View Poll Results: What octane fuel do you put in your TSX?
87
7
3.08%
89
12
5.29%
91
100
44.05%
>91
108
47.58%
Voters: 227. You may not vote on this poll
What Fuel Do You Use?
#45
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Originally Posted by dantsx
To the person who uses 87 (or even anyone using 89) does your engine make popping noises?
Is there any word on if this is bad for the engine?
Is there any word on if this is bad for the engine?
#46
UK Spec
Originally Posted by MikesRSX
In my RSX S I usually put 91 but with the high prices I occassionaly put 87. I don't really notice a difference. My dealer also told me they put 87 in there cars.
#48
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Originally Posted by Nd4Spd
Most car dealerships don't have premium gas at their pumps. This is pretty commonplace
#49
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Originally Posted by domn
Those that put in 87 to 89 must have the TSX's on lease. If not then I hope you enjoy that roughly $250 a year your saving at the expense of your car's engine.
Although it says to look at your owners manual, it also says that if there aren't any knocks then there aren't any problems.
I've never heard any knocking from my engine with 89
#50
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Originally Posted by Nd4Spd
Check this out http Octane Levels
Although it says to look at your owners manual, it also says that if there aren't any knocks then there aren't any problems.
I've never heard any knocking from my engine with 89
Although it says to look at your owners manual, it also says that if there aren't any knocks then there aren't any problems.
I've never heard any knocking from my engine with 89
I hope you are very in tune and familar with what knocking sounds like. You eventually get used to noises and think its entirely normal. Not a chance I'm willing to take.
Now if I was leasing then sure......
#51
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Originally Posted by domn
I hope you are very in tune and familar with what knocking sounds like. You eventually get used to noises and think its entirely normal. Not a chance I'm willing to take.
Now if I was leasing then sure......
Now if I was leasing then sure......
#52
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Originally Posted by domn
I hope you are very in tune and familar with what knocking sounds like. You eventually get used to noises and think its entirely normal. Not a chance I'm willing to take.
Now if I was leasing then sure......
Now if I was leasing then sure......
#53
Originally Posted by domn
I hope you are very in tune and familar with what knocking sounds like. You eventually get used to noises and think its entirely normal. Not a chance I'm willing to take.
Now if I was leasing then sure......
Now if I was leasing then sure......
If your car does not specify premium then yeah don't waste your money but the TSX owner's manual says use premium.
Acura would not recommend it's customers to put premium in their car if they didn't have a reason for it. If it wasn't necessary they wouldn't put that in the owner's manual because it would be looked at negatively by consumers as increasing their annual fuel costs.
By the time you realize you need to use the higher octane, the damage will already be done...... It's just not worth it.
#54
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Originally Posted by Viking
If your car does not specify premium then yeah don't waste your money but the TSX owner's manual says use premium.
Acura would not recommend it's customers to put premium in their car if they didn't have a reason for it. If it wasn't necessary they wouldn't put that in the owner's manual because it would be looked at negatively by consumers as increasing their annual fuel costs.
If they can get more horsepower out of the engine with higher octane (200 instead of 196), then they would say that premium is what is suggested.
I was thinking that they did all the performance testing with premium to get just barely to 200 hp, but it could really take 87 or 89. After all, 200 hp sounds ALOT better than 196, or even 199 hp.
#55
Originally Posted by joerockt
And you dont have any problems? Be honest!
#56
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Originally Posted by dantsx
If they can get more horsepower out of the engine with higher octane (200 instead of 196), then they would say that premium is what is suggested.
I was thinking that they did all the performance testing with premium to get just barely to 200 hp, but it could really take 87 or 89. After all, 200 hp sounds ALOT better than 196, or even 199 hp.
#57
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Originally Posted by dantsx
If they can get more horsepower out of the engine with higher octane (200 instead of 196), then they would say that premium is what is suggested.
I was thinking that they did all the performance testing with premium to get just barely to 200 hp, but it could really take 87 or 89. After all, 200 hp sounds ALOT better than 196, or even 199 hp.
#59
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Originally Posted by CGTSX2004
See, but this is a matter of efficient use. Your engine produces maximum power with premium fuel. If you use regular in it, the ECU is designed to retard the timing and do whatever is necessary to reduce knock. This means that you're short-changing yourself by not allowing the engine to produce at peak efficiency.
That's why i notice better performance on the premium fills... Since the ECU is present lower octane does not ruin the engine as others have implied
#60
Originally Posted by dantsx
If they can get more horsepower out of the engine with higher octane (200 instead of 196), then they would say that premium is what is suggested.
I was thinking that they did all the performance testing with premium to get just barely to 200 hp, but it could really take 87 or 89. After all, 200 hp sounds ALOT better than 196, or even 199 hp.
Here is an excerpt from a SEARCH on google, regarding required high-octane.
