Top Tier: Regular - MidGrade - Premium?

[TSO_NJ]

I appreciate the math @The_Jimmer.

I'm leaning towards purchasing the Regular Grade again even though the Avg MPG slightly improved.

However, I'm scratching my head and wondering if the "performance gained" (under "Fuel Quality"), when it comes to life of the turbocharger, will the same logic apply (may be a "dah" moment on my part)? In other words, will the additional cost of higher octane translate into less problems with the turbocharger over the long term?

The Dos and Don'ts of Driving A Turbocharged Vehicle (link)

Apparently, from articles I've read in the past the higher octane doesn't burn as hot as the Regular Grade.

Sponsored

 

[TSO_NJ]

You're on the mark @KidWiff. See orange rectangle.

 

[The_Jimmer]

I appreciate the math @The_Jimmer.

I'm leaning towards purchasing the Regular Grade again even though the Avg MPG slightly improved.

However, I'm scratching my head and wondering if the "performance gained" (under "Fuel Quality"), when it comes to life of the turbocharger, will the same logic apply (may be a "dah" moment on my part)? In other words, will the additional cost of higher octane translate into less problems with the turbocharger over the long term?

The Dos and Don'ts of Driving A Turbocharged Vehicle (link)

Apparently, from articles I've read in the past the higher octane doesn't burn as hot as the Regular Grade.

tbh, I'd just use a system cleaner/additive every other month or even every month. It's still a cheaper alternative and one that you control. I don't buy into "our gas cleans your system" as much as most do.

 

[Mark S.]

Apparently, from articles I've read in the past the higher octane doesn't burn as hot as the Regular Grade.

You're close. Premium fuel requires more heat/pressure to ignite. Once ignited both produce the same amount of energy (as measured by British Thermal Units, or BTUs). The primary benefit of premium is that the powertrain control module will not retard timing as much due to detonation as the engine gets hot.

In other words, will the additional cost of higher octane translate into less problems with the turbocharger over the long term?

The improvement in performance is only at the top end of the power curve. The engine produces advertised maximum horsepower only with premium fuel. With regular you can expect up to a 10% reduction. What this tells me is using premium will have no effect on engine durability unless you are in the habit of frequently utilizing the additional 10% (or so) power available. In that case, you will see a reduction in longevity--the harder you work an engine the more wear you generate.

 

[TSO_NJ]

You're close. Premium fuel requires more heat/pressure to ignite. Once ignited both produce the same amount of energy (as measured by British Thermal Units, or BTUs). The primary benefit of premium is that the powertrain control module will not retard timing as much due to detonation as the engine gets hot.

The improvement in performance is only at the top end of the power curve. The engine produces advertised maximum horsepower only with premium fuel. With regular you can expect up to a 10% reduction. What this tells me is using premium will have no effect on engine durability unless you are in the habit of frequently utilizing the additional 10% (or so) power available. In that case, you will see a reduction in longevity--the harder you work an engine the more wear you generate.

I'm grateful for the input @Mark S.. It has allowed me to have a better understanding.

 

[Bill G]

I can notice a performance improvement, and a small mpg improvement using premium (91 octane). I can get the same type mpg improvement using eco mode and auto s/s with regular (87 octane). I usually drive pretty sedately, forced by LA traffic . . . and with CA gas prices I’ll stick with regular for the foreseeable future.

 

[sajohnson]

We use 93 octane because it has magical qualities and knocks 2 seconds off the 1/4 mile time!

Actually, we do use 93 octane, but primarily because we drive the Badlands so little -- the difference in price vs 87 octane just doesn't add up to much.

IIRC, the BL had about 2,500 miles on it when I changed the oil at the one year mark. So that's only about 100 gallons per year.

 

[Ksnau]

warning this is going to be long.

So I would suggest if you're wondering about this, look up what octane rating really is. All it is is resistance to detonation. It's not cleaner or better for the engine or anything.

