Is fueling your car with regular unleaded gas bad for your car in the long run?

Question

I have a 2004 Honda Civic and according to my uncle I should only fuel my car with regular unleaded if I am really broke since that type of gas contains more water and ruins the engine faster.

Answer 1

Engine manufacturers design and tune most of their engines to operate optimum with the regular grade fuel. Some higher performance engines require a little more octane to perform smoothly and efficiently. The high octane grade fuel is a must for them.

Fueling your vehicle with any greater octane level than what is suggested in your owners manual will, without any real advantage to your engine, only drain your wallet quicker.

Using an incorrect grade fuel in your engine can cause premature wear of expensive parts such as pistons, rings, valves, and fuel injectors, not extend their life as some misinformed people would lead you to believe. Even spark plug life can be shortened by the wrong blend. And engine temperature can be wrongly affected as well. Keep your engine tuned well and you will never suspect the need to dangerously hide a performance problem by using the wrong octane in your engine.

PS: Water is not a component processed into any grade of gasoline. It's presence is purely accidental and all grades are susceptive to it's invasion during storage.

Answer 2

Regular unleaded has no more "impurities" in it than mid-grade or premium. What does matter is where you buy it. A station that sells a lot of fuel will likely have less issues with their fuel than one that sells less. A newer station also will be less likely to have fuel tanks that leak water into the storage tank. The EPA regulates fuel storage tanks and states set standards as well. It is well regulated.

Your car should run fine with reg unleaded, but if it starts to spark knock you will need to step up the the mid range grade octane or risk permanent, major engine damage that will cost far more than the difference in the fuel prices.

Answer 3

The different types of gasoline only have a different octane level. Regular is the lowest.
If you drive a four or six cylinder car, regular is fine in them. If you drive a car with a V-8 engine, then the best is the highest grade.
Water is not a normal part of gasoline. Some tanks do get some water in them due to condensation of the storage tanks.
If your car is doing a lot of knocking and pinging, you may need to go to a different brand of gasoline.
If your car has fuel injection, put a can of injector cleaner in with a full tank of gas to help keep it clean and running better. And of course make sure you keep it tuned up when it's due.

Answer 4

Regular unleaded has a higher flash point than High octane. What this means is that in order to have the same amount of fuel at a constant rate to produce the same rate of power the engine has to be highly tuned to maximize the use of high octane fuels. Something your vehicle is not capable of doing, you will notice a better fuel milage over the long run but this is due to the increase in presure in your fuel delivery lines pushing the fumes of the fuel to the pistons, and starving the engine of fuel. However in the long run since your vehicles motor is not design to maximize the use of high octane, changing fuels will create uneven wear in your pistons. Over a period of time your pistons will leak oil faster if you vary the use of the fuel from high octane to low octane. Is not bad to use high octane once in a while to clean the piston chamber since high octane also burns hoter but should not to be done too often, there are no test out there to really tell you how often is too often, but I can tell you that everytime you do your tune up would be a good idea..

Answer 5

Regular unleaded gasoline doesn't have more water, it has a lower octane rating. I wouldn't waste my money to put a higher octane fuel into a Honda Civic. The higher grade fuels are for performance vehicles. I love the Civic, but it is an economy vehicle, not a race car.

Answer 6

The only thing that regular unleaded gas doesn't have that premium have is the slightly higher price and a few extra chemicals that make the engine sound but not perform better.

Premium just prevents you from hearing a few kinks from your engine that you would otherwise. It doesn't affect quality at all.

Heck, unless your car needs premium, stay with regular. Don't go for the middle stuff.

Answer 7

Yes, it is if you continue to use regular it can hurt the performance and the engine. Using regular gas does more harm then good, many don't know because they are not being told about the unability to run properly. Cars call for specific gas and the better gas the smoother the ride will be.

Answer 8

You should stick with the grade of fuel your owner's manual recommends. If you really think about it: Medium grade is usually $.02 to $.05 a gallon more than regular. Say your car has a ten gallon tank. Even if you fill it up, the difference in price is going to be, at most, $.50. Using a lesser grade really puts extra strain on your engine, which can lead to problems.

Answer 9

Your engine was built to run that type of gas. Water in the gas isn't an issue unless you live in a cold climate, in which case put a can of "dry gas" in the fuel tank. Most fuels are blended with it already in so I wouldn't worry about it too much

Answer 10

If your owner's manual says your car can run on regular (87 octane) gasoline, then by all means buy it. There's no practical reason to run a higher grade.

What you shouldn't do is buy CHEAP regular gasoline. It's the brand of gas that's the problem--not the gas itself. Brands like Arco are cheap because they aren't purified like Shell, Chevron or Mobil and can contain a high enough percentage of water to damage your engine.

If you can afford it, buy Chevron or Shell only. 76 and Mobil are the brands I'd choose next. If you have no alternative, buy cheap (Arco) or no-name brands...but never on a regular basis. Chevron is the best brand of gas for your car. All auto manufacturers swear by it.