Originally Posted by Chicago Tribune
If your car requires high-octane gasoline and you habitually use regular gas because the engine exhibits no sign of knock, you’re outsmarting yourself. Most modern, computer-controlled engines include a knock sensor that detects knock and retards the ignition timing, causing the spark plugs to fire slightly later in the cycle. This typically prevents abnormal combustion and knock, which allows vehicles specified for premium fuel to run on lower-grade gasoline if it is all that’s available. While this removes the immediate hazard, it’s a bad idea to make a habit of running a vehicle on gasoline of lower-than-recommended octane. Retarding the spark causes a richer fuel/air mixture, which decreases fuel economy, increases emissions, causes the engine to run hotter, and reduces the longevity of both the engine itself and the catalytic converter. The money you save by pumping low-grade fuel into a car that demands higher octane is lost anyway, in decreased fuel economy and possibly gradual damage.
#63
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Originally Posted by Nd4Spd
Knocking in an engine is a pretty distinctive sound. My friend used to get it in his A4 and had to switch to higher octane. I'm no car expert, but even I could notice knocking...
I haven't had the TSX for long, and so far have been using 91, which is standard premium in California. However, for my typical driving (which realistically rarely involves going above 4000RPM or anywhere even close to peak power) I would not hesitate to use a lower octane.
Keep in mind that the higher octane is there to do only one thing and that is to prevent detonation and pre-ignition (colloquially "knocking"). Both of these phenomena occur only at high pressure/high temperature power settings. At more moderate settings (where internal cylinder pressures are limited by the throttle), knocking is virtualy impossible to achieve unless you're grossly negligent about what you put in your car (I'm talking about doing somthing dumb like putting naptha -- ~70 octane -- in there).
We've done some fun tests with aircraft engines at my friend George's company (http://www.gami.com). Aircraft engines are high-pressure, high-temperature air cooled beasts that use old style magneto-based fixed timing systems with no knock sensors or other "protection" devices. You can ruin one in 30 seconds if you don't know what you're doing and allow severe detonation to occur. Yet, he's demonstrated that most of these 100 octane beasts can be safely run with normal premium unleaded simply by avoiding the upper edges of the power curve -- the only place it really matters. Read the SAE literature and you'll find the same is true of most motor vehicle engines as well.
I suspect that most people here drive far more aggressively than I do. If I drove that way, I'd probably be more concerned about this than I am.
#64
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Originally Posted by TSX 'R' US
that's funny....I rarely see octane 91...
#65
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Originally Posted by dantsx
If they can get more horsepower out of the engine with higher octane (200 instead of 196), then they would say that premium is what is suggested.
I was thinking that they did all the performance testing with premium to get just barely to 200 hp, but it could really take 87 or 89. After all, 200 hp sounds ALOT better than 196, or even 199 hp.
This is true of all conventional gasoline engines. I'd be very careful with a high-pressure turbo though.
#67
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Originally Posted by Nd4Spd
Check this out http Octane Levels
Although it says to look at your owners manual, it also says that if there aren't any knocks then there aren't any problems.
I've never heard any knocking from my engine with 89
Although it says to look at your owners manual, it also says that if there aren't any knocks then there aren't any problems.
I've never heard any knocking from my engine with 89
It's not because you don't hear it that it doesn't occur, and it's not because you don't hear it that there aren't any long term problems w/r/t using 87.
#68
Originally Posted by dantsx
Also, anyone who uses 87 or 89 sound off...
I am wondering if it actually does damage to the engine. Sometimes if you put lower octane fuel in a certain engine you start hearing popping sounds.
I am wondering if it actually does damage to the engine. Sometimes if you put lower octane fuel in a certain engine you start hearing popping sounds.
I've been using 91 since I got a job. Reached 23,000 miles this week.
#70
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Any idea what the people in Europe use?
They are the ones that have been driving the TSX the longest, so it would be interesting to get some information on the European Accord and also what type of fuel is recommended and used.
They are the ones that have been driving the TSX the longest, so it would be interesting to get some information on the European Accord and also what type of fuel is recommended and used.
#71
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from what I have read, using anything under 91 octane reduces performance. It seems that many people here equate performace to horsepower. I would think that performace is also gas milage. Using a lower grade fuel because it is 10 cents cheaper doesn't really makes sense when you are getting less gas milage. in the end, if you use a lower octane, you will still fill up just as often, but will also have reduced performace. Might as well get the better performace for essentially the same price.
#72
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Originally Posted by knthornt
from what I have read, using anything under 91 octane reduces performance. It seems that many people here equate performace to horsepower. I would think that performace is also gas milage. Using a lower grade fuel because it is 10 cents cheaper doesn't really makes sense when you are getting less gas milage. in the end, if you use a lower octane, you will still fill up just as often, but will also have reduced performace. Might as well get the better performace for essentially the same price.
Unless the gas companies are using radically different formulations for their regular and premium products, there shouldn't be much difference in mileage. The way refineries are set up, that's very unlikely. In my own driving I have not noticed much of a difference, though it's been a while since I've kept detailed mileage logs.
Not using premium fuel should only impact top-end power and torque, nothing else. (Of course, using a fuel that causes detonation would have rather severe impact on fuel economy, and I suspect that might be a problem for some of the folks here who are more frequently up around WOT than I...)
