If you are planning to take your
Acura outside the U.S. or Canada,
contact the tourist bureaus in the
areas you will be traveling in to f ind
out about the availability of unleaded
gasoline with the proper octane
rating.
If unleaded gasoline is not available,
be aware that using leaded gasoline
in your Acura will af f ect perf or-
mance and fuel mileage, and damage
its emissions controls. It will no
longer comply with U.S. and
Canadian emissions regulations, and
will be illegal to operate in North
America. To bring your car back into
compliance will require the replace-
ment of several components, such as
theoxygensensorsandthethree
way catalytic converter. These re-
placements are not covered under
warranty.
Driving in Foreign Countries
T echnical Inf ormation344
The exhaust emissions controls
include f our systems: PGM-FI,
Ignition Timing Control, Exhaust
Gas Recirculation and Three Way
Catalytic Converter. These four
systems work together to control the
engine’s combustion and minimize
the amount of HC, CO, and NOx that
comes out the tailpipe. The exhaust
emissions control systems are
separate f rom the crankcase and
evaporative emissions control
systems.
The PGM-FI System uses sequential
multiport f uel injection.
It has three subsystems: Air Intake,
Engine Control, and Fuel Control.
The Powertrain Control Module
(PCM) uses various sensors to
determine how much air is going
into the engine. It then controls how
much f uel to inject under all operat-
ing conditions.This system constantly adjusts the
ignition timing, reducing the amount
of HC, CO, and NOx produced.
The Exhaust Gas Recirculation
(EGR) system takes some of the
exhaust gas and routes it back into
the intake manif old. Adding exhaust
gas to the air/f uel mixture reduces
the amount of NOx produced when
the f uel is burned.
The three way catalytic converter is
in the exhaust system. Through
chemical reactions, it converts HC,
CO, and NOx in the engine’s exhaust
to carbon dioxide (CO ), dinitrogen
(N ), and water vapor.
The emissions control systems are
designed and certif ied to work to-
gether in reducing emissions to
levels that comply with the Clean Air
Act. To make sure the emissions
remain low, you should use only new
Acura replacement parts or their
equivalent f or repairs. Using lower
qualitypartsmayincreasethe
emissions f rom your car.
The emissions control systems are
covered by warranties separate from
the rest of your car. Read your
warranty manual f or more informa-
tion.
2
2
Exhaust Emissions Controls Replacement Parts
PGM-FI Syst emIgnit ion T iming Cont rol Syst em
Exhaust Gas Recirculat ion (EGR)Syst em
Three Way Catalytic Converter
Emissions Cont rols
T echnical Inf ormation346
