What grade of gas to use on my 2001 Dodge Ram 1500 V8 Magnum

Power/Fuel
,
1

I just bought a 2001 Dodge Ram 1500 V 8 Magnum and the person I bought it from said that he used High test Gas in it and I should do the same. But when I started reading the owners manual it stated that Regular 87 octane gas should be used. So I’m wondering which should I use? If I gradually switch to regular would it hurt my performance or would be OK? Thanks.

2

Would you not think the people who wrote the Owners Manual would know the answer to your question.

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3

Dodge knows what to put in the gas tank. The previous owner thinks he knows better than Dodge. He doesn’t. He was throwing money away, no need for you to do the same. Switch to regular right away, it won’t hurt a thing.

And THANK YOU for reading your manual before posting your question! That is a rarity here.

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4

I would think so…Thanks.

5

Thanks so much for the info and kind words. I appreciate it.

6

Follow the owner’s manual; you’ll be OK.

That reminds me of an Asian family that moved across the street from us years ago. They saw me fertilizing my lawn and asked me how since they probably lived in an apartment in Asia.

They decided, however, to do me one better and figured if a little fertilizer was good, then a lot would be really good!

They also neglected to WATER the grass and as a result the whole lawn was “burned” by the fertilizer!

7

One reason to use premium here would be if you have a lot of carbon buildup in the engine, which raises the compression ratio. Happened to me with a 10 year old Suburban. The solution is to get the carbon cleaned out, not to use premium.

8

I want to thank everyone who took the time to answer my question. It shows that a lot of people DO care and enjoy sharing their knowledge. Thank you all again it is certainly appreciated…ABklynKindaGuy

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9

Try a couple tanks of 87. If it seems to start & run ok, same as before, I’d guess you are good to go using 87.

10

Not necessaurly. Octane will have little effect on how wellit starts. The biggest difference will be acceleration and gas mileage. Vehicles designed to Rubin higher octane could knock when accelerated hard or under load and the knock sensor will retard timing for which will cause decreased acceleration and worse gas mileage. If the knock sensor ever fails and there’s severe engine knock then you run the risk of destroying the engine.

11

Thanks guys appreciate the info.

In a message dated 9/1/2016 10:47:59 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
cartalk@discoursemail.com writes:

MikeInNH (http://community.cartalk.com/users/mikeinnh)
September 1
Not necessaurly. Octane will have little effect on how wellit starts. The
biggest difference will be acceleration and gas mileage. Vehicles designed
to Rubin higher octane could knock when accelerated hard or under load and
the knock sensor will retard timing for which will cause decreased
acceleration and worse gas mileage. If the knock sensor ever fails and there’s
severe engine knock then you run the risk of destroying the engine.

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In Reply To
GeorgeSanJose (http://community.cartalk.com/users/georgesanjose)
September 1 Try a couple tanks of 87. If it seems to start & run ok,
same as before, I’d guess you are good to go using 87.

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12

“Read the owners manual” is a popular statement here, it means “I don’t know”.

Those Magnum engines are prone to spark knock, the only thing the owners manual will tell you is regular unleaded is sufficient and mild spark knock at low RPMs is acceptable and not harmful to the engine.

The engineers set the spark advance too aggressively in an effort to meet EPA fuel economy standards, year after year. I have faced numerous complaints of spark knock with these trucks with no load in hot weather. Eventually software updates for 1997 to 2001 Magnum engines were developed to solve this problem.

I have a 1998 Ram 5.2 L w/Ca emissions with original software programming that does not knock when towing in 105F plus temperatures so some will experience different results. If your truck doesn’t knock with 87 octane, good enough.