#73
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Originally Posted by Tsx536
Any idea what the people in Europe use?
They are the ones that have been driving the TSX the longest, so it would be interesting to get some information on the European Accord and also what type of fuel is recommended and used.
They are the ones that have been driving the TSX the longest, so it would be interesting to get some information on the European Accord and also what type of fuel is recommended and used.
The engine is also not identical.
A direct compare is not possible.
#76
Use all 3 Pedals at once
I would put 93 octane in my TSX, but I don't think it's available in California, or at least I havn't seen it.
I regularly put 91 octane, I have never gone below.
I regularly put 91 octane, I have never gone below.
#77
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I put 93 since 91 isn't available. You want to put in the right octane value that is recommended, exceeding 91 really doesn't help at all unless you're running higher compression, and since no one here is running a FI TSX I can safely tell everyone to just stick with whatever is closest but not below 91.
Here's a follow up from "howstuffworks.com" I think before posing a question people should go there and ask them first. I bet 90% of non TSX specific car questions can be answered there.
Octance Value
--------------------------------
The octane rating of gasoline tells you how much the fuel can be compressed before it spontaneously ignites. When gas ignites by compression rather than because of the spark from the spark plug, it causes knocking in the engine. Knocking can damage an engine, so it is not something you want to have happening. Lower-octane gas (like "regular" 87-octane gasoline) can handle the least amount of compression before igniting.
The compression ratio of your engine determines the octane rating of the gas you must use in the car. One way to increase the horsepower of an engine of a given displacement is to increase its compression ratio. So a "high-performance engine" has a higher compression ratio and requires higher-octane fuel. The advantage of a high compression ratio is that it gives your engine a higher horsepower rating for a given engine weight -- that is what makes the engine "high performance." The disadvantage is that the gasoline for your engine costs more.
The name "octane" comes from the following fact: When you take crude oil and "crack" it in a refinery, you end up getting hydrocarbon chains of different lengths. These different chain lengths can then be separated from each other and blended to form different fuels. For example, you may have heard of methane, propane and butane. All three of them are hydrocarbons. Methane has just a single carbon atom. Propane has three carbon atoms chained together. Butane has four carbon atoms chained together. Pentane has five, hexane has six, heptane has seven and octane has eight carbons chained together.
It turns out that heptane handles compression very poorly. Compress it just a little and it ignites spontaneously. Octane handles compression very well -- you can compress it a lot and nothing happens. Eighty-seven-octane gasoline is gasoline that contains 87-percent octane and 13-percent heptane (or some other combination of fuels that has the same performance of the 87/13 combination of octane/heptane). It spontaneously ignites at a given compression level, and can only be used in engines that do not exceed that compression ratio.
Here's a follow up from "howstuffworks.com" I think before posing a question people should go there and ask them first. I bet 90% of non TSX specific car questions can be answered there.
Octance Value
--------------------------------
The octane rating of gasoline tells you how much the fuel can be compressed before it spontaneously ignites. When gas ignites by compression rather than because of the spark from the spark plug, it causes knocking in the engine. Knocking can damage an engine, so it is not something you want to have happening. Lower-octane gas (like "regular" 87-octane gasoline) can handle the least amount of compression before igniting.
The compression ratio of your engine determines the octane rating of the gas you must use in the car. One way to increase the horsepower of an engine of a given displacement is to increase its compression ratio. So a "high-performance engine" has a higher compression ratio and requires higher-octane fuel. The advantage of a high compression ratio is that it gives your engine a higher horsepower rating for a given engine weight -- that is what makes the engine "high performance." The disadvantage is that the gasoline for your engine costs more.
The name "octane" comes from the following fact: When you take crude oil and "crack" it in a refinery, you end up getting hydrocarbon chains of different lengths. These different chain lengths can then be separated from each other and blended to form different fuels. For example, you may have heard of methane, propane and butane. All three of them are hydrocarbons. Methane has just a single carbon atom. Propane has three carbon atoms chained together. Butane has four carbon atoms chained together. Pentane has five, hexane has six, heptane has seven and octane has eight carbons chained together.
It turns out that heptane handles compression very poorly. Compress it just a little and it ignites spontaneously. Octane handles compression very well -- you can compress it a lot and nothing happens. Eighty-seven-octane gasoline is gasoline that contains 87-percent octane and 13-percent heptane (or some other combination of fuels that has the same performance of the 87/13 combination of octane/heptane). It spontaneously ignites at a given compression level, and can only be used in engines that do not exceed that compression ratio.
#78
Originally Posted by Viking
Sunoco offers 87, 89, 93, and 94 octane.
Sunoco offers unleaded up to 104 octane and leaded up to 116-117 octane (117 w. NO2).
It sure ain't cheap.
http://www.racegas.com/fuelspecs/default.asp
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Originally Posted by bob shiftright
Sunoco offers unleaded up to 104 octane and leaded up to 116-117 octane (117 w. NO2).
It sure ain't cheap.
http://www.racegas.com/fuelspecs/default.asp