Now our cars are rated at a slightly higher peak horsepower and torque with premium. Whether that's 91 or 93 depending on where you live versus regular which is usually 87 but in some higher altitude it can be like 86 or I think even 85. But all you're doing is you're actually getting gas that's harder to ignite (and we can use that higher rated/ harder to ignite fuel because our engine has a slightly higher compression ratio which is part of it but it's not actually that high especially for cars these days, and in addition to that it gets forced induction from the turbo which make the pressures in the combustion chamber It depends on the model and stuff but for our cars it's a little more than double higher the pressure if my gauge reads right and what I've read online of how much pressure the turbo puts in the engine and so it can actually use that differential to run more performance oriented specifications in the vehicles computer).

So because we have a turbocharged engine and we have electronic ignition and variable cam timing. Ford has programmed in different tables in the computer based on how the multitude of sensors that we have read be it; the temperature of the air, the pressure, our engines don't have mass airflow sensors, but they'll even use the knock sensors and they basically will keep increasing timing until they start to perceive the barest hint of knock and then they dial it back thus are always using the most ignition timing as they can, which gives you more power and as you go up in higher octane. Generally, you can increase ignition timing because it's harder to ignite and so it won't pre-ignite with the sooner ignition of the fuel air combination due to the fuel octane rating being higher and that makes a little more power but the returns that you'll see are usually maybe 5% at most. Also, there are some other factors besides ignition timing, but that's the main one. So, you don't need premium fuel at all. It can totally run on the lowest grade are really 87, although that can change with altitude but even I generally will still put 87 in even if I'm in a higher altitude and there's lower octane available, and be completely fine. It's entire life.

Also don't fall for the Chevron techron or anything like. Every gasoline is required to have specific cleaning additives in them so you're not really getting much extra. They might throw in their own extra couple of additives so they can not be lying but it's nothing that's that special well it's not already in regular gas that's really going to make a difference and it's not like the ones that don't have techron Don't have the cleaning additives. The regular ones still have those special cleaning agents, it's required.

So I would suggest just getting regular octane unless. You want to gain a little extra power which you probably not even going to feel.

Now if you do get a tune with these EcoBoost engines, you actually can gain a decent amount of power that you will feel with just a tune. But that's only if you get a tuned and those tunes are for specific octane ratings because they know with higher octane you can push the ignition timing further. And all that means is the spark plug is going to go off a little sooner in the combustion cycle and they can also play with the cam timing where at lower rpms they'll advance the cams timing so the valves will open a little sooner or vice versa or I believe on ours they actually control the amount of boost electronically. Now it used to be just controlled by vacuum diaphragm and so you couldn't really change it without adjusting the spring in there which I won't get into it here. and it's a little more complicated than that. But basically that's it. And these tuners because they don't have to worry about emissions or other things that I'm not going to say they can push those table metrics a little more than Ford and make a little more power than they're rated for. I'm not going to get into if this makes an engine less reliable or not because the answer is it depends.

Last those power ratings. Those are the peak horsepower and peak torque and they're rated at a specific RPM. Usually high in the RPM where you're hardly ever driving what you really want to look at is not peak power but you want to look at it a horsepower and torque graph and see where it's coming in throughout the RPM range.

And then You have to remember that there are different types of dynos that will give different readings with the exact same car on the exact same day with the exact same temperature, pressure, etc. Because all that affects it.

Also you have to remember that when a manufacturer rate's power it's with all the accessories on the engine with the full exhaust. Basically how it's going to drive a lot of times tuners if they're on an engine dyno and not a wheel dyno their rating it without accessories or full exhaust or it's not at the same metrics in the ECU table and so they can make it look a lot higher.

Also they can literally just run it in a different gear that's not one to one and change the output as well as a few other shady tricks they can pull.

So my suggestion save your money and just get regular fuel unless you want to just try to have fun. And even then You're really probably not going to feel the difference doing anything but regular unless you get a tune specifically for it.

