I'm currently using premuim fuel as recommended by the 04 owner's manual. Are all premium fuels created equal? Although not recommended by owners' manual, would it hurt to use a fuel additive? I'm not partial to any particular brand of gasoline. I'm more driven by whether or not I can get the premium gasoline a few cents cheaper. Would a fuel the additive be a complete waste of money?

 

Don't even consider it, nor oil additives. It's the fastest way to void your warranty.

 

Never use an oil additive! You said an 04 TL? To soon for a Fuel Additive, Don`t worry about it till around 10-15,000 miles.
Happy hunting!

 

MAYWAY1305,
The use of oil and fuel additives will NEVER void your warranty unless it is proven that the product caused a malfunction. Auto dealers want to scare you so that you will not put something stupid in your oil/fuel.

My company manufactures petroleum lubricants, and we supply both Honda and Toyota in Japan with our industrial lubricants. They have also been using our Anti-Friction Metal Treatment XL-17 oil additive in the machinery that builds the cars for over 20 years. You can read more about our products at www.ProTecLubricants.com.

I'm not trying to sell you my products but I want you to know that you will not void your warranty.

Thanks,
Chris Hester
Vice President
ProTec International, Inc.

 

yeah this will definitely not void your warranty--if the dealer asks anything like "did you put something in your gas tank" just say "no"

don't let this scare you--these products don't harm your car--i myself use stp fuel injector cleaner every 3000 miles with my oil change (they are not related but it just helps me remember when I need to add it again) -- it's only $3 a bottle too

 

The only fuel additive proven to be of any value is Techron to keep the injectors clean. Comes standard in Chevron gas or you can buy small bottles of it to add every month or two. I just buy the Chevron gas since it's cheaper that way.

 

Although the USA's gasoline standards aren't as stringent as Europe's. The premuim fuel that you buy doesn't warrant the need for extra additives or octane boosters.



-Chad

 

Fuel additives are horse manure. All modern gasolines contain detergent additives to maintain fuel systems clean. Oil additives are another boondogle specially for a new car. All oils have to meet very stringent requirements set by the american petroleum instutite (API) if your oil has a seal on the label that says designed for gasoline engines from API that is all you need. All additives are essentially oils with very high paraffin contents. In old churned out engines with leaky rings they improve compression by filling the "gap". As all parrafins, they are very short lived and very cold weather stiff. So unless your car is an old smoky you can forget that too!!!! No these snake oil products would not void your warranty but they are a real waste of money.

 

Octane boosters yes or maybe, additives no. The lower grade gasolines contain the same amount of additives as the premium grades.

 

Now let me give you guys the skinny of what I know & have learned. I have been a Honda owner for over22yrs. The 2000TL is my 4th I had a 94 ACCORD & 90 ACCORD with a 80 Prelude that I kept for 15yrs. All cars were brand new vehicles the 3 Hondas comming from the same dealership. I have always taken my cars to the dealerships or a place that mainly does Honda,Toyota,Nissan cars. This is for service work not tires. Alot of guys here are Do it yourselfers but I am not. With the ACURA I have taken it to the dealer all but one time for service. That one time I did not I took it to get the Power Steering Flushed & Condition at an HONDA/ACURA specialist place. The guy that owns it use to work at my old HONDA dealership years ago back when I got my 80 Prelude. He was a Master Tech for them but opened up his own shop over 15yrs ago. With the ACURA when you go to the dealership at mileage intervals like 15K or 30K, 45K they will put in BG44K this is a fuel system cleaner or BG MOA oil additive Now the ACURA owners manual does not say it. They say that they are a waste of money. But in the dealerships they use this stuff when they service your cars. Many GM, BENZ,BMW,DODGE etc dealerships do it. I first leared about the BG products when I would take my sisters 93 DODGE van to the dealership for service. This dealership also had a BENZE dealership OLDS & Nissan in the same auto park. They all used the BG products when servicing the cars. Now my Honda dealership was located next to to the BENZ dealer they did not use any of the BG stuff at that time for service. Now my ACURA dealer has been rated one of the higher quality ACURA dealers for service over the years. They have used the BG MOA oil additive at like 7,500 & 15K, 30K service intervals. The BG44K is used by them Fuel treatment is used at 15K,30K,45Kect intervals.
This is not stuff you can get at AutoZone or Pep Boys like auto chains. You need to buy this from the Parts department at delers that have it www.bgprod.com

