BLEXV6

Has any of the Canadian owners notice most premium gasoline here is less than 93 octane as follows.

Petro-Canada 91
Shell 91
Esso 92
Pioneer 93

The only station so far that has 93 that I have spotted is Pioneer.
Anyone else find other stations. Does it matter if you put 91 Octane in

Let me know what you have found.

daverman

The TL is designed to run on 91 octane fuel. Putting in fuel of higher octane will not improve performance.

AzNTL

the TL is design to run @ 91 octane or HIGHER... the higher the octane level is you will improve gas milage. however on the other hand if u wanna race or push ur car... the gas will in fact burn faster then lower octane.

daverman

I don't think so! I know that the burn rate of gasoline is not significantly affected by octane rating, only the compression and/or temperature at which the vapor will combust.

However, since I'm no fuel expert, I will defer to someone more knowledgeable. Road Rage, are you there?

AKRY

It's possible that higher grade fuel would help. I remember reading an article about how Honda engines are sensitive to fuel grades, and in that article, it used Honda Odyssey as an example. The 3.5L V6 pumps out 210hp as rated by Honda if use the recommended fuel.... HOWEVER, with lower grade fuel, the HP drops couple HP and with lowest grade fuel, engine only pumps out 185HP.... and with highest grade(Octane 94), it pumps couple HP more....

Most of the major gas brand(Patrol Canada, Chevero, Esso) in Vancouver has Octane 94 fuel...

Andy Kuo

HU

Chevron has 94 octane in Vancouver. Other gas stations, I rarely see anything above 91.

fahoumh

just in case you don't know: the octane rating is the rating of the 'defense' a fuel has against knocking. Knocking is when the fuel in the cylinder is not burned properly. What happens is instead of the fuel burning from the top of the cylinder to the bottom in a smooth, continous path, little pockets of fuel in the cylinder explode before the 'path of fire' has reached that area. And I think this causes damage to the cylinder walls. This is as far as my understanding goes, so I may be a little off. But I do know that if we put a lower grade fuel in our TL's, there will be a good chance of knocking, but I don't think it's 100%.

this site has good info on this.....http://zhome.com/ZCMnL/PICS/detonation/detonation.html

Sunoco also has 94 octane.....and if you wanted you can buy octane boosters that can put your fuel up to 100.....but I don't think the TL engine would properly utilize it.

derrick

Doesn't Sunoco in Ontario have a 94 octane? Personally, I find their fuel to have sub-par mileage compared to Sunoco's Optimax Gold (well, at least in Windsor). My 2 cents, the extra cost of 94 octane at the former does not justify its use. I agree with the other posters in this thread -- lower octance fuel produces worse fuel economy. But do follow the owner's manual recommendation and use fuel about the minimum octane level.

Once again, this is a <b>personal opinion</b> and judged by performance on my old '91 Accord. This opinion is not supported by any scientific evidence... (my personal disclaimer )

- derrick

jhalderman

Go to www.autoclassroom.com/nacat for detailed information on gasoline in Canada. It is a Power Point presentation.

Augustow

Toronto, Mississauga has 94 octane.

fahoumh

dude, every Sunoco has 94 octane and they're all over the place; there's almost a dozen in Kitchener-Waterloo alone.

SL1200MK4

Yep, I always use Ultra 94 on my TL.

daverman

OK, here's a good explanation of octane ratings.

Note that octane ratings merely specify the compression resistance of gasoline vapor. Higher octane gas does not contain more chemical energy than lower octane gas, only that it is usable in higher compression engines.

Note also that a higher octane gasoline can be used in a lower compression engine without any ill effect. However, it does not cause the lower compression engine to suddenly become more efficient, or produce more power.

When a lower octane gasoline is used in an engine with high compression, the vapor will spontaneously combust when compressed, even without the spark plug igniting. This is called detonation, or "knocking". Engines with knock sensors (like ours) will retard the spark timing to reduce detonation. Note that retarding the spark timing will reduce the engine's efficiency and power output, because the ignited vapor will no longer produce its maximum pressure when the piston is at its highest point. Click here to learn more about your engine's ignition system.

So to recap: using lower octane gasoline in your engine will reduce power output; using higher octane gasoline will not increase power output.

BLEXV6

Thanks for all your replys. I dont know where Sunocos are in the GTA, but I will begin to look for them.

fahoumh

why don't you try out Shell...I've been filling up on their 91 (it's now called Optimax Gold) since January and my TL performs pretty good.

wakkolio

In Houston its all 93 octane....at least to my knowledge that is.