Now the one reason you might go to Chevron or some other places is to make sure the gas is what it says it is. There are some very shady gas stations that start with ARC- and others that will water down their gas to make a little more money or whatever the reason is. Or maybe mix them I don't know. But you're not getting what you're paying for and especially with boost engines that see these much higher pressures and temperatures in the combustion chamber. You need that or it can cause a misfire or even damage the engine. I have had that happen one time on one of my old mustangs it was supercharged and I was a miles from nowhere and that was the only gas station there and I just put in a few gallons because I didn't want their gas in my tank and I drove home and I didn't even get on it much because I was just driving home but I went to pass. Maybe got like three or four pounds of boost from my supercharger and it misfired which is ridiculous. And that's really just picking where you get your gas. Not really the rating. Just use the rating that the OEM suggests and on our cars its rated for minimum 87 so 87 or above.

 

[TSO_NJ]

warning this is going to be long.

So I would suggest if you're wondering about this, look up what octane rating really is. All it is is resistance to detonation. It's not cleaner or better for the engine or anything.

Now our cars are rated at a slightly higher peak horsepower and torque with premium. Whether that's 91 or 93 depending on where you live versus regular which is usually 87 but in some higher altitude it can be like 86 or I think even 85. But all you're doing is you're actually getting gas that's harder to ignite (and we can use that higher rated/ harder to ignite fuel because our engine has a slightly higher compression ratio which is part of it but it's not actually that high especially for cars these days, and in addition to that it gets forced induction from the turbo which make the pressures in the combustion chamber It depends on the model and stuff but for our cars it's a little more than double higher the pressure if my gauge reads right and what I've read online of how much pressure the turbo puts in the engine and so it can actually use that differential to run more performance oriented specifications in the vehicles computer).

So because we have a turbocharged engine and we have electronic ignition and variable cam timing. Ford has programmed in different tables in the computer based on how the multitude of sensors that we have read be it; the temperature of the air, the pressure, our engines don't have mass airflow sensors, but they'll even use the knock sensors and they basically will keep increasing timing until they start to perceive the barest hint of knock and then they dial it back thus are always using the most ignition timing as they can, which gives you more power and as you go up in higher octane. Generally, you can increase ignition timing because it's harder to ignite and so it won't pre-ignite with the sooner ignition of the fuel air combination due to the fuel octane rating being higher and that makes a little more power but the returns that you'll see are usually maybe 5% at most. Also, there are some other factors besides ignition timing, but that's the main one. So, you don't need premium fuel at all. It can totally run on the lowest grade are really 87, although that can change with altitude but even I generally will still put 87 in even if I'm in a higher altitude and there's lower octane available, and be completely fine. It's entire life.

Also don't fall for the Chevron techron or anything like. Every gasoline is required to have specific cleaning additives in them so you're not really getting much extra. They might throw in their own extra couple of additives so they can not be lying but it's nothing that's that special well it's not already in regular gas that's really going to make a difference and it's not like the ones that don't have techron Don't have the cleaning additives. The regular ones still have those special cleaning agents, it's required.

So I would suggest just getting regular octane unless. You want to gain a little extra power which you probably not even going to feel.

Now if you do get a tune with these EcoBoost engines, you actually can gain a decent amount of power that you will feel with just a tune. But that's only if you get a tuned and those tunes are for specific octane ratings because they know with higher octane you can push the ignition timing further. And all that means is the spark plug is going to go off a little sooner in the combustion cycle and they can also play with the cam timing where at lower rpms they'll advance the cams timing so the valves will open a little sooner or vice versa or I believe on ours they actually control the amount of boost electronically. Now it used to be just controlled by vacuum diaphragm and so you couldn't really change it without adjusting the spring in there which I won't get into it here. and it's a little more complicated than that. But basically that's it. And these tuners because they don't have to worry about emissions or other things that I'm not going to say they can push those table metrics a little more than Ford and make a little more power than they're rated for. I'm not going to get into if this makes an engine less reliable or not because the answer is it depends.

Last those power ratings. Those are the peak horsepower and peak torque and they're rated at a specific RPM. Usually high in the RPM where you're hardly ever driving what you really want to look at is not peak power but you want to look at it a horsepower and torque graph and see where it's coming in throughout the RPM range.

And then You have to remember that there are different types of dynos that will give different readings with the exact same car on the exact same day with the exact same temperature, pressure, etc. Because all that affects it.

