cbronze07

Here in Southeast Tennessee, at this time, we are in a fuel shortage. There is no premium fuel available at any station, and when the stations do have fuel, regular grade is the only choice. Being that 87 octane is the only available gasoline, will it damage our 2007 TL type S, and can we safely run regular until premium is once again available?

Thanks for any advise!

chill_dog

Yes, regular is fine...you'll loose a few ponies, but that's about it. I'm about half way through a tank of it myself, and I've noticed no difference whatsoever.

vinnier6

iTrader: (1)

its safe, but the suffering is going to be fuel miliage....let us know what kind of numbers you get with regular....

ggesq

iTrader: (1)

You should be fine until 91+ octane is made available again.

CarrieLynn

iTrader: (2)

I always run premium in my car too but I let my mom use my car once and she filled the tank w/ 87 .....NEVER AGAIN WILL SHE USE MY CAR!

Anyway I def noticed a loss of power, and about half way through the tank my check engine light came on. At first I didn't realize it was from the gas but I just kept topping it off w/ premium and had the light reset. Light hasn't been back on since!

marshall28

I've used 91/92 my whole life, and when I drove my brand new Type S off the lot I already could feel it had 87. Dealer fills your first tank at their expense and the noobs put 87 I am sure. Was ok though, once the tank was done my car performed as it should with 91!

1995hoo

You only have two choices: Either use regular, or else buy some gas cans, drive to somewhere that has super, fill the gas cans, and stockpile them at home for the short term. Of those choices, I'd use the regular. Go easy on the accelerator, though, especially if you go up into the mountains.

I had to put regular in my TL once when the only gas station around sold only regular. Car ran fine and I noticed no difference at all, although I also set the cruise control at 80 km/h the next day and then filled up with super as soon as I could.

FRST4DR

I live in Knoxville TN as well. I have 1/2 tank left. Im hoping we get more premium in before I run out or I will have to do the same.

WingMan20

I put 89 in the other day cause they were out of 93. got 30 less miles.

Thorin78

What about adding Octane Booster to your 89 or 87 gas while they're out of 91 or 93 octane? Will that help?

What effects will that have on premium gas normally? Good or bad for our engines?

chinesestunna

Any thoughts on regular + Octane boosters?

01tl4tl

dont waste your money- it would take over 20 dollars of booster per tank to make 3 octane points

the cars computer can deal with 87 and adjust the timing -
as said before stay off the gas- stay out of vtec and all will be well
When you can get real 91 again, throw a can of seafoam in the gas to clean up residue crud from the 87

Note all the gas for car starts as 87 at the local refinery- one pipe goes to the loading dock and 3 or 4 different name brands have their own additives that get blended to the 87 to reduce detonation- retard combustion, as is needed in higher compression cars like the TL-S, and that makes it their own `brand` and raises the octane number to 91 or 93


there are brave gen2 ziners who run 87 all the time in a money saving plan~
We will see if that works out in a few years

A few months of 87 is not going to cause any permanent damage
If you hear knocking- ease off the gas pedal

chinesestunna

well - I'm about to full seafoam in within a week or so and hopefully premium comes back before then

timmahh

My concern w/ running 87 isn't the loss of power but the fact that you might run into detonation problems which is bad

csmeance

the TL motors are high compression and this occurs easily in the TL with lower than 91 octane. If you have no option to fill up but regular, fill the car up with regular, keep the car under 3.5K RPM, be sure to not to push the car very hard.

TLAdvanced

iTrader: (4)

Absolutely NO

01tl4tl

the computer will deal with detonation by changing the ignition timing as needed- constantly
Dont sweat it

chill_dog

^Agree.

And I've gotten on it with 87 and had no problems. Granted, I'm not tracking the car, but I do drive rather spiritedly...the car is fine.

timmahh

It will do it's best, but regardless of what the computer is trying to do the TLs motor is still high compression and we all know the damn thing is hotter than hell!

01tl4tl

Its not like you are trying to run 80 octane- thats a a real gas, for older airplanes

that would be beyond the computers limits to cope with, BUT you have to figure acura planned for fuel outages and made the programming so it can make that adaptaion without a sweat

gen3 is more motor then gen2, but as long as you keep it down where power is not an issue, all will be well- really! under 4000 rpm- 3500rpm if thats reasonable for you to do.
Jumping on it hard and fast will get some pinging - just let off the gas and try half throttle instead of full

dont sweat it people- its going to be ok

LoveMyTL-S

Why is it we have a gas shortage in some parts of the country and none in others? Atlanta is suffering from a shortage, but yet here in Jacksonville it's business as usual.

WRXtranceformed

I blame the media causing everyone to panic. People here in Charlotte are filling up when they have 3/4 tank and causing long ass lines because they're afraid they won't find any when they need it. I've had to fill up with 87 octane even up on business in Hickory because the whole greater Charlotte area is basically out of premium unless you get lucky.

So far my car is running fine, gas mileage hasn't really been affected. It seems like it's a little more sluggish. I put in a can of gas cleaner and an octane booster at last fillup which probably didn't help much, but it makes me feel better about running piss gas in my car.

<<se7en>>

1/2 tank is more than I have right now. Exxon on Gallaher View has some.

Regular...Mid...Premium...it doesn't matter. Mine will knock anyway!!

FRST4DR

I hear that. We got that feature on our type S for no extra charge

RC51Ryder

I was down in Atlanta for a few days during that shortage. I didn't put more than half a tank of 89 at a time until I found a place that had 93. Mine ran fine but seeing as how I just got it, it could ping like crazy and I would still be happy. I always wondered why premium was the first to go since most cars use regular.

I hate cars

Best advise. Take it easy when running the cheap stuff.

To all the rest- You won't be saving money by using the cheap stuff, gas mileage will suffer much more than the money you're saving at the pump.

The computer can only adjust timing so much and even so the car has to ping first to make the computer pull back timing. In my experience, watching this on a scanner, it puts timing back in within a second or two until it pings again which will be instantly and pulls it again. You won't blow the engine up but for the people that plan on keeping the car past 100,000 miles it's something to think about.

Octane boosters- most boost 6-7 points making 87 octane 87.7. The main ingredient in octane boosters is Tolulene or Xylene. Go down to the paint store, buy a two gallons of xylene and you now have at least 91 octane. Just don't go stronger than a 20% mix.