Bad Gas

I think I've had old gasoline in my NSX (whether from the station/distributor or from the NSX being undriven for an extended period of time) and I had hesitation around 3,000 - 3,500 RPMs when I'd try to rev-up into VTEC range. Also, I noted the tach bouncing when in cruise-control on the highway. And there would be the occasional CEL momentarily flashing.

I'm NA with basic bolt-ons (I/H/E, BBTB, stock OBD1 ECU), up to date maint'/service. I examined the throttle-body, throttle cable/linkage, valves, etc. and all were without issue. The aforementioned issues would arise if the NSX wasn't driven for awhile and/or a random refueling (coincidentally in winter/cooler conditions) which would self-correct after extensive and spirited driving. I don't recall if I ever reset the ECU for addressing such(?)

The first symptom is the woman rolling down her window ;)
Simply quote-of-the-day! :D
 
well after I got gas at my normal place I drove the car out of the lot and when it hit 2K it felt like it was dogged down but slowly rose to 3k then bursted back to normal.

same thing 2K would bog the car down till right before 3K so I went to the shop and replaced

coil packs, spark plugs, cleaned the throttlebody bunch other stuff but then I thought could be bad gas. went to the special station that sell 100 octane filled the car to the brim

fixed the issue instantly. I ran 100 octane for 2 months or so and ran the car till it was past the empty mark till I was sure all the old gas was gone diluted etc.
 
car wouldn't start at all after sitting for a period time. drained gas (very easy) and changed both fuel pump and fuel filter. little sluggish until I let idle for 10 minutes and all is well
 
happens each year i start my gas powered equipment after the winter, ie pressure washer, lawn mower, etc

then i started emptying out the gas completely before storing it. never came back. you can thank ethanol. at least thats what Honda and forums have suggested.
 
Gasoline blended with ethanol can suffer from phase separation when the temperature drops (the ethanol 'unmixes' itself from the gasoline). Ethanol is also hygroscopic, which means it has a tendency to absorb water. If the ethanol separates from the gasoline, it takes the water with it and tends to form an emulsion at the lowest spot in the fuel system (the water / ethanol mix having a higher specific gravity than the gasoline). If the fuel pump sucks up a slug of this emulsion, it has less heating value than gasoline (higher water content will make it worse) and you will definitely notice poor engine operation. Note that phase separation usually occurs when there is a temperature drop; however, given enough time and enough moisture in the gas, I am going to guess that you can incur phase separation even without a significant temperature drop. Once the ethanol (and water) separates, it tends to stay separated. If the gasoline and ethanol is shaken or mixed up (this can occur when adding new fuel) the ethanol may form a brief suspended emulsion with the gasoline and you may eventually get rid of it this way.

The fuel stabilizers that I am aware of seem to deal with deterioration (gumming) of the fuel as it ages. I am not aware of any fuel stabilizers that prevent phase separation.

In western Canada, premium fuels are usually blended without ethanol, which reduces the phase separation problem. You can still accumulate moisture in (non ethanol blended) gas which will separate and accumulate in low spots; but, with the sealed evap system on the NSX, that should be a pretty low probability event.
 
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