Also you have to remember that when a manufacturer rate's power it's with all the accessories on the engine with the full exhaust. Basically how it's going to drive a lot of times tuners if they're on an engine dyno and not a wheel dyno their rating it without accessories or full exhaust or it's not at the same metrics in the ECU table and so they can make it look a lot higher.

Also they can literally just run it in a different gear that's not one to one and change the output as well as a few other shady tricks they can pull.

So my suggestion save your money and just get regular fuel unless you want to just try to have fun. And even then You're really probably not going to feel the difference doing anything but regular unless you get a tune specifically for it.

Now the one reason you might go to Chevron or some other places is to make sure the gas is what it says it is. There are some very shady gas stations that start with ARC- and others that will water down their gas to make a little more money or whatever the reason is. Or maybe mix them I don't know. But you're not getting what you're paying for and especially with boost engines that see these much higher pressures and temperatures in the combustion chamber. You need that or it can cause a misfire or even damage the engine. I have had that happen one time on one of my old mustangs it was supercharged and I was a miles from nowhere and that was the only gas station there and I just put in a few gallons because I didn't want their gas in my tank and I drove home and I didn't even get on it much because I was just driving home but I went to pass. Maybe got like three or four pounds of boost from my supercharger and it misfired which is ridiculous. And that's really just picking where you get your gas. Not really the rating. Just use the rating that the OEM suggests and on our cars its rated for minimum 87 so 87 or above.

Excellent! Your reply, in addition to the previous replies, is a factor on deciding to return to purchasing the regular grade. In fact, I went full circle. On one side of the coin, my wife and I purchased the Bronco Sport instead of the Bronco to reduce our vehicle expenses, with gasoline being the one saving. We're both recently retired so we've adopted the frugal lifestyle. On the other side of the coin, we're concerned about the reliability and performance of the powertrain.

Our previous vehicle (turbocharged) "required" premium, and prior to trading it in for the Bronco Sport, it misfired severely and stalled several times. Service, at the dealership, estimated a little over $7000 to complete the repairs. The odometer was over 200,00 miles so there was no way we were going to spend a large sum to do the repairs (a top engine rebuild). Instead, we took the vehicle to a local auto repair shop where my brother-in-law takes his vehicles for servicing. The mechanic changed a few sensors to eliminate five engine codes (process of elimination method) just so the misfiring and stalling stopped, at a cost of a little over $1500. He said due to the milage it was doubtful about driving it another 100,00 miles without the potential of other expensive repairs (logical). He explained that turbocharged engines required a different type of care when compared to non-turbocharged engines. I did a search on turbocharged engines and here is what I found: The Dos and Don'ts of Driving a Turbocharged Vehicle

BTW: I once owned, and did my own work, on a 1969 Plymouth Road Runner. Did it all: engine timing, gapped the points. (dual point distributor), gapped the spark plugs, worked the distributor, jetted the carburetor, etc., etc.. Plus, did occasional quarter mile racing.

"warning this is going to be long." brought back fond memories, during your explaination of how the latest vehicles are controlled by new technology.

 

[sajohnson]

Excellent! Your reply, in addition to the previous replies, is a factor on deciding to return to purchasing the regular grade. In fact, I went full circle. On one side of the coin, my wife and I purchased the Bronco Sport instead of the Bronco to reduce our vehicle expenses, with gasoline being the one saving. We're both recently retired so we've adapted the frugal lifestyle. On the other side of the coin, we're concerned about the reliability and performance of the powertrain.

Our previous vehicle (turbocharged) "required" premium, and prior to trading it in for the Bronco Sport, it misfired severely and stalled several times. Service, at the dealership, estimated a little of $7000 to complete the repairs. The odometer was over 200,00 miles so there was no way we were going to spend a large sum to do the repairs (a top engine rebuild). Instead, we took the vehicle to a local auto repair shop where my brother-in-law takes his vehicles for servicing. The mechanic changed a few sensors to eliminate five engine codes (process of elimination method) just so the misfiring and stalling stopped, at a cost of a little over $1500. He said due to the milage it was doubtful about driving it another 100,00 miles without the potential of other expensive repairs (logical). He explained that turbocharged engines required a different type of care when compared to non-turbocharged engines. I did a search on turbocharged engines and here is what I found: The Dos and Don'ts of Driving a Turbocharged Vehicle

BTW: I once owned, and did my own work, on a 1969 Plymouth Road Runner. Did it all: engine timing, gapped the points. (dual point distributor), gapped the spark plugs, worked the distributor, jetted the carburetor, etc., etc.. Plus, did occasional quarter mile racing.

