YungMoola15

Just want your inputs, just want to know about your experience

PLEASE DON'T POST ANOTHER IF YOU CAN'T AFFORD TO PUT PREMIUM DON'T DRIVE A TL.

THIS IS STRICTLY JUST A SURVEY AND TO SEE IF ANYONE HAS BEEN USING REGULAR 87 LONG TERM WITHOUT ANY ISSUES.

Superunknown

If you can't afford to put premium, don't drive a TL.

also don't tell me what to do

OsK

iTrader: (2)

I never understood the thought process of people using 87 octane versus 91+. The only time I used 87 is when I had no option because I was on a road trip.

Let's say 87 is $2.49/gallon and 91 is $2.69. You fill up 15 gallons. 87 would cost you $37.35. 91 would cost you $40.35. That's $3 more. You're not saving much money.

Now I get that in some states that difference could be $0.40 cents between 87 and 91/93+, even then that'd be $43.35, $6 bucks more.

If you're spending $37, might as well dish out a little extra for Premium fuel.

Edit: Any mod out there, please lock this thread. There's like 10+ threads with 10+ pages of discussion on this topic.

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

i used non-premium once.
my engine blew up.

Turbonut

iTrader: (1)

Here's some reading:
https://acurazine.com/forums/third-g...egular-925020/
https://acurazine.com/forums/third-g...ok-use-907704/
https://acurazine.com/forums/third-g...ok-use-905959/

jthiessens

I recently found a station near me that sells 93 non-ethanol its about 2.99 a gallon. My TL is not my daily so I spend the extra and run the non-ethanol and I can honestly say that there it a night and day difference in the way she runs between 93 with ethanol and 93 non-ethanol. I drive it maybe 50-100 miles a month but I will never run 93 ethanol again if I can help it.

Adobeman

^^^ What Osk said. This has been discussed ad nauseum in this forum over the years.

WheelMcCoy

Gas threads are always flammable!

My conclusion is you'll only notice a difference if you drive north of 4000 rpm where you approach peak torque, peak HP, and V-TEC. For example, the engine on my TSX Wagon hits peak torque at 4300 rpm, V-TEC arrives at 5000 rpm, and peak HP is reached at 7000 rpm. Premium gas will let you approach the rated power numbers while regular gas will have the power dialed back. So for normal street driving, no difference. For fun highway merges, a sensitive butt dyno might detect a difference. As for fuel economy, I lose perhaps 1-2 mpg going from premium to regular.

Then there's the issue of high altitude driving... say for ski trips. Up high where the air is thin, premature combustion (knocking) is not an issue, so you can get by with a lower octane. In other words, regular will be just fine if you are driving to Machu Picchu.

As for long term use of regular gas, I can't say what effect it has on the life of the engine. I mostly use premium.

candrews

Our TL has never had a drop of anything less than Premium. Otherwise I would go back to owning a Civic.

WheelMcCoy

I've had a similar experience with ethanol-free gas. I get about 15% better mpg and noticeably more pep. There are a few gas stations scattered throughout the US that sell ethanol-free gas. Shell in Canada also sells ethanol-free gas.

YungMoola15

Dood wtf stop breaking rules and shit you bad boy mmmhmmmmm that turns me on

YungMoola15

The price difference is 3x more in Northern VA, feel free to check.

Regualr is $2.23
Premium: $2.86

Price difference of .63 x 15 gallons = $9.45

YungMoola15

Why should they lock the thread? I am not asking if it's possible to use regular, I am simply wanting inputs from folks who have been using it long term.
​​​​​​​This is simply a discussion.

YungMoola15

​​​​​​​Barely even let it hit 3K, I drive like normal person. This isn't a race car and it's probably been redlined handful of times. It's simply a commuter and I live in a rural area so most of the driving i do is highway.

Superunknown

You can try framing your question any way you want, there are no mysteries left in the operation of internal combustion engines and nothing new would be uncovered here even if you somehow received a thousand data points.

nfnsquared

I've used 87 for over 150K miles now. I do mostly highway driving and there's been no difference in mileage bewteen 87 and 91. I ran a full throttle timing advance series using torque pro while running both 87 and 91 and detected no timing pull from running 87. This was at ~60F and ~1000' MSL altitude. Results may vary at different temperatures/altitudes, but I could find no difference while running 87 given my local conditions.

YungMoola15

YESSSSSS, Thank You so much for contributing to the thread. Do you only run 87 in low temps? Any experience in running it in the summer 100 degrees?

BTW, I am on my 2nd tank of 87 and I just like you have not noticed any MPG decrease. The only thing I noticed is a little loss in power but that could be placebo.
I am not putting 87 because I can't afford premium, I just don't want to waste $9 every time I fill up if I am not even going to use it's benefit.

I drive it like a normal person, usually shift around 2,800 rpm and rarely go past 3k.
​​​​​​​

YungMoola15

One thing, I just want to add is, our TL's have a natural aspirated engine. It's not turbo or supercharged it's a normal 6 cylinder high compression engine that Honda has been making for decades. Why does a TL "require" premium when a 6 cylinder accord "requires" regular?

