Accord 2008 and fuel octane

Hello,

I have a 2008 Accord Auto 4 cyl EX-L. The manual says to use regular 87
octane. The compression ratio in this car is high enough where premium would
be required in other car brands with the same compression ratio and almost
as high as other Hondas (such as the civic si) that do require premium. My
question is that "if" I used Premium even though it wasnt really required,
would i see an improvement in the performance being that its so close to
almost needing premium?

Where I live the Regular unleaded octane is 87, Plus is 89 octane and
Premium is 93-94 octane. Our gasoline in my part of the country is 10%
Ethanol also. I've been using regular since I had the car and during the
break in period as well. It has 1524 miles on it now and is almost 2 months
old. I followed the break in requirements 100% and my oil is at 70% on
original oil.

Another question is about using fuel injector cleaners like the Chevron
Techron fuel system cleaner, is that something that I should consider maybe
every 6 months? How would that compare to other brands like Gumout and STP?

Thanks,
Al

"alfred" > wrote in message
news
>>
> Another question is about using fuel injector cleaners like the Chevron
> Techron fuel system cleaner, is that something that I should consider
> maybe every 6 months? How would that compare to other brands like Gumout
> and STP?

Use top tier gas and a bottle of techron every other oil chage. Some would
eliminate the techron concentrate if you were to use top tier gas all the
time, pretty much shell and chevron around here.

alfred wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I have a 2008 Accord Auto 4 cyl EX-L. The manual says to use regular 87
> octane. The compression ratio in this car is high enough where premium would
> be required in other car brands with the same compression ratio and almost
> as high as other Hondas (such as the civic si) that do require premium. My
> question is that "if" I used Premium even though it wasnt really required,
> would i see an improvement in the performance being that its so close to
> almost needing premium?

Maybe

"Kenneth J. Harris" > wrote in message
...
> alfred wrote:
>> Hello,
>>
>> I have a 2008 Accord Auto 4 cyl EX-L. The manual says to use regular 87
>> octane. The compression ratio in this car is high enough where premium
>> would be required in other car brands with the same compression ratio and
>> almost as high as other Hondas (such as the civic si) that do require
>> premium. My question is that "if" I used Premium even though it wasnt
>> really required, would i see an improvement in the performance being that
>> its so close to almost needing premium?
>
> Maybe


Well I use "top tier" gas all the time. I always use Shell gas, because its
a name I trust, unlike Hess or other no name brands that you just don't
know. So maybe I'll do the Chevron Techron every 9000 miles or so. I suppose
I could put the premium in there some time to see if it makes a difference.
Its a family car with a nearly high performance engine, so I don't know...

"alfred" > wrote in message
news
> Hello,
>
> I have a 2008 Accord Auto 4 cyl EX-L. The manual says to use regular 87
> octane. The compression ratio in this car is high enough where premium
> would be required in other car brands with the same compression ratio and
> almost as high as other Hondas (such as the civic si) that do require
> premium. My question is that "if" I used Premium even though it wasnt
> really required, would i see an improvement in the performance being that
> its so close to almost needing premium?
>

If your car required premium, Soichiro would have told you that in the
Owner's Manual.. It's always a waste of money to pay for octane your car
doesn't need...

On 1/1/08 3:11 PM, in article , "alfred"
> wrote:

> Hello,
>
> I have a 2008 Accord Auto 4 cyl EX-L. The manual says to use regular 87
> octane. The compression ratio in this car is high enough where premium would
> be required in other car brands with the same compression ratio and almost
> as high as other Hondas (such as the civic si) that do require premium. My
> question is that "if" I used Premium even though it wasnt really required,
> would i see an improvement in the performance being that its so close to
> almost needing premium?

Probably not. Honda will have set the ECU to keep it de-tuned for the
regular gas. Its worth a test though. Run about 3 tankfulls of premium
through it and see if anything changes.

