I know the owner's manuel says 87 but just curious if anyone got any benefits from using a higher grade?

2.41 regular from chevron

No benefit; just a waste of gas.
JC

91 octane

I run 91 for the cleaner burn and it just gives you more power and i like to go fast

I run 91 for the cleaner burn and it just gives you more power and i like to go fast

Says the guy with a 4-banger....=P

I run 91 for the cleaner burn and it just gives you more power and i like to go fast

No, it does not burn cleaner and no, it does not give you more power because the energy content is the same... Octane rating is simply a measure of anti-knocking, or detonation resistance.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octane_rating

No, it does not burn cleaner and no, it does not give you more power because the energy content is the same... Octane rating is simply a measure of anti-knocking, or detonation resistance.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octane_rating

Go away you, with your silly logic and linking of the Wiki!

(I had MY wiki linked once...took two surgeons and a pair of forceps to clear THAT up.)

No, it does not burn cleaner and no, it does not give you more power because the energy content is the same... Octane rating is simply a measure of anti-knocking, or detonation resistance.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octane_rating

The energy content is the same, but the ECU will advance timing more or less depending on the grade. Higher octane will give you slightly better gas mileage and power (because the engine is able to more efficiently burn the gas). This topic is always beat to death on forums. Most newer cars are like this now.

I use regular unleaded ALL the time but I guess it wouldn't hurt to try Super Unleaded once every 10 fill ups to clean the valves. Has anyone heard of this unwritten rule of using 93 Super Unleaded once in a while to clean your valves?

I can honestly say the car responds better with higher grade gas and it's not just in my mind. To me, it's quite noticeable. However, I don't need the extra power so I usually fill up with regular.

FWIW, all the grades of gas (87, 91, 93, etc') have equal amounts of detergent, within a particular brand (Chevron, Shell, BP, etc'). My ol' man's best-friend is a major gas/fuel distributor/wholesaler for various companies; he's the one who offered the insight...

My recommendation is to find a brand you like, and stick w/ it. Each brand's formulation/additives vary, and it's bests to stick w/ one to get the benefits.

As far as what grade of gas to put in your tank, I really see no reason why anyone would ignore the vehicle manufacturer's recommendation. There never ever is a down-side to using the recommended grade of fuel, and the only benefits to go w/ higher graded gas is for modified/higher-compression engines. . .



(for-the-record, 87 octane @ the local chain-grocer is $2.199 as of this evening!)

(for-the-record, 87 octane @ the local chain-grocer is $2.199 as of this evening!)

Ugh...it's still $2.639 up here...

93 oct.... only gas avail on base.....

FWIW, all the grades of gas (87, 91, 93, etc') have equal amounts of detergent, within a particular brand (Chevron, Shell, BP, etc'). My ol' man's best-friend is a major gas/fuel distributor/wholesaler for various companies; he's the one who offered the insight...

My recommendation is to find a brand you like, and stick w/ it. Each brand's formulation/additives vary, and it's bests to stick w/ one to get the benefits.

As far as what grade of gas to put in your tank, I really see no reason why anyone would ignore the vehicle manufacturer's recommendation. There never ever is a down-side to using the recommended grade of fuel, and the only benefits to go w/ higher graded gas is for modified/higher-compression engines. . .



(for-the-record, 87 octane @ the local chain-grocer is $2.199 as of this evening!)

$2.19! Wow!

i so wish i was in the states right now..... :(

No, it does not burn cleaner and no, it does not give you more power because the energy content is the same... Octane rating is simply a measure of anti-knocking, or detonation resistance.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octane_rating

Canadian gas companies used to promote high octane gas (aka premium) by suggesting that you would see increased power and performance. Of course there is no conclusive evidence of any actual gains with high octane, so they had to stop promoting it like that. However to get around that, here is an example of what Petro-Canada says about high octane fuel:

Why does my vehicle require a higher octane gasoline than is recommended in my owner's manual?
There are two reasons. First, the engine may be at the upper end of the octane requirement range for the particular model. It may, therefore, knock during periods of heavy engine load. The octane requirement for each engine in vehicles of the same make is different because of variations in manufacturing tolerances. Industry testing has shown that this difference can range between two and five octane numbers. While you will not hear knock, the spark timing will be retarded, resulting in loss of power and performance.

The second reason for using a higher-octane gasoline than recommended is because the equilibrium level of combustion chamber deposits is higher than average resulting in a higher than average octane requirement for the engine. Industry testing shows that the octane requirement increase (over the initial 20-50,000 kilometres) can be as much as nine octane numbers. This means that a vehicle that was originally designed for 82 octane fuel may eventually require 91 octane fuel to perform satisfactorily.

