Sam's club fuel causing problems?

[dantwan1]

I've been fighting a gremlin for about a year now where intermittently all my warning lights will come on and christmas tree while the car is idling after driving it for a while, usually in a drive-thru, when I had this issue before it turned out to be low voltage from a bad battery, so I've replaced the battery again but the lights still come on. If I disconnect my negative cable for a few minutes and hook it back up the car will re-initialize and the lights are all gone, but they eventually come back.

Recently I had my car into the dealer for 100K mile maintenance and I asked them to scan it for me, the code turned up an error for running rich, they tested my fuel injectors and the flow is correct, couldn't find any issues, I'm not tuned the car is 100% stock, dealership did not seem concerned about it. The performance of the car seems 100% solid, everything works/sounds as it should, but the lights on the gauge cluster come on.

I'll go for long stretches where the error never occurs, and then sometimes you can time it like a watch. I did a 1600 mile round trip across the country and the lights never came on once, the only thing I can think of that is different is I filled up with random gas stations along the highway, but when I'm at home I typically only fill up with Sam's club premium. Would Sam's club gas have any effect on the car running rich? Has anyone else had problems with Sam's club gas?

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[SDAlexander8]

It is unlikely that it is the gas. Have you made any modifications to the air intake? Tell me you don’t have a blow off valve.

edit: nevermind i see that you said if is stock.

 

[mforcino]

I’m tuned on Phearable 1.5R and have no issues with Sam’s Club 93 octane.

 

[tacocat]

Has the car ever been in an accident or had any bodywork or major engine work done?

 

[dantwan1]

Has the car ever been in an accident or had any bodywork or major engine work done?

Yes, I got clipped by an Explorer in the front left and had to have the bumper, fender, SRS control unit, and driver airbag replaced, but that was in 2020. Honda repainted the driver side door because of a rust spot under warranty in 2019.

Edit: Actually the accident was in 2021, could be something they missed. Any ideas?

 

[jason510]

You said you've been having the problem for about a year now and that your accident was in 2021. Is it possible the timing of the Xmas tree lights beginning coincides with when you got your car back after the accident?

Interesting how you associated the dash lights with fuel before the accident....am I missing something?

 

[dantwan1]

You said you've been having the problem for about a year now and that your accident was in 2021. Is it possible the timing of the Xmas tree lights beginning coincides with when you got your car back after the accident?

Interesting how you associated the dash lights with fuel before the accident....am I missing something?

It didn't start happening until pretty long after the repairs were done, probably 6 months later or so.

 

[dantwan1]

You said you've been having the problem for about a year now and that your accident was in 2021. Is it possible the timing of the Xmas tree lights beginning coincides with when you got your car back after the accident?

Interesting how you associated the dash lights with fuel before the accident....am I missing something?

To add to this, the dealer told me one of the possible causes could be bad gas and they offered to drop the gas tank and empty it and refill it with fresh fuel, that got me thinking about what gas I'm putting in there. I did a little bit of research and found that Honda recommends top tier fuel and Sam's club is not on the top tier fuel list. I've filled my tank today with Mobil premium and no lights yet, but we'll see.

 

[gtman]

OP - What was the actual error code?

 

[dantwan1]

OP - What was the actual error code?

Unfortunately it's not in the notes, just says "chkd vehicle over and got DTC for system running rich. Chkd fuel system over, complete fuel pressure tests, complete diag steps and steps wanted to start replacing items with known good items, drain fuel tank and add fresh fuel. There are too many things that can cause this code to set."

Edit: If the lights come back I'll bring it back to them to investigate it more and get a proper code out of them.

 

[SDAlexander8]

To add to this, the dealer told me one of the possible causes could be bad gas and they offered to drop the gas tank and empty it and refill it with fresh fuel, that got me thinking about what gas I'm putting in there. I did a little bit of research and found that Honda recommends top tier fuel and Sam's club is not on the top tier fuel list. I've filled my tank today with Mobil premium and no lights yet, but we'll see.

Sam’s club sells top tier gas. They just buy it from different oil companies. Whoever is cheaper at the time.

 

[dantwan1]

Sam’s club sells top tier gas. They just buy it from different oil companies. Whoever is cheaper at the time.

This is the list I referenced when checking, Costco is on there in many different subsidiaries but Sam’s club isn’t on the list. Unfortunately there isn’t a Costco near me or I’d go that route.

 

[thatonejosh]

I would hope it isn't the gas, fill mine up there since this gas crisis and haven't had any issues so far.

 

[civicmanic]

This happened to my car one day a few times. Went away on its own. It happened to my co workers, he was under warranty and they replaced the fuel injectors. Then, two weeks later it happened again to him, and they replaced spark plugs. Then he got rid of the car. Only had 20k kms on it.

 

[dantwan1]

This happened to my car one day a few times. Went away on its own. It happened to my co workers, he was under warranty and they replaced the fuel injectors. Then, two weeks later it happened again to him, and they replaced spark plugs. Then he got rid of the car. Only had 20k kms on it.

It’s not a dealbreaker for me I’m keeping the car with or without the problem, it’s just annoying enough to make me want to find a permanent fix for it. I also now have new spark plugs from the 100K mile service and my injectors tested good so I’m in the same boat.

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