Ok so here is the deal....since i got my acura I filled up with 91 octane (the first time). ..its always a habit for me to use 91 since like forever due to the fact ive always had a car with performance mods....so any way today my wife used the car to run to the grocery store and I needed gas I told her to stop and fill up....well being her she picked regular 87 since that's all she puts in her car....she told me it filled up with 40 dollars I stood puzzled asking her how much was premium unl. She then replied I put in regular. ...so my question is will the car be fine with it being filled with regular. ..owners manual calls for premium now im worried about getting early detonation and pinging and having the car run like shit...so is it ok to just run it till its time to fill up again or should I drain it? And refill it with the required octane? ...

This is the second time ive put gas in the car since I got it...

Thanks in advanced

Also sorry if this is in the wrong spot or if its been covered I couldn't find a past thread with this topic and Google is giving me mixed answers

 

one time wont hurt it. as there is a knock sensor and the ecu WILL retard timing.

however, knock is bad.
and over time you wont get the advertised MPG and Power output, butt, one time wont hurt.

 

+1, also, never let your wife drive your car!

 

Should be fine. When I first got the car I ran 87 for about 2 months fill up every week(I know horrible owner) I was low on money. And now in run 91. 30k miles and 2 years later the car still runs perfectly at 210k.

 

^^^^thanks for the fast replies guys....yes I Kk now it will retard timing forbthe system to work with the loew octane gas...as far not letting my wife use the car thats exactly what I tild her you're not using this car anymore lol she said she was sorry she didn't realize she put regular until she showed me the receipt I guess it was just a habit filling up with regular. ...thanks a bunch guys

 

There was times it was like with my civic low on funds and hesitated to put regular but running a fully built high compression b20 vtec I knew the outcom...it was going to run like shit lol but I hope I don't get any early detonation or pinging

 

Frank...one thing...putting regular in your car you will actually suffer gas mileage too, so there's another reason for premium.

 

Very common myth on this board. Sounds good in theory but In the real world, it barely affects performance, or fuel economy.

The main difference between regular, mid-grade and premium gas is the octane rating, which is a measure of gasoline’s resistance to combustion.


Octane ratings are not indicators of the energy content of fuels. It is only a measure of the fuel's tendency to burn in a controlled manner, rather than exploding in an uncontrolled manner. Where the octane number is raised by blending in ethanol, energy content per volume is reduced.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octane_rating
But if car requires premium definitely use premium.

Good luck looking for that increased MPG.

 

If the engine retards timing due to the lower octane fuel then I'll bet there will be a slight loss in MPG.

 

bp, thanks, exactly what I was going to reply...if your motor is not firing at the optimum point then performance and efficiency will suffer...

 

It is better than diesel.

 

Same thing happened to me. Wife filled up the tank with 87. Never again was she allowed to fill up my car. LOL

Performance took a huge dump. Filled up with 93 at half a tank and then again at half a tank and by then it was back to normal.

 

Had a VW bug when I was a kid...stop to get gas at this old country station in PA, buddy starts to pump the gas while I use the facilities...I come out, he had put about 5 gallons of kerosene in the car...topped it with 3 gals of gas, the car ran...smoked like hell but it ran, slowly.


Moral of the story, one tank of regular won't hurt your TL.

 

standing in line at the gas station, a girl runs in frantically. "HELP! I Just used the green nozzle!"




Dont use the green nozzle.

 

^ Thought green means go?

 

you will be fine. one time doesn't hurt

 

lol ive actually stopped a lady in the process of using diesel in her car it was a new accord seen her lift the green nozzle and told her to stop she looked at me scared and showed her that it was diesel still confused i told her that if she uses it her car will mess up and will have to replace the engine

 

Reminds me of the thread where wife spent 1800 on TB service.

 

You will be fine OP; at least it wasnt diesel

 

I didnt even think that was possible as the nozzle wont even fit in the fuel filler....or are you saying you stopped her before she even got the point where she tried to insert the nozzle?
My wife did that one early morning when we were late for a flight and she attempted to put the diesel nozzle in her Accord and it wouldnt even fit. Thank god!! Can you imagine how many people would fill their gas vehicles with diesel and vice versa? lol

 

The reduction in gas mileage is due to the timing being retarded from knock and from the knock itself. All grades have about the same burn rate and amount of energy. Premium is more resistant to detonation. Detonation by itself can hurt mpg because you don't get the in cylinder pressure rise at the right time. Preignition by itself can hurt mileage by trying to push the piston back down the wrong way, not to mention the actual power stroke is pretty much wasted, the same as a misfire. Couple that with ignition retard that the ECU uses to protect the engine which can cost 10-20lbs of torque and several mpg. More ignition advance allows the engine to make the most of the air/fuel it already has. Retarding the timing means you have to give it more throttle for the same output, reducing mileage.

