Gas Grade

62163 Views 31 Replies 16 Participants Last post by ddsski, May 25, 2017

desgnr

Discussion Starter · Mar 31, 2015

I have a MKC 2.0 & have been using Regular gas.
I just read in Motor Trend the MKC uses Regular gas,but says in * Use Premium for best engine performance.
What do you use ????

1 - 20 of 32 Posts

mayday0017

· #2 · Mar 31, 2015

Turbocharged motors are always better off running premium fuel. That said the tune our motor has was designed to run safely off regular unleaded. If Lincoln would have wanted to get more horsepower out of our cars it could have been safely done by changing the tune and making premium a requirement but they didn't they chose to tune the car for unleaded.

So with that said, the car was designed for unleaded and is perfectly safe to run unleaded. I wouldn't of bought the car if it required premium as it would have made the fuel cost on the car outside of the requirement I had set for my wifes new car.

We have been and will continue to run unleaded. So far best we have done was avg of 31mpg on a 200ish mile trip. We have noticed where we get our unleaded does have some impact on the fuel economy but not enough to even consider the added price of premium to be an option.

pdqford

· #3 · Mar 31, 2015

desgnr said:
I just read in Motor Trend the MKC uses Regular gas,but says in * Use Premium for best engine performance.

It has a "knock" sensor which reduces spark advance, allowing it to tolerate regular fuel with reduced performance.

pdqford

· #4 · Mar 31, 2015

mayday0017 said:
We have been and will continue to run unleaded.

We don't have any choice - all that is available around here is unleaded.
(Doesn't the unleaded kill your cat?)

mayday0017

· #5 · Mar 31, 2015

pdqford said:
We don't have any choice - all that is available around here is unleaded.
(Doesn't the unleaded kill your cat?)

Sorry it should have said Regular Unleaded like I said elsewhere in my post... To your point that unleaded is all that is available, no unleaded doesn't kill your cat. I imagine if leaded gas was still around it would however

LINC

· #6 · Mar 31, 2015

Owner's manual page 164.

Fuel Quality

Choosing the Right Fuel

use only unleaded gasoline or unleaded gasoline blended with a maximum of 15% ethanol in your gasoline vehicle.

I stay away from blends.

Octane Recommendations

We recommend regular unleaded gasoline with a pump (R+M)/2 octane rating of 87. Some stations offer fuels posted as regular with an octane rating below 87, particularly in high altitude areas. We do not recommend fuels with an octane rating below 87.

To provide improved performance we recommend premium fuel for severe duty usage such as trailer tow.

Do not be concerned if your engine sometimes knocks lightly. However, if it knocks heavily while you are using fuel with the recommended octane rating, see your authorized dealership to prevent any engine damage.

For myself at right around 70 cents a mile to drive. Another .0125 cents per mile for 93 (at 30 cents per gallon), is a non issue, if it did offer an extra 15hp/tq. Have only used the 87 octane (4,100 miles) so far and never noticed any knock. I'd really like to know what real difference using 93 would offer; but short of a drag strip stop clock and test track mileage, back to back, who's to know. There are way too many variables to real world mileage to know for sure. As the first real road trip nears, I'd like to split and run the 93 for the return, although I recall not all states have it. Anyway the return trip is not the same weather or head winds; so forget the mileage test and that seat of the pants is not going to yield much fact without the clock.

I'm sure Curiosity will most likely get the better of me. :devil

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Reactions: 1

pdqford

· #7 · Apr 1, 2015

mayday0017 said:
no unleaded doesn't kill your cat. I imagine if leaded gas was still around it would however

Thank You...........that was my bad.

golferman44

· #8 · Apr 1, 2015

We're using regular unleaded, 87 octane. Have less than 500 miles on her.

mayday0017

· #9 · Apr 1, 2015

FYI you would never notice the knock, the knock sensor would detect it and change timing WAY before you would actually hear a knock audible enough to be heard in the cabin

Reactions: 2

LINC

· #10 · Apr 2, 2015

mayday0017:

Yep, while I was out drive'n the MKC today, I thought about that! Not the engine or cabin of years ago. Well then we'd agree, I haven't heard any knock. :laugh

Groucho

· #11 · Apr 5, 2015

I pretty much use only premium although I am tempted to put regular unleaded in it. I guess gas being a bit cheaper now has an effect and the couple bucks really doesn't break me. It's my wifes primary car and I'm pretty sure she puts regular in it, I haven't noticed any difference now that I think about it...

