This is posted elsewhere, just to get a range of responses/opinions.

Okay, had a weird experience. I was on the freeway doing something like 60--stuck behind a "slow" truck. I saw a gap in the next lane and moved over and gave it some gas. I didn't floor it by any means, and nothing I did was something that shouldn't be allowed or possible for any car. Anyway, the car started lurching in a weird way, like I was driving on marbles or even ABS kicking in. The engine light started flashing. I know now that this means a missfire and this makes sense. The manual says to turn the car off somewhere safe and let it cool for 10 minutes, then take it to a dealer. (I didn't see this until I got home.) I was close to my exit, and my house is just off the exit, so I drove it home. The whole while I could sense that it drove "off" and at the few stops on the way home, I felt like I had to put it in neutral and give it gas to keep it from stalling. I called roadside assistance and had it towed to the dealer the next morning.

The dealer took all day with it. But here's the weird part. The dealer called with the tech by the phone so they could ask some odd questions. What kind of gas do I put in it (supreme only, BTW)? Where do I get it (never thought of it, but usually wherever I am--most often at a chevron and a 76, the closest to my house)? When was the last time I got gas (about 3 days before)?

The second day, the dealer finally called to say that I could come get it. They said all of the codes were about fuel but they had no answers. It runs fine now, and it did the night of the problem when I started it to turn in around in my driveway. I asked about their odd questions, and the service advisor was adamant that it must be supreme. I told her that Acura "recommended" supreme but not required it. She "corrected" me to say that, no, it says "recommended" and that means required. See, I'm an English teacher and didn't want to get into a semantics argument with someone who was so convinced. Then the tech who worked on it happened along. He said it's well-known that Arco and Costco are not good quality and that Chevron is the best--the implication was that I need to stick with the more expensive chains. I guess that gas that costs less may be cheap in all kinds of ways, and I've heard plenty of "techron" commercials. But this was all news to me, and if it's that much of a problem, I think during the sales process it should come up. My car has 22K miles, but if it was just out of warranty, I wonder how much a day and a half of labor would have cost me. (And for the record, the last fill up was at a 76, and it was nearly a total tank of gas I got there. And it's extremely unlikely anyone was able to tamper with my gas cap and add something.)

Just food for thought.

Mike Todd

 

Our 14 started to shake a bit while stopped and in gear. I was using mid grade last summer with no problems but right after winter gas came on the scene this started to happen..Run a few tanks of 91 threw is and it went away.

 

I don't know about Arco but Costco would probably take issue with what they told you. It's supposedly 'top tier' gas, just as good as the big boys (probably comes from the same truck). Techron is pretty highly regarded as an additive but who really knows? Lots of marketing BS out there. You might have had a little water in the gas. A bottle of Techron in it at next fill-up probably wouldn't hurt.

 

It could be bad gasoline. Sediment builds up in the bottoms of gas station tanks over the years and if that gets pumped into your car then it can clog the fuel injectors.

 

That is the reason I'll avoid filling up when a tanker is making a delivery at the station.

 

-2014 RDX

My wife had the same issue yesterday on the way to the emergency room ... so far dealer has found nothing but did ask about gas ... we run 93 octane all of the time. CEL was flashing , she pulled over, called Dealer as well as roadside assistance. Dealer wants to keep it for one more day ... luckily we have a 15 MDX courtesy vehicle

 

Did the dealer ever find your issue?

So... I experienced something like this over the weekend. Drove about 120 miles out of town towing a 1500 pound load. Absolutely no problems getting there.

Filled up with gas at an Exxon (93 supreme) upon reaching the destination, drove around about 30 miles with no issue, then parked overnight. Incidentally, I also filled up the motorcycles I was towing with the same fuel, and a 5 gallon fuel jug--they suffered no issue and ran perfectly, being raced all day long. This makes me doubt fuel quality is an issue.

Drove about 5 miles the next day, park it in the sun all day. It is a warm day, high temperature of ~95 F. 5 PM approaches, I had about 1 gallon remaining of the same Exxon 93 fuel that my bike didn't burn (from the day before) in my fuel can. I add the 1 gallon to the RDX, knowing that i had driven around 30 miles since filling up, I shouldn't be overfilling the tank. Load up the trailer, start driving home. Things are going fine until about 20 minutes into the drive, on the highway doing 65mph using cruise control, shifter in S mode manual with 4th and 5th gear mostly to keep from lugging on small hills, the check engine light begins flashing. Car seems to be driving just fine, I feel no roughness at this point.

Keep driving about another 45 minutes, worried that I may be doing damage to the engine and finally reach the city. Only once I got to traffic lights did it become apparent that something was wrong, because the engine idled and accelerated roughly up to 2500 rpm. It didn't sound good either, sounded like knocking, at this point I was really really considering the hassle it might take to replace a destroyed engine. Fortunately, there appears to be no damage.

Since this was a Saturday evening, dealer closed, I went to AutoZone who read the codes for free. P0302 misfire cylinder 2, P0306 misfire cylinder 6, and P0300 random multiple misfires.

I probably spent about 10 minutes deciding what to do next. I started the engine up and it idled perfectly. At this point I am scratching my head, and we drive to our destination, the engine running totally normally.

Today, refuelled with Shell 93, did a ~180 mile drive towing the same load, 95% highway, absolutely no problems. I was thinking this issue might have been temperature related due to excessive underhood temps, caused by the high temperature and the extra towing load. I can understand how bad fuel can cause misfires, but I'm not convinced it's bad fuel. I only fuel at top tier stations, and even then (like I really know if it matters) preferential to Shell, Chevron--who knows if the fuel really is any better.

But I'm at a loss. I would really like to know what caused this for peace of mind (and if Acura could fix it). THere's nothing like a road trip, while towing, and having an issue like this crop up on a weekend.

 

Now that I've read a little bit more about this, I think the most likely cause of my misfire issue was overfilling the fuel tank. Because I refuelled the night before, the fuel temperature was lower. When I added more fuel (to rpelace what I had burned) at the hottest time of the day, the overall volume of the fuel in the tank must have increased. Probably enough that I effectively "topped off" the tank. The engine ran fine for 20 minutes, but with enough sloshing I bet it found its way to the ORVR (or whatever it's called) sensor or hose, and messed with the fuelling somehow. Wish I had an explanation for what precisely caused the ignition problem, but no matter. HOpe this helps someone later on.

 

Just an update. The problem happened again. No real connection that I could think of regarding where or when I got fuel. But since I have read about this in the manual, I did what it recommends. I parked, turned off the car and waited about 10 minutes. It started like normal, no problem, no CEL.
Mike Todd

 

I have a 2016 AWD RDX Tech. I top out the tank all the time at Costco. No problems. I top out the tank so I can verify gas mileage. If i know the tank is is consistently filled to the same point it's heplful. It in the 80's and 90 's here in CA all the time.