Good gas???

[Dr_Snooz]

A lot of you know that I'm a big gas snob. I know I've written more than one diatribe on here about the virtues of Chevron premium with Techron. This was based on a lot of things, but mostly on a carb rebuild I did years ago. I had been running Chevron for some time and when I opened up the 15 year old carb, there was simply no crud in it at all. It was squeaky clean with only the sunken float showing any real sign of problem.

Lately I've been struggling with a rough idle issue on my other car. It has been running so badly that I was on the verge of just tearing stuff apart in the hope that I might find something wrong. Well, about three tanks ago I was forced to fill up with 76 premium. To my chagrin, within 10 miles of filling up, the rough idle was noticeably better. Acceleration was notably improved. Even the shifting was smoother. It's been three tanks now and it's like a different car. I still have a slightly rough idle, but it's livable now and seems to improve with every tank. It's running so smoothly I just love it again.

So I admit my ignorance and am wondering what gas others are using and how well it's working.

[Civic Accord Honda]

i like shell cause it has the NAWZ tho i just run any cheap no name 87 gas because i am a cheap bastard

[2ndGenGuy]

I run anything that's Top Tier gas. That's gas certified to be good quality gas by Honda, GM, Ford, and the other car companies. It's like buying OEM gas. :D There used to be a list at www.toptiergas.com but the site seems to be non-existant. Not surprisingly Arco wasn't on the list. I know Chevron, 76, Shell, Texaco were on the list. That's pretty much what I stick to.

[Civic Accord Honda]

was Fastrip or La cucockroachala gas stop on the list?

[mephi]

Arco Baby. If I'm going to have to buy 10% ethanol blend, I might as well buy it for less. I hate ethanol blend.

Out here though, all of the gas comes from the same refinery. They just add different additive packages for different brands. That is about it.

Oh, and it's all 5-10% ethanol.

[2ndGenGuy]

Buy it for less, then pay a "convenience" charge to use your debit card, and there goes your gas savings. They say it's all from the same refinery, but remember the 76 gas stations in Seattle and Tacoma that clogged up a bunch of car's injectors due to bad gas? It was only at the 76 stations this happened, so i have to question that.

[LxAcc510]

I go 87octane shell, chevron, or valero. :wave:

[Rendon LX-i]

Only 92 Shell or if im traveling i put anything high octane...if i see a shell my car is under the damn thing LOL...i cant run low octane no more...so its alittle spendy for me but its fun.

[mephi]

Buy it for less, then pay a "convenience" charge to use your debit card, and there goes your gas savings. They say it's all from the same refinery, but remember the 76 gas stations in Seattle and Tacoma that clogged up a bunch of car's injectors due to bad gas? It was only at the 76 stations this happened, so i have to question that.

Ya...you may be right there, or they may have just screwed up the additive package. I always pay cash at ARCO though. I refuse to pay the convenience charge. I hate those things too. I deliver pizza right now, so I always have at least 1 $20 on me...makes it easy. Although lately those $20's have been harder to come by.

Oh, always 87 octane. Only 87 for my '87.

[Dr_Snooz]

Out here though, all of the gas comes from the same refinery. They just add different additive packages for different brands. That is about it.


I've heard this too, and also question it. If it's true, then I shouldn't notice any difference between Chevron or 76 premium. But I do. A BIG difference. I'm not willing, at this point, to say go buy any cheap gas. I don't think you save any money by getting your car all gunked up and running poorly. That's about the same time that you say, "Well, this car is old and I need to buy a new one." For the few thousand you spend on a new car, you can buy an awful lot of gas.

[MessyHonda]

i run shell 91....after my car got tune i just ran 91...its good stuff...

[DBMaster]

Don't get me started about why you should not use gas with any higher octane rating than your car requires no to knock. Higher octane than that will actually hurt your gas mileage. The oil companies have done a great job of making us feel like we're treating our cars better by using premium. Since they reformulated the gas here I have been able to use regular unleaded for the last several years. Prior to that, mid-grade would work without the pinging.

Aside from that I go for a combination of convenience and price. I buy my gas most often at QT. Never had any problems related to fuel quality in twenty years. When I replaced the leaky injectors ten years ago they were all very clean.

[Rendon LX-i]

lol...bro i dont know who told you that but that a EPIC FAIL to tell us not to run higher octane...LOL when i was n/a just intake,header,exhuast, and some...i ran cheap gas or low octane...CAR just ran like crap even b4 i had mods ...just a intake....

