Okay, I just got an 04 SE and have a question on which fuel to use. A couple people told me with the older max's up to 03 had to have premium gas to avoid knocking....anyone heard of this? If this is true, should I be using premium in my 04? By the way she has 300 miles on 2 tanks of reular through her.

 

many people have complained about reduced gas milage on regular, not to mention performance. These engines have a relatively high compression ratio which requires earlier fireing of the spark plug to prevent the gas from self combusting (ie knock). This is a performance draining operation since the fire actually works against the compression and can cause blow back after a while (the fire going past the oil rings) You have to use extra gas to get the same power.

The fact that 300 miles on 2 tanks should show that you are using way to much gas. I get atleast 350-400 for rush hour traffic milage per tank with premium.

I personally never wanted to use regular. Since it will gunk up the valves and exhaust system quicker.

The 04 does recomend premium, officially.

 

Ethorn is 100% right, don't use anything lower than super. It will ping and will cause damage to the engine.

 

Smoke - ethorn and MARK1974 are shooting it to you straight.

Although lots of '04 Maxima owners swear they get perfectly good service with regular gas, the truth is they are not giving their Maxima a chance to be its very best.

With the excitement of driving the '04 maxima, with the insulation blocking out most of the engine sound (not talking about exhaust here), and with the BOSE going full blast, you won't hear the light pinging that sometimes occurs with regular, and won't realize you could be shortening your engine's life.

I always use premium gas the first two or three years with each Maxima, then switch to midgrade. I have never put regular gas in any of my Maximas, and I have driven nothing but Maximas for nineteen years.

Yes, premium costs more. But you are driving one of the better cars to be found, and it is designed to excel on premium.

BIG CAVEAT: Whatever you do, don't switch back and forth between octanes, as it takes the '04 Maxima's computer three or four full tankfulls to completely adjust to a different octane. In the interim, the engine is not properly set up for the octane it is using. Not good.

 

Okay to clear up my wording. My 04 has 300 miles on it and right now I am at 3/4 of a tank. So I am not about to get gas again after 300 miles anytime soon. Sorry about that. I got roughly 265 miles and I was around 1/4 tank. I try not to let it hit 1/4 tank in any of my cars. I was hoping this ouldn't be true what I was hearing but it seems as if it is. My next fill and from now on, I'll try the premium and go from there....man prices the way they are now, I'll be payin $35 to fill instead of $25

 

From what I read, it sounds like we need earlier ignition. Will a premium Sparc plug help ? If so, any recommendations ?

 

No. The spark timing is controlled by the engine management computer, not by the plug. Just use the recommended fuel (premium) and don't worry about it.

As for the cost, look at it this way - the "average" driver drives 12,000 miles per year. At an average of 22mpg, that's about 545 gallons of gas per year. If premium gasoline costs even 20 cents a gallon more than regular, that means a whopping $109 more A YEAR for your gas. Big deal. You'd spend that much on a really nice dinner for two, or one concert ticket to see Madonna (and that would be from the cheap seats).

Mike

 

I use 89 octane, the midrange fuel. This is my 6th Max and that is what I have always used. The manual ignores this as a possibility saying not to use regular, but premium. I believe that the dealership originally told me to use that fuel choice, saying that the top choice was not really necessary. I'm getting 20-21 city at this time with only 1100 miles.
Do you guys say I'm doing wrong?

 

after having premium gas-only cars for 8 yrs. I was happy about the
fact that my new maxima doesn't require premium gas. so I said to myself,
I'm gonna put regular gas in my max.
finally, i used up the gas that the dealer filled up. so i went to the gas
station and opened the fuel door.....man....

"PREMIUM GAS FOR BETTER PERFORMANCE"

that's worse than "premium gas only"

 

I found this article a while back, one of those everything you always wanted to know about gas but were afraid to ask kind of things..

http://www.cs.uu.nl/wais/html/na-dir...line-faq/.html

 

Bwhahahahaha! I love it!

Mike

 

The earlier iginition is what will cause damage. It already moves it ahead to make it early when you use regular to prevent pinging. Pinging is caused by the gas self exploding due to heat and pressure (increase the pressure you inherently increase the temperature) then your spark plug fires and when those 2 seperate blast waves hit it causes the sound AND it puts little dips in your piston... Pinging can (if the engine can't stop the pinging) eat through the piston and after a while it will no longer work.