Petro-Canada's premium gasoline, SuperClean™, contains a higher level of Tactrol™, our exclusive deposit control additive, than our other grades and will help clean up deposits left by lesser gasoline brands.

In other words, if you use high octane gas, you won't see increased power and/or performance, but instead, you may see a loss if you don't use premium. Sneaky.

$2.19! Wow!

I got gas for $2.03 2 days ago... :D

$2.27 where i am.

When I switched to 89 octane as an experiment (for several tanks) my mpg took a dump. It dropped to 20 in town and stayed there! Throttle response was slightly better, no question about that. After going back to 87 (several tanks) the mpg is back up where it should be. I have no logical explanation for this odd happening but I'm sticking with 87 from now on!

93 or higher for me

When I switched to 89 octane as an experiment (for several tanks) my mpg took a dump. It dropped to 20 in town and stayed there! Throttle response was slightly better, no question about that. After going back to 87 (several tanks) the mpg is back up where it should be. I have no logical explanation for this odd happening but I'm sticking with 87 from now on!

maybe you were stepping on it more because of the slight power gain.

I have yet to try premium in the 6-sixxer but I will run a few tanks and see how the mpg does...

maybe you were stepping on it more because of the slight power gain.

Perhaps initially but not over 4 tanks of fuel. If I redlined it everyday on every shift with 87 I would still exceed 20 mpg in the city. The worst I ever got was 19 and it was brand spanking new with less than 500 miles on it. Norm in town is 24-25 which has been constant over four+ years on 87 octane. It's an odd one that defies explanation and there is no alchohol laced fuel here other than top tier which requires it. I don't use top tier fuel.

91 octane for me because it does not contain ethanol (where I refuel). It costs me less in the long run as I get 10% worse fuel mileage with the ethanol laced regular crap.

i roll with the middle, 91 for my baby. And i deff see slight results in gas milage

FWIW, all the grades of gas (87, 91, 93, etc') have equal amounts of detergent, within a particular brand (Chevron, Shell, BP, etc'). My ol' man's best-friend is a major gas/fuel distributor/wholesaler for various companies;

Whoa, so I use Chevron to the exclusion of all other top tier brands. He said that Chevron Supreme has the same amount of detergents as Chevron Regular Unleaded? Whoa.



he's the one who offered the insight...

My recommendation is to find a brand you like, and stick w/ it. Each brand's formulation/additives vary, and it's bests to stick w/ one to get the benefits.



Agree 100% although if different brands use different detergents, wouldn't it stand to reason that you could benefit from using a different Top tier brand fillup maybe 1 out of 10 or 20 fillups? This would be similar to using 93 Super one of 10 tanks if you use 87 continuously in order to clean further? But then if there are equal amounts in all grades of Top tier, why would you even need to do that anymore.


As far as what grade of gas to put in your tank, I really see no reason why anyone would ignore the vehicle manufacturer's recommendation. There never ever is a down-side to using the recommended grade of fuel, and the only benefits to go w/ higher graded gas is for modified/higher-compression engines. . .

(for-the-record, 87 octane @ the local chain-grocer is $2.199 as of this evening!)

I use 87 almost exclusively but I did notice that when I tried 93, my throttle was better and I got better mileage. In the end, I didn't need the power and the better mileage wasn't great enough to justify the higher gas prices. Also, if you car sees track use occasionally or rarely, 93 octane would definitely be the best choice. I just filled up for less then 30 bucks yesterday so 87 is in the low 2 dollar range!! That's all I need to know!

J30A5Refined, ironic... the guy aforementioned (dad's best-friend) is a Chevron wholesale/distributor. Big-shot at a lower-level, so to speak (ie. setting up contracts, logistics, etc' w/ the regional 'stations). He's always traveling in the general region (TX/LA/OK/etc'). He stated that ALL major gas-sellers maintain the same level of detergents/additives across their grades of gas. His recommendation was to find ONE brand, and to stick w/ it consistently (as opposed to being a 'shopper for cheapest available).

Long-story short... Brand XYZ's 87-grade will not clean better than Brand XYZ's 93-octane. However, Brand XYZ's 87-grade may differ from Brand 123's 87-octane in terms of detergent concentrate/additives; same w/ Brand XYZ's 93-octane differing from Brand 123's 93-octane.

