HeavenlyBang:

Thanks!

And you don't get any pinging. Interesting. Your J37A1 engine has a compression ratio of 11.2, which is one of the highest I've seen for a mainstream car. How's your throttle response? And gas mileage? Have you ever filled up at a particular station and felt that your car was a bit abnormal when driving?

Another interesting case is the 2GR-FSE on the IS350. Compression ratio of 11.8, and people still drive it here.

I'm just curious, btw. I'm looking into Nigerian fuel and possible effects on performance engines.

bizzle2:

Gas mileage is horrible, I once got a reading of 11mpg after an intensive drive.
Throttle response is still great.
Its still a new car though, and I remember I did use an injector cleaner on the third gas purchase at an NNPC station ( the attendant kept marketing the thing, finally bought it)

kingreign:


These things pings, a lot of folks drive them without knowing. If you try that with a range rover sports, you'd soon see "reduced engine performance" on dash. Its best to keep using the octane boosters.

9icetoo:

Ah, finally. I was beginning to think I was the only one suffering from these pings.
Octane boosters will harm the cats faster than it will clog the injectors from what I read.

HeavenlyBang:


Just take off the cats, then. Doesn't help with anything anyway.

GAZZUZZ:

HeavenlyBang:

Correct me if I'm wrong. You get a slightly better exhaust note and more low-end power with a cat delete. What are the perks of keeping your cat, emissions aside?

thebigkendo:


Depend on manufacturer, CAT delete can affect(positively or negatively) fuel economy on some cars
I drove my 06 Accord for over a year without CAT, later installed an O2 sensor Spacer which got rid of the P0420, No difference in fuel economy.

thebigkendo:


Depend on manufacturer, CAT delete will affect fuel economy on some cars.
I drove my 06 Accord for over a year without CAT, later installed an O2 sensor Spacer which got rid of the P0420, No difference in fuel economy.

HeavenlyBang:


AFAIK, cat deletes improve fuel economy, not the other way around.

HeavenlyBang:


AFAIK, cat deletes improve fuel economy, not the other way around.

thebigkendo:


AFAYK= Theory
Does in the field(practical) will tell you otherwise

9icetoo:

On my previous Camry (big for nothing), fuel economy was marginally worse until I installed spacers. But car was very noisy.

HeavenlyBang:


No, because I literally took off my cats about three months ago, and saw a verrrrry slight increase in mpg. Like, 0.5, lol. Or maybe my driving habits changed, who knows?

thebigkendo:


Funny you.. My point still stands.. Depends on car/manufacturer.

So many factors could have caused your 0.5 increase in mpg.. If you had said 2 or 3mpg gain after CAT delete..eehen!!!

HeavenlyBang:


Noisy? That's not how you say awesome. When I took off my cats, my exhaust note had a deeper growl to it.

My Honda growls with its cats deleted and I absolutely love the note. It gives me so much joy that I forget all my worries whenever I'm driving

banky3w:


My Honda growls with its cats deleted and I absolutely love the note. It gives me so much joy that I forget all my worries whenever I'm driving

HeavenlyBang:


Can't really blame the cars or the companies, though. Blame your country for only importing low octane PMS.

Tbh, there's no performance car that runs at peak output with regular gas. Higher compression ratios require premium.

greenhulk:


Exactly. The reduced performance is not felt by 90% of users. Most of these cars with higher compression and horsepower don't use more than half of their hp most of the times anyway. When I'm not using my car for racing. When I need that hp for quick acceleration it delivers (05 acura TL), but most of the times I just cruise unless when traveling. I did a round trip from Lagos to ekiti state ivee the festive period and performance was WOW (yes I know it could be better if it had premium fuel on it), fuel economy was superb, round trip of about 800km on full tank and when coming back I added just 5k of fuel. (Again I know it could be better if it was on premium but not by very much). I think the whole performance issue is felt when on higher RPM and let's be honest, how many times do we drive our cars at higher RPM when we are not racing.

With regular fuel (once in a while I add octane booster), this TL will still dust any 07 Camry v6 or Lexus ES of same generation in a drag race.

9icetoo:
Acuras and infinitis have it really bad. I couldn't rev more than 3k rpm yesterday cause my acura pinged so badly. I used to add octane booster to every tank of fuel to stop the pings. However when I found out that the MMT in those boosters will harm my engine and cat, I stopped using them. It was awful. I drove like a granny throughout my journey yesterday. Mpg and performance really suffered. Imagine getting 16mpg on a highway and not being able to go past 3k rpm.

greenhulk:


Wow. What acura is that? I got 20mpg on 05 TL (AC on all the time) traveling from Lagos to ekiti to and fro without any octane booster. I know it could be better but still ok because I use to get around 22mpg when I was using 05 Accord 4 cylinder. Where it suffers is city driving with AC on. Car doesn't ping, I can easily rev to 5,000 RPM when taking off

timbros:
Is there an Acura thread somewhere here that I haven't seen? Why not one of you guys open an Acura thread?

Expecting my 05 MDX any moment and I want to get as much info from our Naija users as possible. Especially this timing belt thing. I have read so much about it online. How do you guys manage? I read its the 1st Gen that have this timing belt issue the most.

Cc greenhulk 9icetoo HeavenlyBang

HeavenlyBang:


If timing belt cut/gets worn, you replace am. It's a bit tedious, though. Imo, enjoy your car and don't bother about stuff like that. MDX's are really luxurious and great, comfortable places to be in. Be prepared for horrible fuel economy, though. I'm talking 10-14 mpg.

greenhulk:


Wow. What acura is that? I got 20mpg on 05 TL (AC on all the time) traveling from Lagos to ekiti to and fro without any octane booster. I know it could be better but still ok because I use to get around 22mpg when I was using 05 Accord 4 cylinder. Where it suffers is city driving with AC on. Car doesn't ping, I can easily rev to 5,000 RPM when taking off

rationalmind:


Even that isn't so bad, I get around 14mpg within the city with AC on and without octane boosters.

And youre right, the highway is where the fun is

I remember travelling to Onitsha (my destination) from PHC, immediately I linked the Onitsha-Awka expressway leading to my place, I felt like travelling to Enugu and maybe Abakaliki before returning to Onitsha

Will be travelling to the Lagos by March amd I'm really looking forward to the journey.

HeavenlyBang:

I enjoy that stretch of highway every day.

rationalmind:


You should get a Tl

HeavenlyBang:


Ah, that's truly horrible mileage. Thanks for your input!

bizzle2:

To be honest though, I did some really harsh driving that night. I woke up the next morning and the front passenger side tire pressure was 24 psi

9icetoo:

08 MDX. With octane booster added, I easily rev up to 5500 rpm. Mpg also bumped up to 18.9 mpg. Acceleration is superb. But without the octane booster, I can't even get up to 3k rpm and mpg heads south.

HeavenlyBang:

Lucky not to have gotten a flat at a bad spot. Happened to me once. Did 160km/hr, and I soon as I got off the highway, my rear left tire went flat. Unluckily for me, my spare was flat too (went flat Saturday night, this happened Sunday night). Had to drive home about 2 miles with a flat tire by midnight. Tire was in shambles by the time I got home, wheel was bent.

Never again.