If the car was modded with turbo and other engine mods then I would understand the need for premium but since it's just a normal engine I just don't get why premium is required other than being able to push it to its limit.

TacoBello

The J series engine loves to breath, and at 3000 rpm, you're only using half your power band. You should've bought a 4 cyl seriously, you're making use of like 100-120hp at the wheels only.

Also, by keeping revs always low, you risk carbon build up happening on top of your pistons. When you do finally go into higher rpm, you risk that carbon breaking off and potentially jamming a valve open and burning it out.

and for the record, I hit redline in my car several times a day, every day, and as far as the engine is concerned, I have zero issues. My J30 accord was no different and I regularly bounced that thing off the rev limiter. Zero oil consumption issues. Zero idling issues. Zero anything.

TacoBello

Was this on WOT runs, or just regular cruising around? I believe it was discussed in the past that for just putting around town, it makes no difference which fuel you use. It's only once you put the engine in heavy load situations, where premium should be used, as that seemed to be the only time guys were pulling timing. And they were pulling timing on even premium fuel- just not as much.

It also seems people have varying results with monitoring their timing being pulled. You say you have no visible changes. Others say they see quite different results. You're likely right that it may just be a elevation/temperature issue. I don't doubt that you've driven 150k miles without issue. But as you suggested, I don't know if it's wise to extrapolate that for the whole country, as yungmoola is trying to do.

YungMoola15

Bro, I am too much of a pussy to redline it lol. I feel like i'll start burning oil or developing leaks. That is literally the only reason I drive it like a baby.
But, since you mentioned the carbon build up I guess ill have to let it rip couple times a week.

Edit: Yes a 4cyl would be nice but no car is nice as the TL even today IMO plus it would be super slow from take off for a 4cyl MT civic.
I love the driving dynamics of the car and if it breaks or gets totaled ill be buying another and another and another.

Jackass

So far, I see no new content to this topic that hasn't been discussed many times before. We have been having this discussion for years....and years....and years....and now that these cars are 10+ years old, there shouldn't be too many questions left regarding the difference in octane levels. There are a handful of active members who are for sure on the 87 bandwagon and a bunch on the 91 only bandwagon. Nobody has hard proof that 87 causes any issues. The theories run that it causes lower power, knocking, heartburn and constipation. None of those are good.

Run good gas (no matter the octane) and you will probably be fine. I'm sure there are scenarios where 91+ will work much better, but as you have stated, for casual driving/commuting, it is highly unlikely you are going to see that much difference especially with the price penalty you pay in your local area. My "personal" preference is 91 or higher....it just makes me happy. To get non-ethanol 91, I pay a roughly $.40 per gallon premium in KC. I usually buy buck up for it, but that is more for the non-ethanol side than anything else.

nfnsquared

I run it year round, but it rarely gets above 90F up here.

From the data that I've pulled, that is placebo...

I wouldn't worry about that at all as long as you're running Top Tier gas...

Yep, multiple WOT runs to redline through 4th gear. I should add that this was with about 200lbs of gear in my trunk and up about a 5% grade hill...

YungMoola15

What is your AVG MPG by the way? I am getting 26 by hard calculation on MID it shows 25 with AVG MPH of 34-35

nfnsquared

Winter gas, I average 27-28.

Summer gas 29-30. Again, mostly highway driving.

WheelMcCoy

Just let the car warm up properly before flirting with the redline. These engines were *designed* to rev.

YungMoola15

whats your avg mph on mid?

YungMoola15

Yup that's for sure, I just never liked driving cars hard unless it's a rental lol

TacoBello

I wonder if this can be programmed into AZ, so that whenever a new fuel thread comes up, this post automatically gets inputted and the thread closes by itself before anyone else can post

GreenSpades

Always used 92+. From what I understand our engine's computer can make use of octanes up to 95. They CAN also cut power to reduce chance of knock if you choose to run 87 octane.

I thought the reason they recommend using premium fuel was the higher compression ratio of the engine; which is part of what makes the car make more power. 258hp out of our 3.2 vs 268hp out of the accords 3.5 utilizing 87 octance.

So you can use it. Should you use it and is it right for you and how you drive, no one here can tell you that. IMHO you shouldve bought the 3.5L accord EX-L. All the same features with a different engine, suspension, and exterior.

stevemk07

I decided today to fill up with regular fuel. The roads around here are icy at this time of year and it seems this may help in these conditions. I did this with my last TL quite a bit and I could notice a loss in torque/power but gas mileage seemed about the same to me. Been using 91 octane almost eclusively in my new one (08 base nav ppm) until now. If loss of power is the only effect, that is ideal for me.

YungMoola15

Yup, just filled mine up with it's 3rd tank and so far its been great.

YungMoola15

The accord doesn't have the neck breaking styling of the TL.

1black_seven

iTrader: (2)

This thread again... I mean, wow when the horse is dead someone still wants to shove a firecracker up its ass.
I'm quite sure if we had started making these threads sticky, we'd have the whole first page solid by now.

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

and we are done!