Fuel Octane Requirement
 

I have a 2000 Acura TL with 6-cyl VETEC engine which I bought brand new. At 224,000 miles it still runs great. I use 5W-30 Mobil 1 Synthetic changing oil every 5K miles without needing additional oil in between oil changes. I now use 10W-30 oil. As you know the vehicle requires the 91 Octane gas. However with the price of gas I was wondering whether it's prudent to down grade to 89 (mid) or even down to 87 (regular gas). I've been running it now using the 89 Octane for the past couple of weeks and it seemed to be running OK. I'm not detecting any change in performance. I've heard pros and cons. One forum contributor said that by downgrading fuel the on board computer will tend to negatively compensate for it . On the other hand with that amount mileage, certainly the compression may have already degraded a bit which the computer may also have to compensate. What do you think?

Thanks,

Donsor.

If you're cheap and don't care about the horsepower, you can use 87 without damaging anything. A 2002 Honda Odyssey has a higher compression ratio than your car, and it calls for 87 I believe.

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A PLETHORA of threads regarding this in the past. Read up and formulate an opinion of your own on how you want to proceed