Hey guys, I have a 96 Honda Civic EX coupe and I was wondering if it makes a difference in performance as to whether I use Premium or Regular Gas?

 

For a d series I would just put regular. In a B16 or GSR, I would put premium. I fill up with premium in my GSR and have had no problems.

 

in a stock motor, use regular. all your doing is wasting money. in a built motor, then use premium.

if you switch from regular to premium you won't see a difference in power or gas mileage.

b16's and gsr's as far as I know don't require premium. that would be a waste too.

 

It is not required but if you can afford it you might as well. I run premium in both of my cars one the boosted hatch becuase I have to and the other a shitty 91 tercel because it run much better on the 92 octane than it did on regualar 87. I am not saying that I gained power but it runs smoother and I do get better gas milage when running the 92 for some reason. When you think about it, it may cost like 2 bucks more to fill up with premium rather than regular so why not do it unless you really need 2 bucks.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by gftgrill &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">in a stock motor, use regular. all your doing is wasting money. in a built motor, then use premium.

if you switch from regular to premium you won't see a difference in power or gas mileage.

b16's and gsr's as far as I know don't require premium. that would be a waste too.</TD></TR></TABLE>

In my 00 Si on the gas door it says Premium only.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ralphie14 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">It is not required but if you can afford it you might as well. I run premium in both of my cars one the boosted hatch becuase I have to and the other a shitty 91 tercel because it run much better on the 92 octane than it did on regualar 87. I am not saying that I gained power but it runs smoother and I do get better gas milage when running the 92 for some reason. When you think about it, it may cost like 2 bucks more to fill up with premium rather than regular so why not do it unless you really need 2 bucks.</TD></TR></TABLE>

i thought
higher the octane = poor gas mileage becuase it burn quicker; vise versa

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by G U E C O &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i thought
higher the octane = poor gas mileage becuase it burn quicker; vise versa</TD></TR></TABLE>

octane level is simply a fuels resistance to knock or detonation.

a high octane fuel will burn slower than a lower octane fuel, or rather, takes a bigger spark or more heat to start the initial ignition.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by gftgrill &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">in a stock motor, use regular. all your doing is wasting money. in a built motor, then use premium.

if you switch from regular to premium you won't see a difference in power or gas mileage.

b16's and gsr's as far as I know don't require premium. that would be a waste too.</TD></TR></TABLE>

GSR and B16s DO require Premium.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by G U E C O &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i thought
higher the octane = poor gas mileage becuase it burn quicker; vise versa</TD></TR></TABLE>

Myth. It all depends on your cars timing and the way the motor runs.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 91civicDXdude &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">octane level is simply a fuels resistance to knock or detonation.

a high octane fuel will burn slower than a lower octane fuel, or rather, takes a bigger spark or more heat to start the initial ignition.</TD></TR></TABLE>



For your Civic, if its not highly modified, just use regular....

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 91civicDXdude &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

octane level is simply a fuels resistance to knock or detonation.

a high octane fuel will burn slower than a lower octane fuel, or rather, takes a bigger spark or more heat to start the initial ignition.</TD></TR></TABLE>

thanks, i learn something new everyday

 

D series = 87
B series = 93

end of story

 

what about in japan, dont they use 99oct? Say i was going to go tune my car with 97oct, and then use 95oct fuel sometimes, would it cause any diff?

 

my civic runs smoother on mid grade, but it gets less mileage and no performance gain

so i use regular

 

Keep it clean.. I use premium in my 89 CRX Si, I.H.E. ZEX and I use it in my Almost STOCK Del Sol S. Its all preferance

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 93CX &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">D series = 87
B series = 93

end of story</TD></TR></TABLE>
Wrong dingaling. See my post (first page, near the bottom) about some very useful info I found recently:
https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1428040

 

Run 87. Running 93 will do absolutely NOTHING but cost you more money. I've tried both and noticed no gains performance wise.

 

THERMO 101:

Octane is what determines the flash point. If your motor takes 87, putting in 93 will NOT affect power of gas mileage at all ASSUMING your engine is trouble free. Put in the lowest octane for your motor that it needs, and no more.

if your built with a turbo, and your engine "knocks", then up the octane.

