not using premium gas

I have a '95 honda prelude special edition automatic. It states to only use premium unleaded fuel. I am thinking of using only the mid-grade unleaded fuel to save money. Would I be damaging the car in any way doing this? From what I have heard from other people is that I will only lose a little bit of horsepower. Is it a good idea to go from premium fuel to mid-grade so I can save a few $$$ ?

It won't kill your car.

It will creat some carbon build up in the engine and on the valves. Just dump some fuel injection cleaner in once a month or every other month on a fill up and that should take care of any build up.

Platnium Spark plugs will also keep the carbon build up down.

You will lose a little bit of power because of using lower octane gas, but it won't cause some crazy stupid damage to your car. I put regular unleaded in mine just because prices are freakin' ridiculous, ya know? I also dump injector cleaner in my car every now and then just to clean the internals, but the point is, no harm done. Now diesel, that's a different story. :P

Thanks for everyone's replies.

Don't be cheap... Premium is only 20 cents more per gallon thats what $3 a tank you save vs. the money it's going to cost to rebuild your head.

It's not some conspiracy that the car company wants you to pay more for gas, it's the fact that you bought a car with a high compression engine which isnt designed for low octane. It was designed to run on low octane in the event of an emergency for no more than a few tanks if there was a premium fuel shortage or something. Point is the regular gas will cause pinging and carbon buildup...The computer will sense the pinging and retard the timing to compensate however you are hurting your car more in the long run than you are saving in gas.

Don't be cheap... Premium is only 20 cents more per gallon thats what $3 a tank you save vs. the money it's going to cost to rebuild your head.

It's not some conspiracy that the car company wants you to pay more for gas, it's the fact that you bought a car with a high compression engine which isnt designed for low octane. It was designed to run on low octane in the event of an emergency for no more than a few tanks if there was a premium fuel shortage or something. Point is the regular gas will cause pinging and carbon buildup...The computer will sense the pinging and retard the timing to compensate however you are hurting your car more in the long run than you are saving in gas.


I don't know about it not being a conspiracy and all.... JK.

It is better for your car to run the recomended octane . The higher octane is relatively much cheaper than it used to be. Although gas has trippled in price the differnece in cost between octanes has remained static. It's 3 times cheaper to buy high octane now than it used to be.

Well crap. That sucks actually. What is pinging? Is it like knock? Maybe I'll fill up with Premium from now on. I've been slowly killing my lude all this time! :(

yes ping=knock

Usually you end up running richer too when you use lower octane, therfore your gas mileage drops, you fuel up more often, and end up spending the same about on gas per mile as you would spend for premium and have the car run correctly.

Hmm, well, since a friend of mine fills his up with regular, I thought it would have been ok, but what you're saying makes sense. What everyone is saying makes sense. I should ask forgiveness from the Prelude Gods before they smite me for poisoning my car. Later guys!

You can get away with using 89 in the H23. I reccomend using 93 (or the highest you can get) about every 3rd fill up for cleaning purposes. The best way to save money is just keep an clean air filter, clean oil, and correct tire pressure. If you have an H22 swapped in, I highly suggest not to use anything but premium.