Gas octane

Honda 4life

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Hi sorry my english is bad anyway i bought a 2017 honda civic LX(base model) what is the best octane to use? Is it ok to use 89 to 93 octane? Or ill stick to 87? Money is not an issue i just want to put good octane to my car.

On manual it says 87 or higher is required but im still confuse what gas octane to use. I like to use higher than 87 octane but im scared to damage my engine. Thanks to all civic lovers.

Ps: this is my first car(2017 civic lx) and so far so good and loving it by the way my dad owns a 95 hatchback civic and it still in good condition :)
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Hi sorry my english is bad anyway i bought a 2017 honda civic LX(base model) what is the best octane to use? Is it ok to use 89 to 93 octane? Or ill stick to 87? Money is not an issue i just want to put good octane to my car.

On manual it says 87 or higher is required but im still confuse what gas octane to use. I like to use higher than 87 octane but im scared to damage my engine. Thanks to all civic lovers.

Ps: this is my first car(2017 civic lx) and so far so good and loving it by the way my dad owns a 95 hatchback civic and it still in good condition :)
No damage will happen.. If there is a shell station near you and you are in the u.s. i would recommend shell 91 octane..
 
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Honda 4life

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No damage will happen.. If there is a shell station near you and you are in the u.s. i would recommend shell 91 octane..
Yes sir i lived in the US(texas) and shell is my priority gas station :)

Ill try the 91 octane thanks sir :)
 


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Honda 4life

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Stick to 87. Anything more then you are throwing your money away.
I thought using high octane will clean your engine i mean it will minimize the carbon build up...
 

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I thought using high octane will clean your engine i mean it will minimize the carbon build up...
No, but you should stick with Tier 1 gasoline. There's a specific list of gas stations with Tier 1 http://www.toptiergas.com/licensedbrands/. Tier 1 contains cleaning detergents which keeps your engine clean. Octane number refers to how much a fuel can be compressed before igniting, it has nothing to do with how clean it is for your engine. 87 is perfectly fine, especially for the LX.
 
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Honda 4life

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No, but you should stick with Tier 1 gasoline. There's a specific list of gas stations with Tier 1 http://www.toptiergas.com/licensedbrands/. Tier 1 contains cleaning detergents which keeps your engine clean. Octane number refers to how much a fuel can be compressed before igniting, it has nothing to do with how clean it is for your engine. 87 is perfectly fine, especially for the LX.
Noted thanks sir.
 

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No, but you should stick with Tier 1 gasoline. There's a specific list of gas stations with Tier 1 http://www.toptiergas.com/licensedbrands/. Tier 1 contains cleaning detergents which keeps your engine clean. Octane number refers to how much a fuel can be compressed before igniting, it has nothing to do with how clean it is for your engine. 87 is perfectly fine, especially for the LX.
This, absolutely this.

There is no reason to use anything higher than 87 octane unless you've done some modifications and run a custom tune with Hondata and you tune for 93 octane. You won't get a performance increase, no matter what your butt dyno says.
 

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The only thing higher octane does is prevent pre ignition by retarding combustion slightly. It does not "pack more of a wallop", like most people think. Your car could actually run worse on premium. You probably wouldn't notice it though, and for most guys who run premium in a car designed for regular the placebo effect kicks in and they think they have more horsepower. They don't. Any automotive engineer will tell them so.
 


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The only thing higher octane does is prevent pre ignition by retarding combustion slightly. It does not "pack more of a wallop", like most people think. Your car could actually run worse on premium. You probably wouldn't notice it though, and for most guys who run premium in a car designed for regular the placebo effect kicks in and they think they have more horsepower. They don't. Any automotive engineer will tell them so.
.... and yet... There are plenty of cars out there that come right from the factory that have the ability to increase performance (hp,tq) when running 91+ octane vs 87 (which they can also run). How DO those engineers DO it?
 

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.... and yet... There are plenty of cars out there that come right from the factory that have the ability to increase performance (hp,tq) when running 91+ octane vs 87 (which they can also run). How DO those engineers DO it?
They have sensors to measure octane and the ECU adjusts accordingly. This is how flex-fuel works.

I'm not aware of any cars that advertise increased HP by running higher octane fuel. Do you have any examples?
 

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Most (as in 90% ) of the cars out there that can make adjustments for octane are going to advertise with their highest hp,tq. So those will be the numbers for the higher octane. They aren't going to "advertise" (tell you) the lower hp,tq numbers that you'll be getting with 87 octane.

With the Genx civic (especially the 1.5t) we have seen/heard of real world examples that the engines are producing more than their advertised numbers AND that they will adjust for higher octane. Why would they do that? Marketing. It makes marketing sense to save $ on R&D and just produce (basically) one engine, then sand-bag the numbers on the lower priced model so as not to cannibalize sales on the "sportier" models.
 
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Most (as in 90% ) of the cars out there that can make adjustments for octane are going to advertise with their highest hp,tq. So those will be the numbers for the higher octane. They aren't going to "advertise" (tell you) the lower hp,tq numbers that you'll be getting with 87 octane.

With the Genx civic (especially the 1.5t) we have seen/heard of real world examples that the engines are producing more than their advertised numbers AND that they will adjust for higher octane. Why would they do that? Marketing. It makes marketing sense to save $ on R&D and just produce (basically) one engine, then sand-bag the numbers on the lower priced model so as not to cannibalize sales on the "sportier" models.
The 1.5L Turbo does not have an octane sensor on it. We've got a knock sensor to pull timing if it's seeing pinging, but nothing to tell the ECU what fuel is being fed.

You also didn't answer the question. Flex fuel cars will adjust timing based on the octane they are reading. Timing does affect HP numbers, but at this level not very much. We're probably talking less than 1hp.

You are right about marketing tho. This is why I wouldn't waste the money on the SI considering it has the same engine my EX-T has, but with some bolt ons and a better tune. 6MT would be nice tho :p
 

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Yeah see if the Civic does not have an octane sensor it can't adjust properly for the octane. There will be some indirect adjustments made by the ECU as a result of the engine running *differently* but these will not fully optimize the engine for higher octane. As a result you won't be burning the higher octane fuel completely, meaning that not only won't you get the full benefit of the extra octane, but you'll also end up with more pollution out your tailpipe. Just run 87 and use a bottle of Techron or your preferred cleaner if you really need it.
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