Octane booster & Hondata reflash questions

[steveD]

sorry guys, but I'm new to the DC5 (10 days) and I need some clarification on a couple of issues which I know are covered elsewhere but I urgently need some straight answers:

1) will simply putting octane booster (STP brand) in a tank of Optimax kill my cat?

2) ...and if not, will adding it smooth out the rough running the engine experiences just before vtec (around 5-5.2K) which I have been told by my apparently knowledgeable Honda main dealer is down to the engines inability to run on anything less than 100 octane and (according to him) was one of the reasons why the car has never officially made it into the UK.

3) The Hondata 'reflash'- what is it? I presume it's a remapping of the existing ecu?, assuming it works and will cure the vibration, how much is it and where can I buy it? oh, and is it detectable by my Honda dealer (from whom I have just purchased an expensive Hondacare warranty).

To be honest I am a bit pissed off that I am being forced to 'tune' the car just to get it to run as well as my previous (ironically more powerful) S2000 and older DC2 as I am quite happy with the DC5's level of performance and do not like some of the downsides of modifying (rubbish fuel economy, loss of warranty, shit resale etc.,).

Thanks for your help, and please stop me before I do something silly (like pour the booster in my tank!)

Steve

 

[MJ Type-R]

sorry guys, but I'm new to the DC5 (10 days) and I need some clarification on a couple of issues which I know are covered elsewhere but I urgently need some straight answers:

1) will simply putting octane booster (STP brand) in a tank of Optimax kill my cat?

2) ...and if not, will adding it smooth out the rough running the engine experiences just before vtec (around 5-5.2K) which I have been told by my apparently knowledgeable Honda main dealer is down to the engines inability to run on anything less than 100 octane and (according to him) was one of the reasons why the car has never officially made it into the UK.

3) The Hondata 'reflash'- what is it? I presume it's a remapping of the existing ecu?, assuming it works and will cure the vibration, how much is it and where can I buy it? oh, and is it detectable by my Honda dealer (from whom I have just purchased an expensive Hondacare warranty).

To be honest I am a bit pissed off that I am being forced to 'tune' the car just to get it to run as well as my previous (ironically more powerful) S2000 and older DC2 as I am quite happy with the DC5's level of performance and do not like some of the downsides of modifying (rubbish fuel economy, loss of warranty, sh*t resale etc.,).

Thanks for your help, and please stop me before I do something silly (like pour the booster in my tank!)

Steve

Hi Steve

1) I never used Octane boost in my car when it was standard, ran with no issues on Optmax or Super Unleaded.

2) One small word - Crap! I'm sure other DC5 owners don't experience this. I think it's down to another reason. Maybe speak to another Honda dealer. As for it being a reason, that’s bull! if it was to come over here, it would have been tuned to run on UK fuel etc etc.

3) The re-flash is basically a new map that’s given to your car. I had it on mine before going K-Pro. It changes the timing, ignition maps etc. After, I ran my car on normal fuel (95ron) without any issues. However, if you went for a re-flash it can't be detected by your Honda dealer, but if your engine went pop then the ECU will prob get sent to Swindon, as we can test for it (Honda UK are fully aware of all ECU mods).

Another point to remember, you have an import, where your other 2 Honda's imports??

Mike

 

[steveD]

thanks Mike...

Interestingly I did raise the issue over the 'tickle' through the throttle pedal on a another thread and quite a few people do notice it, most said it didn't bother them or weren't aware of it all. Unfortunately I must be hyper sensitive to these things (and I wear thin soled shoes!). I have actually noticed it in 2 different cars, one with 25K miles and the other (mine) is brand new. As I said on the previous thread, it isn't really apparent if you're spanking it through the gears but more noticeable if you're holding around the 5000 mark, ie accelerating and decelerating between corners without changing gear. Plus I have been running my car in so I have been changing up early around 5Krpm.

Anyway, sounds like I could do with the Hondata 'reflash'...incidentally, why did you ultimately upgrade to a completely new unit? ...did more mods render it redundant?

...and who do you recommend to install it, preferably not a million miles from Norfolk!

Steve

 

[MJ Type-R]

Steve,

Interesting comments.... now to what I can answer!

I out grew the standard reflash (works best with a cold air feed induction system - Injen one works well btw). My mods went to the next stage, that being the Hondata K-Pro ECU. It all depends on what level of modifications you are going to do long term during ownership.

As to dealers, I wont recommend any, best look at www.hondata.com, ring round the UK dealers, I'm sure one will do a deal.

Cheers

Mike

 

[steveD]

cheers Mike,

I'll look into.

Turns out STP octane booster is safe to cats. Realised that when I finally broke the habit of a lifetime and read the label!

Incidentally, I am meeting up with Jonster tomorrow at Brands for the Evo track day, no doubt I'll be quizzing him senseless over Hondata!

Steve