Will a 2013 Honda Civic with 1.8 Liter engine run OK on E15 gasoline?

[JimPghPA]

Hi everyone. My brother has a 2013 Honda Civic with the 1.8 Liter gasoline 4 banger and automatic transmission. He and one of his sons rely a lot on this car and between the two of them it sees about a hundred miles a day or more. I realized that it had 103,000 miles on it and began gathering up all the parts for going over the engine, and trany. Valve cover gasket (Honda calls it a head gasket, but if you look at the drawings it is for the valve cover) and Honda Bond for the corners, so we can adjust valve clearances, new NGK sparkplugs (RockAuto sells the NGK plugs at a much lower cost than a dealer or even OEMPartSource.com, and I called NGK and verified they are not fake knock-offs ), tensioner with pulley, new pivot bolt for tensioner, belt, idle-pulley, (it has one besides the one on the tensioner), water-pump (thanks for the info about the gates no longer being a long life reliable idem, we got OEM Honda parts from OEMPartSource.com), both coolant temperature sensors, hoses and clamps, knock sensor, drain and fill antifreeze with Honda fluid, drain and fill trany with Honda fluid, trany filter with new clamps, engine and cabin air filters, remove and clean EGR install with new gasket, and crush washers for oil drain and trany drain, new petcock for radiator and new O ring.

It's has 110,000 miles on it now and OEMPartSource.com shipped out the last of three orders of parts today. And we had also received parts from RockAuto. All in all about $900.00 in parts and fluids. Certainly a low lower cost than if we had bought the parts from a dealer.

I will bring all my tools to their house, and my nephew will be doing all the work, with me watching and guiding, and only lending a hand if it requires 2 people to do something. I hope to get everything done in 3 days of working on it.

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1) Anyhow, what I am wondering now is: will this 2013 Honda 1.8 Liter Unites States version be OK if it has to run on E15 gasoline? I do not know if E10 will continue to be available for several more years, or if the only choice will be E15.

I have looked on the internet and saw several different post, both saying E10 is the maximum content it can safely handle, and some saying E15 will be OK.

I tried to access the recent post here on BITOG about a list of vehicles that can safely run on E15, but I have a problem with accessing it.

2) Another thing I was wondering is if E15 was the only thing available and if E10 is the highest amount of ethanol it can handle, would running a higher octane of E15 prevent the too high combustion chamber temperatures that can cause damage?

Thanks for any significant advice regarding this concern.

Seriously,

JimPghPA

 

[JimPghPA]

BTW, I looked in my owners manual for my 2016 CR-V with the 2.4 gasoline, and the manual only says 87 octane or greater. It does not even say anything about E10 being OK.

Post I saw on the internet say the CR-V of 2014 or newer are OK on E15.

This has me thinking that the 2013 Civic might not be OK on E15.

 

[K.Aoi]

Yes. It will be fine. Any vehicle made after the early 2000s is made to handle higher ethanol. It will be 100% fine. E10 will remain the standard for years to come. E15 will be added as an option at more stations as Super 88 but E10 won't be going anywhere.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

E15 should be fine in a 2013

 

[researcher]

I like how people just think it "will be fine" and yet the automakers went to the US Government to protest E15. No, the 2013 is not OK with E15 fuel. How do I know? Look at the link from Honda, it's in the owner's manual on page 247..
From Honda's page.. https://owners.honda.com/vehicles/information/2013/Civic-Sedan/manuals

and the owner's manual is here http://techinfo.honda.com/rjanisis/pubs/OM/R31313/R31313OM.PDF I picked the sedan model.. but the engines are the same..

Here's the quote
"Your vehicle is designed to operate on
oxygenated gasoline containing up to 10% ethanol
by volume."

Yup no approval for E15..

 

[Skippy722]

The fuel system can already handle ethanol, a tiny bit more isn’t going to hurt anything. Ethanol also burns cooler than gasoline, no worries about anything there.

 

[Revving2Redline]

Honda doesn't even like E10. No e15 at all

 

[CharBaby]

Will the E15 nozzle fit in the gas filler on the Honda?

 

[brianl703]

Will the E15 nozzle fit in the gas filler on the Honda?

E15 nozzles are the same size as E10 ones

 

[wag123]

If the question is "will it run fine?", yes, it will run fine. Will there be long term ramifications of using it? Likely, yes. The fuel system components were not designed and manufactured to withstand higher levels of alcohol over the long term. I don't think that you have to be worried about E15 completely replacing E10.

 

[kschachn]

The fuel system can already handle ethanol, a tiny bit more isn’t going to hurt anything. Ethanol also burns cooler than gasoline, no worries about anything there.

Except for the whole part about Honda not saying you can use it.