The difference is large enough that it's cheaper to run premium most of the time, especially in hot climates and drivers with a heavy foot. If you were super broke like I have been in the past and payday is just a few days away, filling up with regular can save some money in the temporaril but you'll be filling up slightly sooner. I've been so broke trying to put myself through college that I've had to pull the wastegate off the GN so there was no boost and I ran it on 87 for the better part of a year. Of course, I seemed to pull up to every fast car in town once I had no turbo.

To the OP, nothing will happen with a tank here and there of 87. The engine damage from running 87 octane is cumulative meaning you're not going to suffer a catastrophic failure, but you might see increased cylinder/ring and rod bearing wear over the course of 200,000 miles.

 

Same here, I remember when they went with the restrictor to prevent people from putting regular leaded fuel in cars with catalytic converters which also prevents diesel as well.

When I was about 17 I worked at the Sears Service Center doing small engine repair among other things. I remember at least 10 times in the couple years I worked there, furious husbands or even wives coming in because it wouldn't run at all after they picked it up from us (I tested everything for at least 10 minutes before calling it good) and it ran when it was brought in. The first thing I would do is check the gas tank in front of them and sure enough, diesel almost every time. It's funny to watch the change in attitude when you tell a pissed off customer they put diesel in their lawnmower. It was almost exclusively women that did it. I had one guy continue arguing because he paid for the carburetor to be cleaned and it was dirty on the outside. I had to explain that cleaning the carburetor consists of cleaning areas fuel came into contact with, primarily the bowl and the jet and to think the outside of the carb should be cleaned is retarded.

 

Meh, I've had to fill up (minimum of 15 gallons) in Nebraska 6 times/year for the last 8 years. On the route I take, only 87 is available in that part of Nebraska. It has never affected the MPG displayed on the MID for highway driving....

 

Another myth is replacing air filter to get better MPG.

 

Are you saying that by adding an octane booster one will get better MPG?

There is little difference in energy content of regular versus premium gasoline. They both contain about 111,400 British Thermal Units of energy per gallon.

The only difference is HOW it burns. By using lower grade gas car will loose performance (power) not MPG.

I use only premium fuel myself because I like power this car delivers.


A Scientific American investigation confirmed that hearsay, finding that during typical highway use, regular and premium fuel perform nearly identically, even in cars that call for higher octane.
Difference in mileage is negligible under most conditions, according to a report from the American Petroleum Institute.

 

I have ran midgrade when I was a little short on cash. MPG's were off a little. I would have been better off sticking with the 93 octane.
Methanol has hurt fuel mileage (10%). I love going away from the city to actually get the good stuff (100% gas)

pure-gas.org

 

As long as its not diesel and doesnt become a common occurrence then your fine. Thats one of the nice things about modern cars.

 

Lower octane in the TL will result in lower mileage. Its more cost effective to run premium

 

Guess what? losing performance = losing efficiency = losing MPG.

Might not be enough to notice depending on how leadfooted you are, but there will be a loss in efficiency.

 

It'l work.

Always use 91+. It's only a difference of about $3 per tank.

 

i use 91 only thats just me though

 

I don't think you can accidentally put diesel in a car if it doesn't require it. The green nozzle is bigger and won't fit into your gas tank. I unfortunately know from experience! Hahaha. I was day dreaming one time putting in gas and was wondering why the hell the nozzle wouldn't fit in my car. Then I looked up and realized it was diesel!

Edit: sorry, just saw that somebody else already commented about that

 

youd be surprised... im a service advisor at a local nissan dealership. at least every other week we will get one or two people that put diesel or E85 in there cars. one lady had a brand new maxima and said that she had to force the nozzle in, then complained how filthy it was, then said that a few miles later her car started sputtering and died.....

 

I bought a 05 TL from a woman that for some reason only put 87 in. (of course I didn't know that when I bought it). But my mechanic actually told me there was carbon build up and I needed to have my cylinders cleaned and the pistons sent out to be machined.

 

Its not about the inherent energy in the fuel, more in how it is utilized. Lower octane effectively releases its energy with lower efficiency resulting in less power/lower mpg.

In my own personal experience, I've seen notable differences even between 91 octane and 93. I've always run premium 91+, so i can imagine there would be a more significant difference between 91 and 87, let alone 93 & 87.

 

Just because it is called "premium" or has a higher number doesn't mean that it burns any different once it is ignited. And if ethanol is used in premium to raise it octane rating energy content is reduced.

It is same gas with an extra additive to make sure it will not ignite sooner that it is supposed to.

Next time I am going to fill up with 87 just to see for myself. My stats are very consistent using premium. 20MPH 16MPG, one tank usually last me close to 220 miles before I get to zero range and I usually fill up about 15 gallons. I will report back with my MPG and range.

 

^
That's HORRIBLE gas mileage.

 

What notable differences?

 

Here is a link to my post in one of those MPG threats from year and a half ago. As you can see it is same MPG to MPH ratio.

Post # 26

https://acurazine.com/forums/new-england-314/acura-tl-another-gas-guzzler-868346/

by the way if you divide 220 miles driven by 15 gallons you will get less than 15 MPG but according to MID it is 16.