My 2K SE has about 13.5K miles on it. In the last several months its started suffering from pinging and power loss b/t 2K and 3K rpm in gears 2,3, and 4. The dealer said I should be using premium, which I tried, and it improved but didn't eliminate the problem. The engine ran great on any grade fuel previously. Before I start *****ing at the dealer, I thought I'd check and see if anyone else has had this problem.

The car just had it's 15K tuneup (the dealer claimed to not notice any problems). Thanks for any help.

 

Try a different brand of fuel. Some formulations may give you problems. I haven't had any problems with mine so far.

 

I've heard this too, I only use premium 92 octane and I've tried texaco, 76, chevron, etc and had it with all of them.

 

I had knocking when I was using unleaded only, it went away after I switched to premium. Since you are getting a tune up remember to get the fuel filter replaced! That may be the cause.

 

I'd check into the base timing. If it's too advanced, it will cause some knocking.

tan

Say know what I can dump into my gas tank to remove carbon deposits?

thanks

 

hadn't thought about the timing. What about a faulty fuel sensor leaning out the mixture?

fuel filter, air filter, spare cash filter were all changed at the tune-up.

 

I doubt the car was designed to be driven on lower-octane fuel for longer periods of time... From what I understand, the knock sensor allows you to drive temporarily on lower quality fuel, by retarding timing, so that you don't do any permanent damage..

If you went 13.5k on lower grade fuel, perhaps the sensor itself suffered damage? Perhaps the timing is just screwed up full-time?? I dunno,, just some thoughts..

 

I have had exactly the same problem, even using Sunoco 94 gas, - although its intermittent. Dealer replaced the knock sensor, - still have problem. Interestingly, the problem only showed up after the computer was reprogrammed for a stall problem in low temperatures. After my third visit to the dealer, I was told that the owners manual says occasional knocking is "normal", - I dont buy that, and Im planning to return to another dealer, and escalate the issue with Nissan.

 

My wife has been running 89 octane in her 2K GXE since day one. She currently has over 17,000 miles on her vehicle and it hasn't pinged once.

Have your Zone Rep come out and hook up his Consult computer to your vehicle. He'll be able to tell in a matter of minutes whether or not you have a timing problem. He should also be able to tell if your knock sensor is malfunctioning.

 

There you go... I really hate bringing this up again, but when I filled up with Sunoco Gas, my car ran like Crap (Yes, I always use premium).. I had the acclerator almost all the way to the floor going up a hill @ 75mph (which most here would agree should not be the case with a 222bhp maxima!!).. And then engine sounded like it was about to die any second.. The car also did not start as "smoothly" as it always does in the morning..!!

After about 2 days, I switched to another brand, and have been happy ever since..

My Gas checklist so far :
Shell -> NO (liquid crap)
Sunoco -> NO
Mobil -> sub-par
Texaco -> good
Exxon -> good
Amoco -> good


-Tom

PS.. you really don't NEED 94 octane gas!!! Contrary to popular opinion, the higher the octane the more performance can actually decrease. (I heard some meachnics allude to carbon build up as the cause for this). You will not get better performance, nor more gas mileage by using higher octane fuels!!! If you car is made to run on 91 octane (which it is, BTW), run it on 91..

(I use 93, because I'm too lazy to mix 93 and 89)

 

Always use the grade that was designed for the car. You are right, higher grade won't get your performance. Higher octane, means the fuel does not ignite as easy... under heavy load and in high compression, the gas/air mixture can pre detonate, ie pinging, knocking, if the fuel has too low of a octane rating. What is this bad? Think about it... while your piston is still going up, the fuel mixture explodes and force the piston down... that's not a good thing... can you say broken rods?

The maxima has a knock sensor... it will retard timing if yu use the wrong grade gas. But it was not designed to baby sit the car every tank. BTW, just because you don't hear it ping, doesn't mean it's not happening. There are pings that the human ear can't even hear even if you were up against the engine. I promise you taht all car does ping to some degree... you can't help that when compression is so high. But my point is, if it pings once and knock sensor kicks in, sure it doesn't ping agani, but that one time has already happened. The effects of knocking is added up over time, so the longer you let it go, the more the damage has been done. Oh and when the timing is cut back, performance lags.

So buy 91+, like the owners manual says.

-Shing