I was looking into getting either a Magnum or a Charger (and have settled on the Charger) and at the dealership the other day, the salesguy told me the HEMIs take Premium Unleaded

first of all, do they? and if so, does it make that much of a difference?

reason I ask is I had a 2001 Corvette Z06 a couple years ago that took premium and at the advice of a mechanic friend of mine, I alway ran regular in it and never noticed a difference, and could blow most anything off the road still

so being that I'm not expecting whatever Charger I get to be a racecar, does it really make a difference?

 

Which HEMI as there are two.

The 5.7 takes 89 but will run on 87, i've had zero issues running 87 in mine and no noticable decrease in performance.

The 6.1 takes 91 octane.

 

im sure it can run on regular. my pawpaws old aviator was supposed to run on supremem and he never once put supreme in it and it ran fine.

 

For the 5.7:

I have had pinging problems since installing the Mopar CAI. I have heard others have had similar difficulties -- it's not bad, just annoying. I really only noticed it at a low rpm, like in my neighborhood. It gets better with 93 and has disappeared with a can of octane boost. Oh well.

Prior to that -- 87 all the way stock, and little or no ping. If $10 bucks a week made a huge differance to me, I'd have the stock breather on asap, and it would be back to the stock tune. 89 is rec'd in the manual.

An SRT8 would be cool, too....

.SG.

 

Armageddes I've the same problem with my Mopar CAI. Did you do your own installation?How long has it been going on? What brand of gas? What brand of octane boost levels it out? What did your stealership tell you about it?

 

I did my own installation (let's face it, it's shouldn't be too tough, right?). I guess I never thought it could be that. I put it on about the same time as my catback around November/December 06.

I put Exxon 93 plus a can of what they had in the gas station (Outlaw, I think) after I had installed the Superchip (which I had hoped might help). So I was P.O.'d and just dumped it in. Smooth and no marbles. I guess not bad for $5.12. Superchip works great.

Ummm, I don't tell my dealership anything that they don't need to know. I don't know anyone there well enough yet. I have heard through the grapevine that there are a lot of variables from car to car. So, who knows? I'm not sure why a CAI or particular brand of CAI would do anything to cause HAL to not be able to adjust properly, but that doesn't mean somebody else doesn't.

I will keep asking, though -- unoffically of course.

 

There are some, as you have read by now, who do have issues with running 87 or 89 octane. I have an 06 R/T and I have used everything - 87, 89 and 91 (that's the highest we have here). I have the MP CAI, Magnaflow full cat back exhaust. I've had the Jet Stage 2 chip and the SC as well and have not had any issues with pinging. As stated before, things seem to differ from car to car. I don't know if where you live and at what altitude you live at has anything to do with it or not. I'm in Albuquerque, NM, at about a mile high. Other than the fact that the "thin" air here robs me of some HP, I've had no problems. If you run a JET Stage 2 chip, it will take up to two weeks for HAL and the chip to start "talking" to each other correctly. I took my Jet chip out and am running with just the SC set at 91 octane.

dave

 

I also did my own installation using the Mopar CAI. Ever since, I've had a knock or ping under low steady acceleration (side streets a @ approximately 2000-2500 rpm) that disappears under wot. Even does it with premium gas Shell, BP & Exxon.ANNOYING AS ALL HELL! I was looking at the hemi peformance book &I thinkthe Jet stage 1 might help.

 

Here's what the owner's manual says:

"The 3.5L and 5.7L engines are designed to meed all emissions regulations and provide satisfactory fuel economy and performance when using high-quality unleaded gasoline with an octane rating of 87 to 89. The manufacturer recommends the use of 89-octane for optimum performance. The routine use of premium gasoline is not recommended. The use of premium gasoline will provide no benefit over hight-quality regula or mid-grade gasoline and in some circumstances my result in poorer performance."

This of course assumes a factory-stock setup. It also assumes that you are happy with what DCX thinks is satisfactory performance.

It's interesting that that the CAI would cause the pinging. My first mod was a K&N CAI with no problems. My wife's 300m and my truck both need premium, so out of habit I would pull up to the hi-test pump. Since I usually fill up at half tank, it was only an extra $2.00 per fill up so I figured what the heck. I've since installed a Borla cat back and Superchip (91 octane setting) and the 93 is still good with no pinging. Like 74Scamp pointed out, each car is different.

Redbeard

 

Well it's been several weeks since the Mopar CAI has been on and it's still pinging. tried two tank fulls of premium from three stations (two tanks full driven down to 1/8 of BP , two tanks full down to 1/8 of Exxon and two tanks full down to 1/8 of Shell) and the computer still hasn't adjusted.It's gonna come off. I think the pinging is doing more damage that the CAI is worth. I'm going to try a factory Daytona intake as soon as I can find one for the right price. The Daytona are taller than a regular R/T intake and the computer should have no problem with that air flow. (I hope)