ClaveMan

· #12 · Nov 13, 2016

Thumbs Up on Unleaded (87 Octane) (E10 or E15 OK)

LINC said:
Owner's manual page 164.

Fuel Quality
Choosing the Right Fuel

use only unleaded gasoline or unleaded gasoline blended with a maximum of 15% ethanol in your gasoline vehicle.

Thank you for posting this.

I am looking at Lincolns and Acura’s (among others). The fine print requirement for Premium fuel is a deal killer for me. This brings a Lincoln back in the cross hairs. I roll up 2500+ miles per month on my commute across the St Louis metro area. Fuel price is critical! In my area gasoline "low grade" (regular unleaded) is 87 octane and includes 10% ethanol (E10).

Brad

ClaveMan

· #13 · Nov 13, 2016

Antifreeze is Toxic to Small Animals

pdqford said:
(Doesn't the unleaded kill your cat?)

The pet killer is anti-freeze. Never leave your pet where they can get to a car. Sounds impossible unless you have a garage.. Just warning..

"My radiator doesn't leak!". There is a thing called "chaos theory" that states that no matter how careful we are, somehow an accident can happen. Dude at quikilube tops off your radiator and spills some. Still dripping when you get home? That's chaos theory in action.

From the Internets:

Toxicity: Ethylene glycol is the ingredient found in most antifreeze products, usually at a concentration of 95-97%. It is an extremely dangerous toxin. The lethal dose for dogs is 2-3 ml/lb, and for cats it is 0.64 ml/lb

Bruce

· #14 · Nov 13, 2016

FYI, I was always one to be tempted to use premium fuel in my 2015 MKC but after driving almost 3,000 miles on a very recent trip, I am convinced that paying the extra money is a definite waste. I used both premium and regular unleaded and carefully noted any differences in performance and mpg's - and they were imperceptible. I feel the vehicle may have pulled inclines a small bit easier but that very well could have been my imagination as it was never "unacceptable". I was absolutely thrilled with the overall operation and performance of the 2.0L Ecoboost engine! As a child of the 60's/70's and the big V8's, I was never quite sold on 122 cu. in., 240hp engines until this trip. It far exceeded my expectations. Don't waste your money on premium fuel!

jprski

· #15 · Nov 15, 2016

Regular is fine the owners manual says regular is fine too, just use high quality gas. I have run Regular, Mid Grade and Premium and saw no difference in MPG or performance. I am not gonna bother to put different fuel in it and put it on a dyno to see if there really is a different either. I guess if I had the time I would. Perhaps someone will and post the results.

5.0 Candy REDCS

· #16 · Nov 15, 2016

Guess I'm big on wasting money....my MKC runs happiest with Shell 91....The 10% ethanol in regular gas really comes into play when it sits in the tank for days....it corrodes fuel lines, gums up most injectors and helps you accumulate FREE carbon deposits on top your pistons....it also coats all your intake valves robbing you of performance.....the cost of premium to me easily offsets the humdrum of regular fuel.....so I'll stick with premium!
Google " negative results on car engines using fuel with 10% ethanol "....you'll love what you'll read!

Reactions: 1

jprski

· #17 · Nov 15, 2016

All the gas stations in my area sell gas with 10% ethanol in it for all grades, no choice in getting gas without ethanol in it.
Not much one can do about it.

blankster

· #18 · Nov 15, 2016

If your fuel is rated "Top Tier" other than octane the cleaning agents should be the same regardless of grade. Below is an interesting read:

Home | Top Tier Gas

5.0 Candy REDCS

· #19 · Nov 15, 2016

Over here in Canada, SHELL sells 3 different grades of fuel, Regular has 10% ethanol mid grade comes in at 5% and their 91 super has NO ethanol at all.....it's clearly marked on the pump, that's the one I usually use!
Thanks for the link blankster, it is a good read.

Fauster

· #20 · Nov 16, 2016

When I get back from China, I'll have to post up the process for making gasoline. Refining the oil is the easy part. The real fun is in the blending area, where all of the cheap by-products of refining are dumped into the fuel. It's kind of like a drug dealer cutting his product with baking soda or talc to increase profits.

Winter gas? That's just a euphemism for "we added more propane and butane since the colder temperatures prevent vapor lock." I laugh every time I hear that refineries are 'switching over' from summer gas to winter gas or vice versa.

And diesel, kerosene and jet fuel are all but identical with small differences in sulfur content and flash point. Same refining operations, just different temperatures in the reactors.

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