eric

I was reading the previous posting regarding octane. And there seemed to be differences of opinions regarding whether or not higher octane will make for better performance. Does it? Has anyone compared times? As well, what does octane boost do?

juniorbean

iTrader: (5)

Below is a reply from another forum by a poster named Toolman. It's a great reply, hopefully it will help you guys out....

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Hey,

I've been reading here for a long time, and haven't registered until now to clear up the
popular misconceptions about high octane fuel. You've listed most of them here: more
power, cleaner, hotter, etc. None of these are true.

Octane is simply a measurement of the fuel's resistance to ignition. The higher the
octane number, the more resistant to detonation the fuel is. That means that your car tends not to knock and ping on higher octane because it won't detonate until lit by the spark. Knocking and pinging is pre-ignition of the fuel charge, caused by hot spots in the cylinder, compression, and other factors like heat and load (and conversely, lower octane fuel does not contain more BTUs than high octane, it's just more vulnerable to pre-ignition).

The reason cars like the TL need high octane is to prevent detonation, not make more
power. What the high octane does is allow the engine to MAKE ALL THE POWER THAT WAS DESIGNED INTO IT. It is rated at 225HP, and that's all it'll ever make (without modifications), even if you put in 130 octane fuel.

You will, however, notice a loss in performance by using lower grades of fuel, but not because of the fuel itself. The TL is equipped with a knock sensor that retards timing when knock is detected, effectively cutting power. With high octane fuel, there is no knocking, therefore, no retarding of the timing and full power. But the fuel itself WILL NOT MAKE MORE POWER. Like one gentleman said, use only as much octane as you need to prevent knocking--any more (like the 100 octane mentioned) is just throwing your money away. You aren't getting more power out of fuel. A set amount of air and fuel, regardless of octane, will only make a certain sized explosion. Whatever you may hope or have heard from people who are not quite sure what octane does, it definitely does not magically make more horsepower from otherwise standard engines. I hope this is helpful..
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1998 Iced Blue CL 3.0 ** Some mods, but who cares, I want a Type-S!!

Moderator - 1st Gen Forum

Email: juniorbean@acura-cl.com

WV250R

Thank You JUNIORBEAN!! Octane seems to be one of the most missunderstood technical aspects of the internal combustion engine!

moomaster_99

I disagree somewhat....yes, on lower compression vehicles higher octane won't help. But high compression engines run faster with higher octane gas...of course, anything above 105 is leaded and not for use in our vehicles.

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[This message has been edited by moomaster_99 (edited 02-13-2001).]

CLpower

thats what i'm saying!!!!

and anything over 109 is leaded

moomaster_99

oh...something like that...=T

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moomaster_99

are you just saying things to post ***** again!?!

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Jens H.

Actually it all depends on how your car's fuel injection ecu works.Most cars nowadays use a device known as a "knock sensor".What this thing does is listen for the dreaded knock,both the audible and inaudible kind.Should it detect knock it retards the timing to protect the engine.Since not all forms of knock or ping are detectable by the human ear you may be running cheap gas and the computer is compensating for it by retarding ignition timing.What this does is reduce engine power,so if your car is so equipped (yes your Acuras are so equipped!) you are actually getting more power out of it by running the correct octane.Jens

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