 

This is my 2nd & important part to this & it has to do with what I have learned.
I took an Maint, Seminar for Mechanics & Car Owners at a local area College last month. Now this is the good part the instructor of the class was Pat Goss. If you guys are not around the Washington D.C. & Baltimore are you may not know about him. But if you watch Motorweek T.V. on Cable on the Speed Channel or get Motorweek on PBS you know who he is. Motorweek test alot of the new cars that have come out or about to come out. It is one of the oldest T.V shows & has gone inter national & is seen in other countries as. Pat Goss does the garage segment of this show. This guy knows about cars boats & motorcycles.
He has helped millions of mechanics & car owners gain & understand about modern vehicles. He host a twice weekly 3 hour radio show in our area. Does the garage segment for the national Motorweek TV show & has his own 30min local TV show with the same name as the radio show Goss' Garage. The man writes an auto section in the Washington Post Newspaper does something else with I think a Corvette news letter. He also maneges a large area FORD delerships service & has his own independent garage next door to the FORD place. He says he gets mostly HONDA/ACURA,TOYOTA/LEXUS ect type cars in his shop. He is top dog over some 49 mechanics. This man is like GOD when it comes to cars his word is gospel. He said they use to bring him in to teach mechanics. Also Pat Goss is the spokesman for BG products. Just check out all the lmore than 60 links about PAT GOSS do a Hot Bot WEB search & put in PAT GOSS GARAGE it goes on & on.

 

Next part to this & this is what I learned in the class that was one night a week 2 hours a night for 4 weeks. The class had about 80 people in it & some people were back for a second time this is how goo this man is when it comes to cars. The cost was about $42 or $52 for the whole seminar they fed you each class.
They also had a drawing each class for 5 persons to get a free can of the BG44K that cost $25 when purchased at the auto dealers. I won a coupon for a free can & picked mine up Saturday at my ACURA dealership. The 44K should be used every 7,500 miles in the gas tank. This is strong stuff not the like the cheap $3 stuff you buy at the auto store. A question was asked in the class about why he pushes the BG products so much & his answer was becuase it works. He said they have did test & taken engines & stuff apart to see how the products work. This man owns one of the latest model big Benze coupes & also has his C5 or C6 Corvette. It most be something to the products as to why some dealerships put them in. The carmakers can't say use them because one brand might not be as good as others or no good at all. What I also leared from Pat in the classs about gas is that by not using corrrect octance fuel for your car you can cause fuel dulution & oil contamination this was asked about cars that need premium fuel. This will happen over time with the car if you continue to use lower octane. In regards to the brandns of fuel in another question ask. He said some cars run better on with one brnd thhan others. This could be like 2 different 2004 ACURA TL cars that each require premium fuel. One car may run better with say EXXON & the other might run better with BP or SHELL. He said its all about the engine tolerance & the way the car was built.
Each car could have a very tiny change in the why the engine was built to make one car like one brand better than others & the additive thats in the gasoline. He gave us an example & this was with different auto makes. He said his BENZ likes one brand of premium fuel that his Corvette does not like & the Corvette likes a brand the the BENZ does not like. But as said this could also be the same for the same make,model & year of car it could be just a tiny change that makes one run better on one brand of fuel. So if your car is running okay with the brand you get stick with it. The additives that they put in the gasoline he said may make the car burn cleaner than others but thats about it. But not every company puts the same stuff in the package.. I use SHEETZ or WAWA gas most of the time but when I fill up at home that is rarlely now I use EXXON or BP. Like I said the ACURA dealer will put the BG products in your car our you can get it over the counter.www.bgprod.com BG44K fuel treat & the MOA oil treat ATC Trans stuff when they change your Tranny fluid at around 30K