And... one fillup of XYZ's 93-octane for every 10-20 fill-ups of 123's 87-octane will not offer an appreciable difference, as the amount of detergent-concentrate/per-fillup is rather miniscue as compared to the same branded fuel-system cleaner concentrates/treatments (ie. Shell's V-cleaner & Chevron's Techron sold for $X/12oz', etc'). I'm quite confident of this. Multiple full-tanks of a brand need to be used consistently to clean-up, so to speak. Not a single/occasional fill-up of the good stuff once a bluemoon. And w/ that said, if Brand XYZ's 87-octane has the same detergent-conc'/additives as it's 93-octane, why not just use that [Brand XYZ's 87-octane] when alternating from the cheaper Brand 123's 87-octane (when doing a so-called 'clean-up')? Brand XYZ is consistent top-to-bottom in it's grades when it comes to detergent-conc'/additives, so why even get the 93-octane is 'cleaning' is the ultimate goal?

It's all in what makes you goto sleep better at nite, to be honest. I've opened up engines/fuel-systems on many occasions, and noted that when a particular brand of gas is used consistently (regardless of grade), the engine contents look unremarkable. But, when brands are mixed/inconsistent, yes- I've noted some deposits/carbon-buildup/etc' but nothing alarming ever.

Regarding higher performance/fuel-economy/etc', it's been repeatedly shown through real-life/real-time testing/observations & even dyno-testing that the 7th & 8th gen' Accord V6's show gains when using 91/93 octane gas. However, it hasn't been consistently demonstrated nor proven [sic] w/ the 4-cylinder engines. It's been more-or-less individual observations/perceptions/butt-dyno's & so forth. . .

Manual recommends regular(87 octane), that's what I use. Anything higher and you're wasting your money. That is unless, for some rare and unforsaken reason your engine is knocking excessively, occassional ignition knocking is normal, then you can bump it up two notches to mid-grade(89 octane)and that should cure your problem. If not, "Houston, we have a problem".:yes:

Regarding higher performance/fuel-economy/etc', it's been repeatedly shown through real-life/real-time testing/observations & even dyno-testing that the 7th & 8th gen' Accord V6's show gains when using 91/93 octane gas. However, it hasn't been consistently demonstrated nor proven [sic] w/ the 4-cylinder engines. It's been more-or-less individual observations/perceptions/butt-dyno's & so forth. . .

I know the Honda engineer said the J30 would get blah more power w/premium so where is hard evidence of this? I'm just curious about the test runs/dynos, etc.

Taken from V6performance.net (this is the J30 in the 04-07 Accord):

http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/3880/img1730qb5.jpg

The Bold line indicates 93 RON usage, light line indicates 87 RON usage.

And incase anyone is interested, here's the dyno's from TOV with a 08 V6 6MT vs. the V6 5AT. The 5AT peters out...

http://sohc.vtec.net/article_files/721178/08accv6mtatdyno.gif

Taken from V6performance.net (this is the J30 in the 04-07 Accord):

http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/3880/img1730qb5.jpg

The Bold line indicates 93 RON usage, light line indicates 87 RON usage.

Thanks for that dude!

btw, the 6MT vs 5AT dyno isn't showing

I'm currently using 89, just as an experiment, and it does feel like there's 5-10% of additional power and the engine runs smoother.
Dunno if this is specific to the gas retailer (Cdn Tire) or the car itself, as I've had opposite results with my previous cars.
I did, however, notice in the past that gas purchased at the same station tends to be of different quality over time. One day I'd fill up and my car would feel very quick, and MPG was through the roof. One week later, same station and gas, but the car feels as if I had mistakenly filled it up with diesel, - I'd have to floor it to make it go. And of course, the engine would sound like crap.
Has anyone experienced anything similar?

I'm currently using 89, just as an experiment, and it does feel like there's 5-10% of additional power and the engine runs smoother.
Dunno if this is specific to the gas retailer (Cdn Tire) or the car itself, as I've had opposite results with my previous cars.
I did, however, notice in the past that gas purchased at the same station tends to be of different quality over time. One day I'd fill up and my car would feel very quick, and MPG was through the roof. One week later, same station and gas, but the car feels as if I had mistakenly filled it up with diesel, - I'd have to floor it to make it go. And of course, the engine would sound like crap.
Has anyone experienced anything similar?

How have you concluded that there is a 12-24 HP gain just by simply using 89?

Funny thing is my car runs like shit on 87 Octane, Run 91 or 94 Octane and My car runs lot smoother, I get better mileage.

Next year I'll only be running 91...

Yeah last time I put 20$ of 87 Octane I got about 150 KM before I was really really close to being empty, I fueled up Friday 20$ of 91 and I'm at 170KM and be able to go at lease another 50-60KM before I'm dry...

How have you concluded that there is a 12-24 HP gain just by simply using 89?