IT verys. but you can run low octane.....i have to no choice for me. if i run low octane now i run lean and by by motor. LOL

RUNNING stock run low octane.....slight modded 89 and boosted or hight modded 92 thats how see it. SO YES IM GETTING YOU STARTED YO YO lol

Been in the game for lots of years...WHY would you say suck a thing...Cheap gas burns faster...PROVEN fact...higher octane burns cleaner and gets better gas mpg...

NOT BEENING A DICK but i juts had to blow your fire out before you start making everyone on here belive you LMFAO

[DBMaster]

This is one of those threads from which I should just bail. My car runs wonderfully with 303,000 miles on the original engine. What works for one does not work for all and, contrary to popular belief, how well an engine runs is quite subjective. Use whatever gasoline you want to use and feel good about it, seriously.

[Rendon LX-i]

not trying to start a war....but you get what i mean

[AccordEpicenter]

i just stay away from the indian reservation. Some of those guys have some really poor quality gas

[Ichiban]

Don't get me started about why you should not use gas with any higher octane rating than your car requires no to knock. Higher octane than that will actually hurt your gas mileage. The oil companies have done a great job of making us feel like we're treating our cars better by using premium. Since they reformulated the gas here I have been able to use regular unleaded for the last several years. Prior to that, mid-grade would work without the pinging.



lol...bro i dont know who told you that but that a EPIC FAIL to tell us not to run higher octane...LOL when i was n/a just intake,header,exhuast, and some...i ran cheap gas or low octane...CAR just ran like crap even b4 i had mods ...just a intake....

IT verys. but you can run low octane.....i have to no choice for me. if i run low octane now i run lean and by by motor. LOL

RUNNING stock run low octane.....slight modded 89 and boosted or hight modded 92 thats how see it. SO YES IM GETTING YOU STARTED YO YO lol

Been in the game for lots of years...WHY would you say suck a thing...Cheap gas burns faster...PROVEN fact...higher octane burns cleaner and gets better gas mpg...

NOT BEENING A DICK but i juts had to blow your fire out before you start making everyone on here belive you LMFAO


This is one of those threads from which I should just bail. My car runs wonderfully with 303,000 miles on the original engine. What works for one does not work for all and, contrary to popular belief, how well an engine runs is quite subjective. Use whatever gasoline you want to use and feel good about it, seriously.


not trying to start a war....but you get what i mean

I should probably bail on this too. I'll go sit with Stat1k in the penalty box if I need to explain how higher octane gas actually has less energy/unit than regular. If I hear this again, I'm just gonna quit.

[Rendon LX-i]

lol

[ArokASE88LXi]

ooh ooh mommy I wanna poke the bear!! ha ha ha

I gotta say i've been running 85 octane in everything i've ever driven since i started driving except of course my twin turbo 3000GT i used 89 but i never had any problems. It's just a higher octane rating it's a little more resistant to burning taking higher temps to ignite i don't see how this could effect a car with 9:1 compression, i understand cars with higher compressions and boosted applications create higher combustion chamber thus requiring a fuel that won't pre-ignite but that's the only difference "I" see in gasoline octanes. As for this proof i'd like to see it as i've never seen anything backing up the idea that higher octane is better for your car. not that i'm saying your wrong i've just never seen any and i like to be as informed as possible....

Anyway now that i've poked the bear it will probably maul me :lol: :beat: :lol: :beat:


EDIT: I should mention i live in colorado - higer elevation 89 is premium 85 is regular 87 midgrade

[ArokASE88LXi]

I run anything that's Top Tier gas. That's gas certified to be good quality gas by Honda, GM, Ford, and the other car companies. It's like buying OEM gas. :D There used to be a list at www.toptiergas.com but the site seems to be non-existant. Not surprisingly Arco wasn't on the list. I know Chevron, 76, Shell, Texaco were on the list. That's pretty much what I stick to.

This is very true the first time i heard about it i read it in a GM TSB (it said it was three companys Honda, GM, and BMW i believe) basically they endorse certain gasolines that contain a certain amount more ad package than the EPA mandated minimum percentage. Chevron Techron has my full confidence as most fuel injector cleaner additives contain Techron at least my favorite BG 44k does.

[ecogabriel]

I (we) use regular in all our cars -all ask for regular and they are stock. Brands? QT in general; if Shell/Chevron/Texaco are available and the price is reasonable (at today's prices I would say within 5%) I'll use it without question; but the robbers nearby home charge much more than that difference.

