So i was running at the bottom of the tank, which is a normal thing for me, when i decided to put some gas into it. I pulled into some random chevron station to fill up. They wanted 50 cents more per gallon of supreme than all the other gas stations. something like 2.93 compared to 2.19 i saw driving home.

So i decided to put ten dollars worth (5 gallons) of regular gas in it. Which is new for my truck. since ive owned it ive put nothing but supreme in it. I filled up, then hopped on the freeway. cruised fine for like a mile then all of a sudden NO power. none, the engine was running, but the more gas i would give it the rpms would drop and none of the power was making it to the wheels. I went to the next exit, dropping to like 40 mph. doing my best to keep my speed up. i exited pulled a U turn under and couldnt even get speed to merge, so i turned up under the freeway.

When revving it it would rev up to the rev limiter (about 3 grand) but sputtering the entire way. I let it idle for a few minutes. it was getting better. I hopped back on the road and it was still running ****ty, but it slowly got got to normal after another mile or so.

Any ideas whats up? Seemed like my truck was not used to running on cheap gas and maybe the ecu had to retune to run it. Just wierd. i mean i expect and feel the effects of different gas, but it should knock the drivability out of my truck.

i guess my truck was just letting me know it doesnt like it when i run sh!tty gas.

thanks,

Lee

 

Running to the bottom of the tank could have damaged your fuel pump. There is crap at the bottom of the tank and also the pump uses the gas to stay cool. Try changing the fuel filter and see if that helps.

 

he's right, i don't think lower octane gas would cause that, you should see the kind of crappy water-mixed-with-gas (and expensive) we have here, and my truck still runs strong (if you ever come down to Mexico make sure you fill up before crossing the border and make sure you buy some octane boost bottles just in case you need to pump here)

Replaced the fuel filter recently?

 

lower octane can cause that because your chip has been used to running very lean on very good gas now you put poorer gas in and its still trying to run lean but maybe try a new fuel filter i run my gas tank to nothing well like .2 of a gallon very often and its never hurt me.. but if you dont mind me asking why did u ever put supreme in? my truck is yet to see 89 lol... and my moms lexus which is supposed to be 93 only has never seen 93 only runs on 87 and it hasn't hurt it at all...

 

i replaced my filter maybe 50 miles ago. It was below E but not as low as i will normally run it.

the only thing i can compare it to is when i put put my muffler back on after running without it for awhile. If i put enough throttle input to get it to 3k rpm the engine would turn off as long as held the throttle in. then it would start right back up. I took the muffler back off and it ran fine, then i put it on again and it worked. this was much worse though. no power at all.

i usually run my tank pretty low and normally dont put more than 5 gallons in at a time. i know this isnt great, but it shouldnt cause anything like this should it?

 

Thats weird. I mean I run my tank till the check gauge light comes on and have never had a problem either. Maybe your truck's engine has been spoiled getting the good gas and now it is throwing a temper tantrum over getting the regular stuff.

 

I had no problems when I took my muffler off and then put it on after a year. I think something else is wrong with your truck. Try running a good fuel injector cleaner or seafoam in the tank.

 

thats what i think. It was just *****ing at me for cheaping out on the gas.

and about something else being wrong...

My truck has ****ty wiring, i know that. nothing major, but just losing brakelights and airbag lights. seems like my ecu has trouble with sudden changes. is this a real issue? the only problem ive really had is a CEL for the TPS i cleaned out the throttle body and the IAC and it went away.

other rangers ive driven hasnt done this, but my fuel guage can vary to around 8th of a tank depending on if i am on hills. Fowards makes it emptier, back makes more full. it takes a little bit to record the change too.

 

Mine has stumbled twice in it's life but both times I was stopped. Alon was with me the second time. My truck would not rev past 3000 even though I have a manual and it just ran really bad and almost shut off a bunch of times. I would turn off the engine and do a key on key off cycle to prime the fuel system and nothing. It would run like that every time I started it. It did this for about 10 minutes then it ran like nothing happened. Both times it happened I had plenty of gas. Stupid Ford. Well 115K miles on it now and it only happened twice in its life.

 

thanks, that makes allot of sense, and what i was figuring the issue was. It just seems odd to me that my truck goes to the extreme of not even running when i do stuff like switch gas or backpressure changes.

i definitely plan on staying with premium and no less. I hope i dont have issues when i fill back up. ill just mix the gasses so it wont be such a shock

 

sounds like an electrical issue, are you running a check engine light? did it come on at all when you were driving at the loss of power? it could be a throttle position sensor taking a **** on ya, those things go out with out any warning, and it could be just a coincedence that it happend when you put the cheap stuff in.

ive never had an issue with switching octanes, even ran 115 for a month to clean everything out (back when that stuff was $4 a gallon).

if its still givving you fits, id try filling the tank with premium, add some sea foam, and see what happens. if its still giving you problems, try replacing the throttle position sensor, they're cheap (like $35 at auto zone), and while your doing that, might as well clean out the idle air control, if all that still doesn't fix the issue, it sounds like you could have sucked up something in the fuel line.

if you want you could check your pressure at the rail, a fuel pressure check kit is like $50 at auto zone. one of the best investments ive ever made.

just my $0.02

 

I wouldn't use premium unless I had a tune for it. I always use 87 and just run a bottle of cleaner every 4th tank.

 

the issue is 100% better now. my check engine light has been off for a month or two and hasnt been on since

 

idk why people say this. junk at the bottom of the tank is gonna get jarred free and float around. especially in a truck.

 

Just something I have heard over the years from a lot of different people. I figure since the pickup is at the bottom all the floating stuff will reach it when you are low on gas. I never go below 1/4 tank so don't know for sure. I do know for a fact that no fuel will burn up the pump.

 

.. and because i always run it to the end. wouldnt it make sense that all the bad stuff would would have been run through by now. the heat of the fuel pump does make sense though

 

yea, I'm not gonna argue that point. mine is still kickin but I'm pushing my luck