What type of gas to use?
 

I am a brand new 2011 RDX owner of 24 hours :thumbsup:, I have not yet filled up...would like to know what some owners out there use and why. Many Thanks!

Doesn't the manual say Premium? Or are you talking about the brand name of gas stations?

Any top tier gasoline.. Shell, Chevron, etc. 93+

It does say premuim, but the salesman at the dealership said they use regular...probably so i wouldn't get turned off at the higher cost. Was curious as to what real owners are using....Thanks!

Not sure I would trust regular, but you could try the mid grade and let us know how it works.

ALWAYS use premium in an engine that has a turbo.

Use Premium. It says it by the fill. It's a turbo...

My 2009 manual says failure to use Premium can damage the engine. It also says regular can be used in an emergency. If I did that, I would use the highest octane available (other than premium), and also drive carefully trying not to 'engage' the turbo. You can do this by watching the turbo boost gauge.

As for brand, I prefer Chevron in the RDX as I believe that it has the highest percentage of cleaning type additives, otherwise any other top-tier fuel. I generally use Phillips in my old Chevy Blazer as it is just by my house, is a top-tier rated fuel, and is the only local station without E10 ethanol fuel in my area.

You can search online for a current listing of top-tier branded fuels. These brands supposedly contain enough additive to protect the fuel injectors, preventing clogging.

I have nothing to do with selling Chevron, I just accept their advertising - my own opinion in other words.

GM actually recommends use of Chevron Techron Concentrate/ Extra to help protect the fuel level gauge sender in the tank. Of course the bottle is re-branded GM but is definitely from Chevron. It is sold through my Chevy dealer, but I just buy the Chevron from a parts store.

And I have to wonder why the fuel level sensor is subject to damage from the sulfer in the fuel in the first place. Because of my concern over this on the RDX, I also add Chevron Techron bottle every three months or so to the tank, for fuel injector protection. Check the comments on the Chevron Extra bottle.

Do note that there are two different types of Chevron fuel additive. I do not know the specific labeling since I do not have a bottle handy. One is called I think Pro-Gard Fuel Injection cleaner. There may even be different versions of this Pro-Gard stuff. This contains apparantly a lower concentration of the techron additive, and I do not recommend this.

The other is I think called Chevron Techron Concentrate. You need to read the bottle, and choose the one that says use only every 3K miles, not the one that can be used very 1K miles.

(begin rant) The 3K Techron stuff has been recommended by GM for the past 10 years or so, as all models of Chevys suffer from sticking or completely damaged fuel level sensors. The fuel gauges in both my Blazer and Camaro DO NOT WORK. The damage results from the sulfer in gasoline, according to GM. Too bad they simply do not fix the problem, rather than recommending a fuel additive (end rant).

If you wonder why I add Techron additive to my Blazer even though it does not fix the fuel gauge, I use it to clean the injectors and the combustion chamber - 100K miles and counting.

My husband accidentally put in regular at one point but we use premium 93+ all the way. Not sure if there was a difference in the 1 time use, but we were on a road trip and burned it all off so it didn't stay in there long.

The one tank senario will not harm anything. The ECM will take care of things, especially on a road trip when you do allot of cruising.

The ECM is quite a smart little bugger, once it senses the lower octane of the regular gas it will reduce the ignition advance to compensate, so the car will feel less responsive and sluggish than before. It doesnt happen immediatley it takes a very short while to react. After you reintroduce the premium it returns to normal timing advance. Prolonged use of the regular gas and stomping on the gas when doing so is what will mess up the engine!

Does anyone use ethanol blended fuels? I'm thinking E10 (10% ethanol), not the E85. My Porsche manual suggests not to use ethanol blends, but I don't know why.

if youre in calgary, you shld have shell 91 v-power no ethanol. suggest you stick with that for rdx. someone (i think mau) used to have 93 sunoco and it screwed up his readings (some fault in cat converter or whatnot). since we still have no ethanol blend in canada, i guess take advantage of it... i always use shell 91 - so far so good.

Husky and Mohawk have E10 blends; Premium with a 92 octane, and Prem Plus with a 94 octane (not sure if this 94 is blended or not).

And I use Shell V 91 in my Boxster. But I was wondering if Acura/Honda had any warnings about using E10 blends.

The E10 blend works 100% a-ok in the RDX!

the OM stated no more than 10% ethanol. it also states no lower than 91. so technically, should be ok.

i personally stuck with shell 91 though we do have a few huskys here. maybe one of these days ill try the husky prem plus. dunno how prevalent it is for us with very cold weather such problems would occur (eg. like mau's cat converter problem using 94 sunoco before - could be just a bad batch too). ive tried 94 sunoco (w/ethanol) and felt that it used/consumed more gas - but it could just be my driving too. either way i guess works.

I suppose it would consume a bit more gas...ethanol does not have the same energy as gasoline. But it does contain oxygen, which should result in a better burn, and less emissions.

I use Husky gas occasionally, and I'll continue to do so. Sounds like it won't harm anything.

yup, youre good either with 92 or 94 e10 or better (eg lower ethanol). shell v91 or husky prem and above...

Hi All,

I am new to the RDX world, I would like someone to please elaborate on why using lower octane messes up the engine?

I understand gunk build up, sluggish performance are expected, but what get's messed up internally?

Max.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octane_rating

This is an interesting read!

thank you for the read. I do not want to sound naive or anything but basically wiki said the same as what I stated + knock (detonation)...
I only owned this car for a 2 days. I'm on 91 octane now, I am willing to get this SUV 87 and see if I hear the detonation
Reference: Own a RSX Turbo :) .. i know how important it is for a high-power engine. (my engine hates 91 and will only take 94, cause its tuned for it)

If the RDX has technology like the RSX, then the ECU should have a 87 octane map. (some countries don't have the luxury of 91+)

I tried running mid level fuel, the car started missing and had a rough idle. Switched back to premium and run 76, car is running smooth again and has good pickup.

Amaco Ultimate 93 here at every fill up (unless its not available, in which case I opt for Sunoco).

Mileage is way better with 93 than with 87 too. I got 26mpgs round trip one day even--very light foot, but still.

I have had my 2007 RDX since 2007. I have used a wide variety of gas, but after much analysis I am convinced that you should use top tier premium. It isn't so much a matter of performance, for this wonderful car will perform no matter what you do to it. But it will give you better performance and most importantly better mileage if you put better gas in it. Even just going from cheaper premium to top tier premium can increase your MPG 10 - 15 %. It has proven this to me many, many times. It is a no brainer to pay the extra for it when the top tier gas usually only runs 1 - 5% more.

Why would anyone run lower octane than the mfg recommends?

Never. Not even for one tankful.

Before the ECU pulls out timing to limit knocking - the knock sensor has to detect a knock event. What is that? Bad things man.

The piston is on its way up and suddenly it has a premature ignition that causes the piston to try to go down while the crank is still pushing it up. Bad things man.

Knock sensor says - Ooo, I hear a knock, retard the timing, and the knock event stops. Any damage done?

The knock has already happened. Bad things man.

Please don't make your pistons go down when they are trying to go up.

Not once, not ever, not never.