This is certainly subjective, and that's exactly why I wrote "it does feel like there's 5-10% of additional power", not that there is additional power.
Merging a highway is easier, and the passing power has improved as well.
Again, only sustainable results will show.
If gas prices keep falling, I'm also going to try 93 and see if there's any difference.
I know that for my previous cars, 89 didn't work at all, and 87 provided better throttle response. But then, 91 worked quite well, while also giving a bit of an improvement to MPG. - Go figure!
Not to mention that gas sold by different retailers is pretty different, and some work better on a given car than others. For instance, Petro-Canada gas never worked well for my old cars, but I haven't tried it on the Honda yet. I always used either Shell or Esso(Exxon) until Canadian Tire came up with their 8-10 cent per liter discount program.

Taken from V6performance.net (this is the J30 in the 04-07 Accord):

http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/3880/img1730qb5.jpg

The Bold line indicates 93 RON usage, light line indicates 87 RON usage.

Is it my eyes or do you have that backwards? It looks like the lighter lines are above (more power) the bold lines.

Thanks for that dude!

btw, the 6MT vs 5AT dyno isn't showingSee attached.

Is it my eyes or do you have that backwards? It looks like the lighter lines are above (more power) the bold lines.I quoted it verbatim. But maybe they have it backwards?:dunno:

I am about to fill up for the first time my 06' V6 Accord EX-L. And i am pondering which octane to use. I will only fill up with BP cause that's the best that we have in Chicago, and i have a BP card with 10% rebates. Which octane should i use? I use the 91 on my Camaro, because it's a performance car... but on my new one... 89 maybe?

I am about to fill up for the first time my 06' V6 Accord EX-L. And i am pondering which octane to use. I will only fill up with BP cause that's the best that we have in Chicago, and i have a BP card with 10% rebates. Which octane should i use? I use the 91 on my Camaro, because it's a performance car... but on my new one... 89 maybe?

89 seems to work very well for me on the V6, - significantly better than 87.
Now, when the tank goes below 1/2, my car's performance improves even more. I have no clue why the amount of fuel in the tank would matter, but I noticed the same in the past on my old Bonneville. It almost got me thinking that gas/oil fractions tend to separate in the tank over time, leaving the lighter ones (more power) floating above the heavier ones (less efficient). Crazy thought probably, but I couldn't come up with any better explanation.

89 seems to work very well for me on the V6, - significantly better than 87.
Now, when the tank goes below 1/2, my car's performance improves even more. I have no clue why the amount of fuel in the tank would matter, but I noticed the same in the past on my old Bonneville. It almost got me thinking that gas/oil fractions tend to separate in the tank over time, leaving the lighter ones (more power) floating above the heavier ones (less efficient). Crazy thought probably, but I couldn't come up with any better explanation.

Maybe your butt dyno detects the 45lbs weight reduction :thmsup:

89 octane and almost 2.00 a gallon.. WOOOOO!!!!

Taken from V6performance.net (this is the J30 in the 04-07 Accord):

http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/3880/img1730qb5.jpg

The Bold line indicates 93 RON usage, light line indicates 87 RON usage.

so judging by the results, premiem doesnt do a crap in a J30? :dunno: I'm confused because I thought the consensus was that the J30 gets an additional 10 hp (dont know if its wheel hp or not) on 91/93 octane???? Or is it REALLY backwards.

Maybe your butt dyno detects the 45lbs weight reduction :thmsup:

LOL.
Had this idea, too. But, since I could feel more power even with additional passengers on board, I dismissed it.

so judging by the results, premiem doesnt do a crap in a J30? :dunno: I'm confused because I thought the consensus was that the J30 gets an additional 10 hp (dont know if its wheel hp or not) on 91/93 octane???? Or is it REALLY backwards.That was the conclusion that I came to when I looked at this. But even if the originating website/poster had the bold and light line keys backwards, it still wouldn't be 10 HP/TQ. Maybe 1-3 at the most. But then again, 10 HP at the crank isn't going to equal 10 HP at the wheels...

I still think its interesting. I've actually seen the dyno online that shows the J30/J35 engines do pump out to 10/10+, but I can't find it...I'm still looking for it.

Maybe your butt dyno detects the 45lbs weight reduction :thmsup:

LOL. butt dyno! good one!

I know the owner's manuel says 87 but just curious if anyone got any benefits from using a higher grade?

Chevron even advertises that every grade of their gasoline contains Techron, even their regular unleaded so it makes the point of what grade gas you use moot. Use Regular unleaded and maybe once in a blue moon use 93 Super to clean your injectors even more. One of the great reasons to buy an Accord V6 is that he runs fabulous on regular Unleaded and it says it right in the manual. What the manual does NOT tell you is that Accords have a secret crush with Chevron gasoline!

To answer you question though, I did get any extra throttle kick and better mpg with using (Chevron) 93 Super but the cost savings of regular 87 made using 93 cost prohibitive and in the end not worth it. But the point is I *did* get a benefit and not many car makes and even manufacturers can say that and that is the punchline!