"warning this is going to be long." brought back fond memories, during your explaination of how the latest vehicles are controlled by new technology.

A '69 Road Runner? Nice!

You said, "On the other side of the coin, we're concerned about the reliability and performance of the powertrain."

From what I've read, the reliability should be essentially the same -- assuming all else is equal, all fuel is "Top Tier" (has the same detergent/additive package).

Here's a related thread:
https://www.broncosportforum.com/forum/threads/what-a-difference-91-octane-makes-in-the-2-0-motor.6634/page-2

From post#17 by Mark: "Dyno testing by owners in the Mustang EcoBoost community suggested a 10% hit on power when using regular over premium for the 2.3L EcoBoost. If that holds true for the 2.0L, you're only getting some 225 hp with regular in your Badlands."

12/30/2023: EDIT to highlight this sentence: The article about driving a turbocharged vehicle was a bit strange. For example:

(What follows are QUOTES that I do not agree with, from the article linked to above: https://turboturbos.com/blogs/news/the-dos-and-don-ts-of-driving-a-turbocharged-vehicle)

~~~

How To Drive a Turbocharged Vehicle
"Don't worry. The differences between naturally aspirated and turbocharged vehicles aren't as stark as the differences between a manual and automatic transmission. If you can drive a naturally aspirated vehicle, you can drive a turbocharged vehicle without any trouble. That's because driving one isn't fundamentally different than driving a naturally aspirated vehicle. You still use the pedals, gears, and steering wheel to drive the wheels and navigate the roads. That said, there are a few things you should keep in mind when driving a turbocharged vehicle."

Warm Up and Cool Down
"Adding in a turbo makes a car’s engine run even hotter than a normal vehicle. For this reason, engines with turbos are more prone to overheating. This is the last thing you want. Excess heat can wear down the internal components of your engine and cause them to break down or fail prematurely.

One way to combat engine overheating is to warm up your engine pre-drive and let it cool down post-drive. The motor oil in your engine takes a few minutes to warm up after you turn on the ignition. Once warm, the motor oil flows through the engine bay and lubricates the internal components, including the turbo's bearings. If you drive before the oil warms up and lubricates the turbo bearings, you can unnecessarily wear down your turbo."

Also this:

"If you have a turbocharged engine, you’ll need to replace the oil and spark plugs at more frequent intervals. You should change the oil every 3,000-5,000 miles (compared to every 5,000-7,500 miles on a naturally aspirated engine) and the spark plugs every 30,000 miles (compared to every 100,000 miles on a naturally aspirated engine)."

[End of quotes]

~~~

You will be missed at the 91-93 octane cult meetings.

 

[Mrmike]

Excellent! Your reply, in addition to the previous replies, is a factor on deciding to return to purchasing the regular grade. In fact, I went full circle. On one side of the coin, my wife and I purchased the Bronco Sport instead of the Bronco to reduce our vehicle expenses, with gasoline being the one saving. We're both recently retired so we've adapted the frugal lifestyle. On the other side of the coin, we're concerned about the reliability and performance of the powertrain.