Cooler burning or not, whatever that has to do with it.

 

[JavierH19]

Definitely. I've ran it in everything. e85 is the issue not e15.

 

[Rand]

apparently honda says 2014+ is fine.

Definitely. I've ran it in everything. e85 is the issue not e15.

Honda says only in 2014+. so I'd say your recommendation with anecdotal evidence is not valid.

 

[Chris142]

Yes. It will be fine. Any vehicle made after the early 2000s is made to handle higher ethanol. It will be 100% fine. E10 will remain the standard for years to come. E15 will be added as an option at more stations as Super 88 but E10 won't be going anywhere.

My owners manual for my 2002 Jeep specifically says not to use more than e10 or fuel system damage will result.

 

[JavierH19]

apparently honda says 2014+ is fine.

Honda says only in 2014+. so I'd say your recommendation with anecdotal evidence is not valid.

I've ran e15 in my old trucks and they ran just fine. One is at 321k and counting original fuel system never used any cleaner either. If something modern has issues with e15 than it's junk or the manufacturer hadn't thoroughly tested it to be more assured than not that it wont have issues in the warranty period they give you with prolonged use which they would have to assume that at worst is 100% of the time.

 

[Skippy722]

I've ran e15 in my old trucks and they ran just fine. One is at 321k and counting original fuel system never used any cleaner either. If something modern has issues with e15 than it's junk or the manufacturer hadn't thoroughly tested it to be more assured than not that it wont have issues in the warranty period they give you with prolonged use which they would have to assume that at worst is 100% of the time.

I agree with this. If the fuel system is so marginal that E10 is okay but E15 will cause damage, it’s a poorly designed system that should have never been put into production.

 

[kschachn]

I've ran e15 in my old trucks and they ran just fine. One is at 321k and counting original fuel system never used any cleaner either. If something modern has issues with e15 than it's junk or the manufacturer hadn't thoroughly tested it to be more assured than not that it wont have issues in the warranty period they give you with prolonged use which they would have to assume that at worst is 100% of the time.

Somehow I am less persuaded by this than I am by the manufacturer’s explicit prohibition in their manual. But maybe that’s just me.

 

[brianl703]

Nissan helpfully states:

"If any drivability problems such as engine stalling and hard hot starting are experienced after using oxygenate-blend fuels, immediately change to a non-oxygenate fuel or a fuel with a low blend of MTBE"

Right on, I'll just drive 20 miles to the nearest place that sells ethanol free gas. Yep.

On the same page as that, they also state:

"NISSAN does not recommend the use of any fuel additives (ie, fuel injector cleaner, octane booster, intake valve deposit cleaners, etc) which are sold commercially"

Alright then.

I guess using Chevron Techron on this NISSAN will destroy it as badly as using E15.

 

[JavierH19]

I agree with this. If the fuel system is so marginal that E10 is okay but E15 will cause damage, it’s a poorly designed system that should have never been put into production.

Absolutely. But the technicality warriors would say otherwise.

 

[CharBaby]

This is from Pg 247 of the 2013 Honda Civic Owner's Manual:

Fuel Information ■ Fuel recommendation
1.8 l engine models
Unleaded gasoline, pump octane number 87 or higher
Use of a lower octane gasoline can cause a persistent, heavy metallic knocking noise that can lead to engine damage.
2.4 l engine models
Unleaded premium gasoline, pump octane number 91 or higher
Use of a lower octane gasoline can cause occasional metallic knocking noise in the engine and will result in decreased engine performance.
Use of a gasoline with a pump octane less than 87 can lead to engine damage.
■ Top tier detergent gasoline
Because the level of detergency and additives in gasoline vary in the market, Honda endorses the use of “TOP TIER Detergent Gasoline” where available to help maintain the performance and reliability of your vehicle. TOP TIER Detergent Gasoline meets a new gasoline standard jointly established by leading automotive manufacturers to meet the needs of today’s advanced engines.
1Fuel Information
NOTICE
We recommend quality gasoline containing detergent additives that help prevent fuel system and engine deposits. In addition, in order to maintain good performance, fuel economy, and emissions control, we strongly recommend the use of gasoline that does NOT contain harmful manganese-based fuel additives such as MMT, if such gasoline is available.
Use of gasoline with these additives may adversely affect performance, and cause the malfunction indicator lamp on your instrument panel to come on. If this happens, contact a dealer for service.
Some gasoline today is blended with oxygenates such as ethanol. Your vehicle is designed to operate on oxygenated gasoline containing up to 10% ethanol by volume. Do not use gasoline containing methanol. If you notice any undesirable operating symptoms, try another service station or switch to another brand of gasoline.

Continued
247
Refueling