Funny. I have a 98 3.0 that practically has to have 93 or I hear it talkin to me at full throttle. Been that way for many years. It'll do okay on 91, but it still talks to me at full tilt. On 93 it doesn't. Our premium here has no ethanol, and the 93 is from Shell and has no ethanol. What's even better, where I get my 93, it's 4 cents cheaper than another station a mile away selling 91. Loving it. I always use it anyways since both my bikes and obviously my Lightning are premium only vehicles. So, might as well use it in the Ranger as well.
Ethanol? Ran a 20% mix in my Ranger for a year just to see what would happen. Dindu nuffin. Not a bleeding thing. Ran great. Yeah, the check engine light was on. Piece of black tape fixed that. Otherwise, nothing. Ran awesome. Didn't ping either. I've run anywhere from 5 to 20 percent for years, Nothing. Oh yeah, I mix it myself. Gas station down the street has E85. I did the math using the tanks capacity. Two gallons of E85 equates to a 10% mix. One gallon is 5, three gallons 15, four gallons 20. Two weeks ago, I mixed up a 15 because of cold starting issues. Went to the station, put in three gallons of E85, then topped off with 91. After the first day, no more cold starting issues. Every once in a while, for reasons unknown, I have cold starting issues. Won't start on the first turn of the key. After three of four attempts, it finally catches, but staggers a bit for about 20 seconds or so before finally stabilizing. Put some ethanol in the tank, the problem goes away the next day. It's a miracle. So, I'll keep doing what works for me. I don't buy into the bullshit nonsense I always read about ethanol. I've never had a problem that was caused by ethanol, even at 20%.
New fuel pump in January 2017, and yes, the pressure is still within the 56 to 72 psi the manual calls for. It's currently at 64 psi idling. I don't believe ethanol caused the pump to go bad. In 2017 it was 19 years old and had over 150,000 miles on it. And when it went bad, the truck still ran. I was out hauling ass around my favorite set of curves (thanks to front and rear Hellwig anti-sway bars and fat tires), when the truck just started not accepting full throttle anymore. Drove it home, checked the fuel pressure, 20 pounds idling. Put a new pump in the next day. Still doing great three years later. It's now just shy of 166,000 miles.
The only premixed ethanol fuels in this state are 87. I simply cannot run that low an octane in my truck. It rattles something fierce, just putt-puttin around. The last time I even thoguht of trying it, I put some 89 in it. As I was pulling out of the station, it was already pinging, just lightly on the gas pulling out. I really just have no idea why my truck is like this. I've done the Sea Foam in the brake booster hose twice, dindu nuffin. I've changed the coil pack once, changed the plugs god knows how many times. Only thing done to the engine, is no muffler. Exhaust cut at the back of the converter, a bent "Y" welded to the converter, then two stainless tips sticking out in front of the tire. MAC cold air intake ( I know, lay off it). And a JET chip on the computer. Maybe it's this? Since it bumps the timing and fuel profiles. But, I've taken it off several times just to see if I could put in el cheapo gas. No dice. Still pings.
So, 93 it is. And big mixes of ethanol whenever those pesky cold start problems arise. Other than that, I've never changed a fuel line or gasket in 20 years owning the truck. Filter a lot of times, yes. And the pump once.
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