Our previous vehicle (turbocharged) "required" premium, and prior to trading it in for the Bronco Sport, it misfired severely and stalled several times. Service, at the dealership, estimated a little of $7000 to complete the repairs. The odometer was over 200,00 miles so there was no way we were going to spend a large sum to do the repairs (a top engine rebuild). Instead, we took the vehicle to a local auto repair shop where my brother-in-law takes his vehicles for servicing. The mechanic changed a few sensors to eliminate five engine codes (process of elimination method) just so the misfiring and stalling stopped, at a cost of a little over $1500. He said due to the milage it was doubtful about driving it another 100,00 miles without the potential of other expensive repairs (logical). He explained that turbocharged engines required a different type of care when compared to non-turbocharged engines. I did a search on turbocharged engines and here is what I found: The Dos and Don'ts of Driving a Turbocharged Vehicle

BTW: I once owned, and did my own work, on a 1969 Plymouth Road Runner. Did it all: engine timing, gapped the points. (dual point distributor), gapped the spark plugs, worked the distributor, jetted the carburetor, etc., etc.. Plus, did occasional quarter mile racing.

"warning this is going to be long." brought back fond memories, during your explaination of how the latest vehicles are controlled by new technology.

Me too!

I had a '68 Road Runner 383. Then a '69 Cuda 440. Finally I had a '70 Road Runner Hemi. Then I got married and bought a house.

 

[Mark S.]

Generally, you can increase ignition timing because it's harder to ignite and so it won't pre-ignite with the sooner ignition of the fuel air combination due to the fuel octane rating being higher and that makes a little more power but the returns that you'll see are usually maybe 5% at most.

Generally speaking, pre-ignition isn't the problem, it's detonation. Don't get me wrong, pre-ignition can destroy your engine, but it's an extremely rare event, and modern engines incorporate many different safeguards to prevent it. Detonation, on the other hand, is an everyday occurrence (as you noted), so you must follow manufacturer guidelines to ensure it's properly managed by the powertrain control module (PCM).

As @sajohnson noted, my long experience with EcoBoost engines (nearing a decade now) suggests the performance increase you can expect is nearer to 10%. I've personally noted a difference in driving characteristics using premium fuel. I believe the PCM increases throttle response when it can, which results in better driveability. This manifests--in my experience--as smoother acceleration and shifting at lower RPMs.

One way to combat engine overheating is to warm up your engine pre-drive and let it cool down post-drive. The motor oil in your engine takes a few minutes to warm up after you turn on the ignition. Once warm, the motor oil flows through the engine bay and lubricates the internal components, including the turbo's bearings. If you drive before the oil warms up and lubricates the turbo bearings, you can unnecessarily wear down your turbo."

I agree a warm up is a good idea, but there's no need to let the car idle for extended times to achieve it. The oil specification for our cars is 5W30 in the case of the 2.0L, and 5W20 for the 1.5L. Oil that meets this spec has the viscosity of 5 weight oil when cold, which means it flows readily. That means the turbo bearings are receiving an oil bath within 10-30 seconds of engine start at temperatures you are likely to see in the USA (Alaska excluded). For warm up my advice is to start the engine, put on your seat belt, adjust your mirror, connect your phone and choose the programming of choice. That will provide ample time for oil to circulate to all critical engine parts. Then, take it easy for the first 5-10 minutes (depending on outside temperature) to allow the metal parts of the engine to warm up. After 10 minutes or so you should be good to go.

I disagree about the need to "cool down" the engine in any way. This is a hold over from older turbocharger installations that relied solely on oil to cool the turbine bearings. For those cars, shutting off the engine without allowing the bearings to cool would result in burning--or coking--the oil near them. Oil coking interferes with bearing operation, eventually leading to turbine failure. This is not a danger with our modern EcoBoost engines.

The turbines in our cars are kept cool using the same coolant that keeps the rest of the engine cool. That means unless you are operating the engine at high power demand for extended time (race conditions) the turbine bearings will never get hot enough to coke the oil. That means there is no need to idle the engine prior to shut down--it's just a waste of gas.

 

[TSO_NJ]

A '69 Road Runner? Nice!

You said, "On the other side of the coin, we're concerned about the reliability and performance of the powertrain."

From what I've read, the reliability should be essentially the same -- assuming all else is equal, all fuel is "Top Tier" (has the same detergent/additive package).

Here's a related thread:
https://www.broncosportforum.com/forum/threads/what-a-difference-91-octane-makes-in-the-2-0-motor.6634/page-2

From post#17 by Mark: "Dyno testing by owners in the Mustang EcoBoost community suggested a 10% hit on power when using regular over premium for the 2.3L EcoBoost. If that holds true for the 2.0L, you're only getting some 225 hp with regular in your Badlands."