 

I didn't mean to say that you should put premium in a stock civic/integra. Just trying to explain how manufacturers come up with their "use premium only" mantra.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Redline96LX &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">THERMO 101:

Octane is what determines the flash point. If your motor takes 87, putting in 93 will NOT affect power of gas mileage at all ASSUMING your engine is trouble free. Put in the lowest octane for your motor that it needs, and no more.

if your built with a turbo, and your engine "knocks", then up the octane. </TD></TR></TABLE>



Everyone keeps saying high compression needs 91 otherwise it will knock, well what do you think your ecu is doing to maintain/prevent knock?

You CAN run 87 on 10.5:1 granted your performance won't be as good as on 91 or 93 but you can run it. There is this little box that advances/retards timing and prevents knock (amoung other things) that adjusts based off of certain aspects of how the engine is running/seeing.

Honestly, if you can't afford 91 (here it is 2.50 and 93 is 2.55) then get a lower compression engine and stay there, otherwise don't bitch.

Read this link...a VERY good read with great information (listen to people like Kamin and lynx bus type r and probably others but those 2 for sure):
https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=859655

 

Civic [or rather Honda's in general] are made to take a lower quality fuel. Well stock anyway. They are all about fuel economy and running on whatever is put into it [We learned all about the Import car craze and its explosion int he 80's, becuase of theyre economy and reliability].

SO Premium for Severe upgrades, otehrwise, I wouldnt worry about what youre putting into your car.

 

Just put the gas in that your manual suggests, 5 more octane is not going to give you a performance boost or better mpg.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by gftgrill &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">b16's and gsr's as far as I know don't require premium. that would be a waste too.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Wrong. They do require premium gas.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by .ken &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">



Everyone keeps saying high compression needs 91 otherwise it will knock, well what do you think your ecu is doing to maintain/prevent knock?

You CAN run 87 on 10.5:1 granted your performance won't be as good as on 91 or 93 but you can run it. There is this little box that advances/retards timing and prevents knock (amoung other things) that adjusts based off of certain aspects of how the engine is running/seeing.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

1). Its not a "box" its a board
2). It uses a map to make adjustments off of in order to attemp to compensate for engine noise. It it not that hard to exceed the limits of it adjusting scope
3). The knock board only controls knock. Please explain what "other things" it prevents
4). In order for the board to first work as intended, it has to "see" knock in the first place. Granted it won't be there for a long time, its still not a good thing
5). A knock sensor is a PREVENTATIVE device to help safe gaurd against things like stupid owners, bad batches of gas, etc.. Its not something you are supposed to rely on becuse your cheap *** can't put the correct octane fuel in your car

The information being provided here is not completely true. I can already see it. Someone is going to read this info and then go and tell thier friends: "Yeah, I read on Honda-tech that I don't need 91, so I run 87 now. I'm saving a whole $2 each time I fill up and the car runs exactly the same!" In reality, his chipped ECU isn't using the knock sensor, the guy has no clue what the hell knock sounds like and is slowly destroying his engine.

 

very true. However, on stock motors..
Lets take my dad's 03 TL. It asks for premium. He drives the car like an old man all the time, racks up lots of miles, puts in 87 octane, and 107k miles later, the engine seems to be fine, I checked the spark plugs, oil, etc, everything looks alright. There could be some minor wear thats more than normal, but there are still many people who will drive a car for only about 100k miles, and thats before its first big maintainence nowadays. On really modern engines with knock sensors and all this crazy computing power in the ECU, the ECU will adapt. Its called "adaptive strategy" and the car alters the way the engine goes (within a range) to your driving habits. The new cars with drive-by-wire throttle will back off the harsnness for drivers with a real hard foot, but go to WOT quicker. The ECU will also make the motor "ok" to run on less than expected octane. Now your MPG and power may go down, but on these modern engines, they'll be ok because the cars are built with the intention of people abusing them and not doing oil changes every 5000 miles and replacing plugs on time, etc etc.

 

the lower the octane rating the better for a stock motor