Does the VTEC require premium fuel?

I know it's probably been discussed before, but I searched and couldn't find exactly what I was looking for.

On the 919, someone on a forum actually had dyno results with and without premium, and it was determined that the engine actually made more power with regular, and the manual recommended 87 octane I believe

Do the VTEC engines require you to run high octane fuel? I've run both and noticed no difference.

 

No, 87 octane is recomended by Honda

 

OK cool, thanks.

I need to download the manual it didn't come with the bike.

 

Standard unleaded should be enough - but try to avoid high ethanol content fuels - over time it rots standard fuel lines/seals and may result in the filler cap seal glueing itself shut. Over here you can't avoid 5% ethanol but some are running almost 15%.




SkiMad

 

87 octane is fine. I run non-ethanol fuel only. In addition to avoiding the problems pointed out by skimad4x4, you will also better fuel economy. More and more stations in the US are starting to sell it because the E10 fuel kills small engines especially those for marine use.

 

87 unless there is a reason to upgrade like pinging. But I have never heard of that. Most people will say that higher octane gases only stimulates the economy for the gas producers and offers no advantage to performance to our bikes. Regardless of your vehicle, use what the owners manual tells you to.

 

I have always run 91 or 92 octane in my 1990 and now in my 2003 - only way here in Canada to get 'no ethanol' - most of ours is 10%.

 

Higher octane fuel only offers a performance advantage if you have the timing advanced enough that the engine pings/knocks. The only purpose of higher octane fuels is to eliminate pinging/knocking as it is VERY destructive to an engine in very short order. Long story short, if it don't knock on low octane, you're good to go! This applies to regularly available pump fuels only. Performance advantages can be gained with specific RACE fuels in the 105-115 octane range and a proper tune, but you're talking a whole different ball game from every day public pump fuel.

 

I only run 91 in my bike. Why? I don't like ethanol, pure and simple. To me it's worth the extra 50 cents every fill up to not have to worry about what that crap (ethanol) is doing to everything it touches on its way to get blown up in my combusiton chamber.

 

Talon does bring up a good point regarding different fuel mixes they are using now to acheive different octane ratings. I don't have any choice but to run ethanol fuel where I live but it has been known to cause issues with eating seals and such in some older small engines. Also seems to make the fuel go stale much faster.

 

I can't remember the last time I saw regular unleaded available. I'm not filling up with E10, so I use premium 95. Premium 98 if the 95 isn't available.