The article about driving a turbocharged vehicle was a bit strange. For example:

How To Drive a Turbocharged Vehicle
"Don't worry. The differences between naturally aspirated and turbocharged vehicles aren't as stark as the differences between a manual and automatic transmission. If you can drive a naturally aspirated vehicle, you can drive a turbocharged vehicle without any trouble. That's because driving one isn't fundamentally different than driving a naturally aspirated vehicle. You still use the pedals, gears, and steering wheel to drive the wheels and navigate the roads. That said, there are a few things you should keep in mind when driving a turbocharged vehicle."

Warm Up and Cool Down
"Adding in a turbo makes a car’s engine run even hotter than a normal vehicle. For this reason, engines with turbos are more prone to overheating. This is the last thing you want. Excess heat can wear down the internal components of your engine and cause them to break down or fail prematurely.

One way to combat engine overheating is to warm up your engine pre-drive and let it cool down post-drive. The motor oil in your engine takes a few minutes to warm up after you turn on the ignition. Once warm, the motor oil flows through the engine bay and lubricates the internal components, including the turbo's bearings. If you drive before the oil warms up and lubricates the turbo bearings, you can unnecessarily wear down your turbo."

Also this:

"If you have a turbocharged engine, you’ll need to replace the oil and spark plugs at more frequent intervals. You should change the oil every 3,000-5,000 miles (compared to every 5,000-7,500 miles on a naturally aspirated engine) and the spark plugs every 30,000 miles (compared to every 100,000 miles on a naturally aspirated engine)."

~~~

You will be missed at the 91-93 octane cult meetings.

Yep, a 1969 Road Runner. Enjoyed the space inside the engine compartment, where I could fairly easily access most of the parts. Those days have been long gone.

The "Turbocharged Vehicle" article leaves more questions than answers. Solely for curiosity, I'm planning to review independent sources about this topic to check if the writer is biased or worked from empirical data. My new hobby. ?

 

[TSO_NJ]

Me too!

I had a '68 Road Runner 383. Then a '69 Cuda 440. Finally I had a '70 Road Runner Hemi. Then I got married and bought a house.

The only photo from the days of compact film. A friend took it since I didn't own a camera at that time. Almost all of my overtime money went into the RR. I could have made a down payment on a new home for the amount of money I spent.

 

[TSO_NJ]

I agree a warm up is a good idea, but there's no need to let the car idle for extended times to achieve it. The oil specification for our cars is 5W30 in the case of the 2.0L, and 5W20 for the 1.5L. Oil that meets this spec has the viscosity of 5 weight oil when cold, which means it flows readily. That means the turbo bearings are receiving an oil bath within 10-30 seconds of engine start at temperatures you are likely to see in the USA (Alaska excluded). For warm up my advice is to start the engine, put on your seat belt, adjust your mirror, connect your phone and choose the programming of choice. That will provide ample time for oil to circulate to all critical engine parts. Then, take it easy for the first 5-10 minutes (depending on outside temperature) to allow the metal parts of the engine to warm up. After 10 minutes or so you should be good to go.

I disagree about the need to "cool down" the engine in any way. This is a hold over from older turbocharger installations that relied solely on oil to cool the turbine bearings. For those cars, shutting off the engine without allowing the bearings to cool would result in burning--or coking--the oil near them. Oil coking will eventually interfere with bearing operation and eventual turbine failure. This is not a danger with our modern EcoBoost engines.

The turbines in our cars are kept cool using the same coolant that keeps the rest of the engine cool. That means unless you are operating the engine at high power demand for extended time (race conditions) the turbine bearings will never get hot enough to cook the oil. That means there is no need to idle the engine prior to shut down--it's just a waste of gas.

My understanding is in-line with yours. Friction generates heat, when uncontrolled can lead to component failures. Oil, coolant, outside air flow, and yes even the air fuel mixture, will control the engine temperature during the transition from ambient temperature to operating temperature.

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