>
> Where I live the Regular unleaded octane is 87, Plus is 89 octane and
> Premium is 93-94 octane. Our gasoline in my part of the country is 10%
> Ethanol also. I've been using regular since I had the car and during the
> break in period as well. It has 1524 miles on it now and is almost 2 months
> old. I followed the break in requirements 100% and my oil is at 70% on
> original oil.
>
> Another question is about using fuel injector cleaners like the Chevron
> Techron fuel system cleaner, is that something that I should consider maybe
> every 6 months? How would that compare to other brands like Gumout and STP?
>
> Thanks,
> Al
>
>

alfred wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I have a 2008 Accord Auto 4 cyl EX-L. The manual says to use regular 87
> octane. The compression ratio in this car is high enough where premium would
> be required in other car brands with the same compression ratio and almost
> as high as other Hondas (such as the civic si) that do require premium. My
> question is that "if" I used Premium even though it wasnt really required,
> would i see an improvement in the performance being that its so close to
> almost needing premium?
>
> Where I live the Regular unleaded octane is 87, Plus is 89 octane and
> Premium is 93-94 octane. Our gasoline in my part of the country is 10%
> Ethanol also. I've been using regular since I had the car and during the
> break in period as well. It has 1524 miles on it now and is almost 2 months
> old. I followed the break in requirements 100% and my oil is at 70% on
> original oil.
>
> Another question is about using fuel injector cleaners like the Chevron
> Techron fuel system cleaner, is that something that I should consider maybe
> every 6 months? How would that compare to other brands like Gumout and STP?
>
> Thanks,
> Al
>
>

you can't presume that higher compression ratio automatically requires
higher octane, or yields better results using higher octane. in the bad
old days, detroit never bothered to fully research the correlation
between what had been empirically observed about compression ratio and
octane. basically, they just doctored gas to fix what they knew was a
problem.

then came the japanese. why not fix the fundamental problem rather than
doctor gas? what they figured out was that combustion chamber design,
namely making sure that there were no dead zones no sharp edges, no
obstacles to smooth flame front propagation, allowed low octane to run
at higher compression, and thus, be much more fuel efficient.

marry those fundamental principles to modern engine management - knock
detection and active timing adjustment - and you have a high performance
motor that runs great on any old crap gas.

bottom line - while there is a teensy little difference in calorific
value between high and low octane, higher octane being slightly higher,
it's almost certainly not enough to be noticeable without scientific
measurement. and not enough to justify the cost. just spend your money
on a quality branded gas, regular octane, with a quality additive
package that will keep your injectors clean, and you'll have a great
running car, plenty of power, and as cheap to run as possible.

Elmo P. Shagnasty wrote:
<snip>

> No
> money was spent for it to do anything other than what it does.

i guess - pretty much by definition. a vast fortune was spent however
on getting it to do what it /does/ do.

Elmo P. Shagnasty wrote:
> In article >,
> jim beam > wrote:
>
>>> No
>>> money was spent for it to do anything other than what it does.
>> i guess - pretty much by definition. a vast fortune was spent however
>> on getting it to do what it /does/ do.
>
> Yep.
>
> But as we know, absolutely no more than necessary is spent on building
> the car itself. Car companies slobber at the thought of saving half a
> penny in manufacturing.
>
> Despite its recent stumblings, Honda is at its heart an engineering
> company. And they used that talent to bring the manufacturing cost of
> an Accord down as far as possible.
>
> There ain't not give in that car. Nowhere.
>

driven a ford lately? there's a /ton/ of "give" in a honda.

Elmo P. Shagnasty wrote:
> In article > ,
> jim beam > wrote:
>
>>> There ain't not give in that car. Nowhere.
>>>
>> driven a ford lately? there's a /ton/ of "give" in a honda.
>
> What kind of "give"?
>

pretty much everything - cheaper glass, cheaper paint, cheaper metal,
cheaper design, worse tolerances, lower standards across the board.
ford's plastic brake pistons are among of my favorites.