But I am not all doom and gloom. The pinging is controlled by the engine on the MAX. However, the other problem I mentioned before is still a problem.... Fire too early the explosion could start pushing against the piston before the piston reaches it's peak and starts coming back down. The will eventually eat away at the oil rings (the rings around the piston the keep the oil from getting inside the combustion chamber) and cause blow back (the explosion getting into the oil, causing gas and water (a huge product of combustion and cause of rust and breakdown of the oil itself.) to get into the oil and for the oil to get into the cumbustion chamber. all of which is performance draining and if left unchecked (and if the oil isn't changed often enough) can cause damange, but will cause performance problems and future oil fill ups because it is burning oil.

I have also said this before in another thread... If you think about it the more expensive gas in general gets the less reason you have to use the regular. It is always 20 cents more expensive for premium. And if gas is what it was a couple years ago (80 cents a gallon for regular) then you are paying 25% more for premium than you are for regular.. But now that gas is near $2 a gallon (atleast in GA it is actually 1.85) add 20 cents to 2 and you are paying 10% more. So unless gas is breaking the bank then there isn't much excuse not to use premium.

 

not to use premium in a car the requests it. I mean

 

Question is, i have 270miles coming up on 1/4 tank, does the dealer fill you up with super. or the bull$hit gas when you pick up the car? also ive been meaning to ask someone, is there a break in period for this motor? if so how many miles

thanks for the help in advance

 

As far as the break-in period, read the manual. It helps to vary the speed for awhile. That is, don't run it on the highway for minutes on end at one speed or on cruise control. I believe adjusting speed helps the valves seat better.

 

We have discussed the issue countless times in the 5th gen. forum and came to one conclusion:

If you can't afford premium, then you shouldn't be driving a Maxima.

And really, if regular reduces your gas mileage, you end up paying less for less. Therefore, regular if anything, will not save you money but only may give you worse performance. So what do you save per tank? Approx. 18 gal x $.20 = $3.60. The price of one coffee at Starbucks (which of course you never hesitate to pay).

 

Exactly. The small cost to run premium pails in comparison to the possible improved mpg and performance, not to mention risk of pinging and what not.

I'm getting 30 mpg highway and 20 city. 1100 miles.

Also, to help you guys pay for the increase, get a AAA credit card: 5% off pay at pump gas. You may have to join, but I see it as worth it.

 

Is it true that in some states 91 is considered premium? I read something like Sunoco being the only one offering 94 or something. Down here premium is 93 everywhere.

 

I get 24 mpg in the city on 92 premium... In the west 92 is the higher premium. In California, it's mostly 91. We get 87-89 and 92 here.

You can run whatever you want in your car. It won't hurt it. It will not detnonate much. The car will retard the timing, which will lower the combustion temperatures and reduce the knocking. It may take a little time for it to adjust though.

Premium fuel has a higher resistance to ignition, and takes longer to burn, but it cotains more BTU. The maxima, is designed to operate "optimally," with high octane fuel. However, it knowns how to calculate for lower grades.

Pretty much aside from feeding diesel into your car put whatever you want in it. It will be more efficent on premium, but isn't required.

People worry too much about gas. From the rating to the brand. Really there isn't much of a difference. Unless you drive a boosted or high compression performance car, I would not worry about it. Put in whatever make you tingle inside.

Cars are much smarter then most people realise. There is so much thought put into them. They are built to put up with the abuse your average person with no mechanical knowledge will dish out, and keep kicking past 100-150,000 miles.

Manufactures know that their products have to stand up to whatever gets thrown at them, if they want to make money. They can't afford to fix cars under warranty, so they design them to last much longer then what they cover. They also know that keeping a quality car on the market for years will help their sales. Face it, who would buy a new car if all the old ones are in the junkyard?

 

In GA 93 is everywhere now.. about 10 years ago it used to be mixed between 91 and 92 depending on the brand, but BP/Amoco started 93 and then everyone switched.

 

this is the funniest thing that i have found between a maxima and an infiniti (both using the same engine, same generation).

in the owner's manual, the infiniti tells you to use 91 octane fuel. the maxima just 'recommends' it.

i guess they expect people that own infiniti's to be able to dish out the extra 20 cents.