a programmer and doing things they shouldn't, YES 87 would be the last fuel I would run, but if the engine is tuned well and is driven normally, I see no reason 87 will not serve you adequately, and according to my manual, so does Dodge. Mines an 06, other years may be different, and I'm just speaking for my own truck

 

Are we supposed to stop discussing when OP stops?

I'm one of the people who use 89 all the time. I never tell people to stop using 87. I bought a truck with a quality engine with some power. So to put the same fuel in it as my 120 HP 1997 Dakota seems a little weird to me, but what do I know, I'm no mechanic.

I just figure if I run "real" true synthetic oil and 89 octane, maybe I'll get an extra 10k miles out of my engine.

But who really knows? No one has ever proved that 87 kills a Hemi quicker than 89, although theory would dictate it, there's been no practical tests that I know of, on the Hemi. Like DirtyDog said, it's almost more peace of mind than anything.

 

I'm an old guy, and have seen a lot of different problems with engines over my life time, and yes, if I take my truck to the strip with a 93 tune installed I will add either higher octane fuel or an octane booster. If I was going to tow something a long way or over mountains I would add some higher octane fuel, but for all of my everyday driving which consists mostly of interstate driving, I always run 87 and with the stock tune, see no improvement in performance by using 89 or 93. Is 89 an insurance against ping, absolutely, but if you know your truck, and know what kind of driving you'll be doing, sometimes the insurance isn't needed. The octane of a gas doesn't kill engines, its the wrong octane added to your driving conditions that will get you in trouble sometimes. Thanks for your reply, and if 89 makes you feel safe, by all means use it

 

Gonna chime in on the fuel thing....


BOTTOM LINE: Run what gives you the best performance under all circumstances without any spark knock or mpg drop.




BOOM!
/argument

 

I have an '05 1500 4X4 with 270,000 KMS and have always run 87. Never had any issue with that. In fact, the truck has been super reliable and all i have had to do beyond routine maintenance like brakes, etc., is the typical front end stuff (ball joints & tie rod ends), U joints and a fuel pump. Also replaced the rear end pinion seal today. Not bad overall for 8 years and 270K.

 

I keep seeing in posts where people are replacing front end parts somewhere around 50,000 miles. Is this normal or are these trucks seeing radical use. Mine has 106,000 miles and the front end still feels as good as the day I got the truck, when it was brand new. I have done brakes at 50,000 miles but no front end parts at all

 

Dodge is known for bad fuel economy and front end hiccups.

My old Dakota went through 2 sets of tie rods and ball joints in 2 years. And my brake rotors lasted 1 and a half years if I was lucky. My rotors are warped already in my Ram, it's been 4 months. I knew what I was getting into, so I'm not complaining.

My parents had a '04 Jeep Grand Cherokee, and the front end fell apart many times, but it was on warranty at the time still. They then went to an '08 Avenger, and I don't remember the front end falling apart, but the car was such a bucket of bolts, that everything else fell apart. Avengers had very bad build quality, the first wave. Dunno about now, but I hope they got it sorted out.