I have not noticed any difference between using regular and either 89 or 92 over using 87 (again, bone stock cars). Higher octane gas has a higher ignition point to avoid self-ignition in high-compression engines; it may be necessary if the car has been modified or has some other issue that increases compression (like chamber deposits)

With regards to injector cleaning I tried the bottles including those with Techron; I never noticed any difference.
what it has worked for me is ultrasonic cleaning, I sent the Accord LXi injectors got them back in three days (via mail); they came ready to install with new filters and seals, and with a "before and after".
They were not too much clogged (flow reduction was about 10%) but spraying patters were off. Before cleaning the car had shitty mileage (about 15-16 mpg, inner city traffic, short distances) and hesitation on acceleration at low rpm; after cleaning, fuel economy shot up to 18-19 mpg in the same driving conditions and the hesitation was gone.
The car still needs additional TLC (I saved it from going to the junkyard) but mileage may still improve a bit when solving a transmission (I think) problem. I am so happy with ultrasonic cleaning that I'm sending my Civic injectors for cleaning shortly.

Below is an article on how cleaning works,

http://www.aa1car.com/library/2003/ic30336.htm

[Dr_Snooz]

This is one of those threads from which I should just bail. My car runs wonderfully with 303,000 miles on the original engine. What works for one does not work for all and, contrary to popular belief, how well an engine runs is quite subjective. Use whatever gasoline you want to use and feel good about it, seriously.

I'll second the "use what works" sentiment here. As I understand it, higher octane gases have two characteristics:

1. Greater resistance to pinging
2. More detergent

As such, my feeling has always been that on a car with a manual distributor (like the 3g), highest octane is your best bet 'cause you don't want pinging if something goes wrong with the dizzie. On newer distributorless ignitions this probably doesn't matter so much as the knock sensors will compensate for lower octane.

The higher detergent level of high octane gas still appeals to me though.

I don't think we need to get upset here. You can be all high-and-mighty like me only to learn that you're full of crap when your car starts running like poo. We all want different things from our cars and what we choose for gas will be in keeping with that. To each his own right? I'm just wanting to see what is working for others.

[Strugglebucket]

From the '89 shop manual, chapter 3, verse 14:

"And lo,
the Fuel Required shall be of an Unleaded grade gasoline with 91 research octane number or higher"


:stick:

[Toneloc5145]

I usually put Shell 87 in my car or Exxon 87. I noticed recently that Exxon actually gave me a boost in fuel economy and the car ran really smooth. I believe it is because the Exxon's around here have no ethanol mix whereas Shell has 10%.

I tried Texaco for a bit and there was a noticeable reduction in performance. I got about 50 less miles on a tank, acceleration was slower, and the idle was not stable. Top Tier or not, my car did NOT like Texaco gas.

[2ndGenGuy]

From the '89 shop manual, chapter 3, verse 14:

"And lo,
the Fuel Required shall be of an Unleaded grade gasoline with 91 research octane number or higher"


:stick:

LOL!!!

91RON is quite different from our gas. Our gas is rated in an average of RON and MON. You'll see the gas pumps say Octane = (RON+MON)/2

[russiankid]

I run whatever is cheap near by and isn't a shady station.

[Strugglebucket]

LOL!!!

91RON is quite different from our gas. Our gas is rated in an average of RON and MON. You'll see the gas pumps say Octane = (RON+MON)/2
Yeah, 91RON is 87 for us.

But with today's gasoline spiked with schnapps, we're probably better off using 89. Or maybe not...if your compression's low...:blah:

[Ichiban]

Yeah, 91RON is 87 for us.

But with today's gasoline spiked with schnapps, we're probably better off using 89. Or maybe not...if your compression's low...:blah:

Really? The only reason I run 89 in my Toyota is because of 10.7:1 compression, even at 0deg advance it rattles so bad on 87 that it makes no power over 1/4 throttle.

The only reason I run 89 in my accord is because it rattles so loudly on 87 that I think it's gonna explode. Timing is slightly after 8deg BTDC, so probably about 5ish. I'm thinking that the oil being suctioned past the valve guides is reducing the octane rating of the fuel enough it rattles bad under normal driving.

Trust me, I'd rather pay for the cheap gas, and burn less of it because of it's additional energy content.

[89sei89dx]

i dont know bout all u and what u put in. but from my experiance...driving for the last 17 years,i have put nothin but 87 "REGULAR" in any car of mine, whatever was cheapest at any gas station i was at,i didnt care.whatever. havnt ever NOTICED any difference. untill this last year. i put in 92 "premium" one day because the gas station i was at had the regular out of order on every pump. so i didnt want the middle grade and i got premium (92). i immediatly noticed that my car accelerated quicker, and felt better ,sounded better even at high rpm. the idle was smoother and i have noticed better performance and quicker acceleration/ smoother idle evry time i put premium in. and im a FUCK PREMIUM type of guy. so . my experiance with premium vs regular in my 87 accord and my 89 accord.:koolaid::werd: