To fill my max I have a choice of gas. 91 96 98 Octane...

My car will run happily on 91, should I just run that, I have run 98 for a while but not really sure if I'm getting any gain for the extra cost.

I used to run 98 consistently, but now with the petrol prices cut back to 91, haven't had a chance to check milage on the lower octane yet.

New Zealand Maxima Cefiro Club
.. www.maxima.org.nz :: maxima and cefiro enthusiasts in new zealand ..

 

The last two are a complete waste of money. The motor cannot benefit from 96+ octane.

 

Motor is tuned for 91 octane .. anything higher will be all the same, no gains whatsoever (I don't care what anyone thinks ... engine is designed to run with 91 octane, how can you argue that higher octane will be better? Lower octane will introduce knock, obviously why we have a KS, but higher does nothing.)

Waste of money to get that.. and where the hell do you live?! We have 89/93/95 around here, I would kill for a gas station that sells straight up 91.

 

you guys got some crazy octanes. Around here its 87/89/93 and at the sunoco stations they have 94 as well

 

I'll be sticking with the 91 then thanks

 

- unleaded premium fuel gasoline with an octane rating of at least 91 AKI ( Anti Knock Index) number ( Research Octane Number 96 )

- if unleaded premium gasoline is not available, unleaded regular gasoline with an octane rating of at least 87 AKI ( Research Octane Number 91) can be used.

- however, for maximum vehicle performance, the use of unleaded premium gasoline is recommended.

above: info from nissan owners manual

it is my limited understanding that NZ 96 is = to USA 91, each country (NZ, US) measures it differently.

 

So you saying I should run 96? Would that mean NZ 91 is far to low to use?

NZ measures Octane in RON
US measures Octane in PON

RON MON PON
90 83 86.6
92 85 88.5
95 87 91
96 88 92
98 90 94
100 91.5 95.8
105 95 100
110 99 104.5

 

You wan't at least 95 then.

 

Need some solid info on what the Maxima is meant to run on...

is 91 RON or PON?

 

Ditto on the 95 for you. If you try and save $$$ with the cheap stuff, when you hear the "ping" of detonation...it's too late. Maybe not terminal, but not good for the motor, that's for sure. One thing I found out, while waiting on a new knock sensor to arrive for replacement, the computer will definitely pull back the timing profile if it senses knock or a bad sensor. This so it can try to protect the motor. That little sensor does more than meets the eye. When I got mine in and refilled the tank with 93 octane, what a difference! If you don't clear the ECU, it takes a little time for the computer to adjust its settings to the new environment, but mine started running better than ever in just a few days. If ya wanna play, ya gotta pay...

 

4th Gens in Canada run just fine on 89, but if I put US 89 (tried Chevron a month or so) the car runs crappy. I was told by the dealership years ago that it was ok to run 89, but to run 1 tank in 3 of premium to keep the injectors clean. Have been running premium most of the time over the winter as I have been taking a lot of 45-mile round trips on the highway. I don't think the lower octane makes a hell of a lot of difference in the city when the car isn't under load.

 

I just run 89 octane. Car is 7 years old with no problems. With gas prices the way it is, I rather just change out my konck sensor once as the cars typically are flipped around the 8 year mark anyways.

My friends 95 max has been runnin 89 octane since leaving the dealership 10 years ago is running fine. I bet a high percentage of the average max owners run the regular octane as well. With gas prices the way it is, I can't justify the cost.

Just my opinion. The gains you see running high octane I can achive by keeping my car tuned.

 

Further to my above comment, I know a guy who bought a 99 Maxima two years ago and has run nothing but 87 octane with no problems and has been on three or four 2,000 mile trips from BC to Alberta which entails going through the Rocky Mountains at elevation. Luggage, passengers and the whole nine yards and no problems to date. The car has 78,000 miles on it and still has the original plugs in it. He maintains he has never experienced any knocking/pinging which I find hard to believe. Perhaps his coils will pack it in tomorrow, lol!

 

If you ask a gas station attendent which grade (octane) sells the most they will tell you the mid grade, usually rated around 89 octane, is their top seller.

Personally I run premium only during the summer months to cut down on possible engine ping due do the high combustion chamber temps.

 

Even with premium gas over $3/gal here in Cali, there's no way i'm putting in less than 91 octane. I mean really, how much do you save? It's only a few dollars per tank, maybe $20-30 in a whole months worth of buying gas.

 

How many beer can you buy with $20 - $30. Thats the common international currency isn't it, lol?

 

amen to that

 

fukk fillin that tank- park the max and take the bus. goddam govt got us payin out the ***

 

i have understood that buying cheap stuff will fukc up ur Injector in the long run, but rarely do they get damage. So eighter way you will end up spending the money.

 

That's a misconception. I've tried to explain how the price of motor fuels is artificial, by showing that premium is 20 cents more a gallon when regular was 99 cents, yet now there are stations selling premium for 12 cents more a gallon, when regular is 2.199.

Anyway, Mercedes Benz made a statement that they sell vehicles in virtually every country in the world. There are many countries that do not have premium fuel available, so obviously their cars can run in such countries as well. So you car does not get f***** up because you use regular. That is not to say that in a car designed for premium, the motor does not run better when it uses premium. But all the implications that your car turns into a pumpkin at 12 midnight if you use regualar are false.

 

Well said Frank!

One other thing I'd like to point out, using 89 does not mess up your knock sensor. It's mounted outside on the engine block and only "listens" to your engine.

 

The car has a knock sensor for a reason, and honestly we all know the performance suffers, I don't race all the time but I won't even race someone if i had less than 91 cause you could get spanked. The car just does not go when you need to on anything less than 91. Sure the vehicle can drive on 87 but the human body can live on minimal food too, doesn't mean we eat fishheads and rice and take vitamin suppliments for the rest of our lives. I'll just limit my trips and switch between 89 and 93 when I get fuel. Just my $.02

 

im going to fill up with 87 this weekend, I want to hear all the Bang Bangs

 

98?
you know some single engined airplanes use 100 right..
id stick with 91-94 range

 

Will it really harm the engine going with 87 octane?

 

I use 98 RON (94 PON) on mine even if we pay USD 6,60/gal for it over here!
Oh... btw. PON which US & Canada uses is actually RON + MON divided by 2....
And in my car it says use MINIMUM 95oct. RON which is 91oct. PON

 

That's the purpose of the knock sensor. As soon as it detects a little detonation, it changes the tuning to avoid continued detonation. You see reduced performance (well, if you notice it) but the engine doesn't see damage like it would if the tuning remained as it was. It will take its time changing the tuning back if you switch back to premium. So if you continue to use 87, this event will have only happened once, and you will only lose that bit of performance.

Dave

 

has anyone actually dynoed a difference between different octanes? I've run my car on 87-93 and noticed no difference. I think if someone dynoed it, it would finally prove things one way or the other and shut ppl up.

 

I think 91+ is recommended for our cars. You should run 98 I think. At least that's what I'd do. Whether it's a waste of money depends on your view of it. 98 octane is high and I am willing to bet it cannot do more damage than good, provided of course that it is unleaded.

 

I live at 2400 mts above sea level (8000ft), and I've been told that due to the lack of oxygen it makes no difference weather you use 87 or 93 oct. I use 87.

 

Towards the end of my ownership with my maxima (last 2 months), I only used 87 octane. The car ran fine, no problems, and the performance did not even feel that bad.

I only put 93 in the IS though, go figure.

 

All about octane here: http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=396716

 

Maximas running 91 octane with automatic tranny shift better at low rpm - city driving needs premium fuel in my opinion.
Stikine

 

I think its the other way around. You could probably get by on lower octane in the city, but higher octane on the highway. That's what the service guy at the stealership told me a few years ago. I wouldn't run 87 octane unless it was at high elevation, although I live at sea level and know someone with a 99 Max who does use 87 all the time with no problems. But its Canadian gas, not that crappy US 87 gas that so many Canadians b!tch about when they use.

 

At any given RPM an engine will run the ideal timing position. However, with the Maxima, fuel less than 91 will cause the knock sensor to retard the timing automatically resulting in a less than ideal timing position (less torque and HP).

So my point is that in city driving you may experience less transmission shifts to a lower gear because the engine has the necessary torque for that given speed. This is based on my experience using 87 for a month and 91 since then,

Stikine

 

Stikine, you hit it on the head. Due to the compression ratios on the VQ and the computer programming Nissan recommends 91 octane. Yes it will run on less but you will cause more pinging which will reduce the timing advance which in turns lowers fuel economy and power.

So you can run lower octanes and get slightly lower milage or run 91 and get all the power and better milage. Lower octanes won't damage the engine or plug injectors but are you really saving any money?

I can't prove the higher/lower milage because I've never driven my Max on lower than 91 octane for extended periods. But I do know when the knock sensor is not working your power and milage suffers. Why? Because if the computer is not getting a good signal from the knock sensor the ECU will retard the timing to safe levels, the same thing happens when lower octanes cause pinging.