I think you're probably right... this VQ35DE engine with DOHC, VVT, etc. etc. is probably a bit more than an LS3.

Couldn't agree more with the statement above. Yeah, while filling up with premium, whether its 91 or 93, you'll never have to worry about "what if?". Problem is that running lower quality fuels or 87 octane, the knock and detonation has to be detected by the ECU after the engine has been pinging like crazy. Just spend the extra few bucks each tank and rev it up like it should

 

i'll be filling up the first time this evening with premium. I will also be switching to Mobile1 this weekend (13kmi)

 

What have you been using prior to 13,000 miles? Please tell me mid-grade

Mobil 1 isn't what it used to be. Still good synthetic, but for these engines, I'd go with Castrol or Pennzoil. Supposed to have better oil-shear wear than others. Then again, this is a highly debated topic!

 

Just bought ol girl with 13k. I thought about running the castrol syntec but have ran M1 in all my engines with nothing but great results. Thanks for the input though!

 

Ahhhh congrats man! Honestly what type of oil to run is personal preference. I've only used M1 and Valvoline SynPower in all my vehicles and never had an issue. Just brought up the Castrol and Pennzoil since these VQ engines are a bit tough on oil.

Now... time to start modding

 

I agree with your choices but would also add Valvoline SynPower as well. They improved the formula in the last few years and its been working great in my Max so far.

 

Glad to hear the SynPower works well for this engine. Can usually pick up a 5qt jug at Wal-mart for around $23

After my next 3 free oil changes (at 11,000 now), going to give SynPower a try, then Castrol to see if I notice any difference in oil consumption, smoothness, etc.

 

you guys realize on the single pump nozzle with the button octane selection pumps that if someone got 87 before you, and you put 93, you'll be putting 87 in your car for at least a gallon or two before the 93 starts pumping?

if you wanna be **** and stick to premium, try to use the pumps that have their own nozzles for each octane setting, that way you won't be getting the primed 87 from the previous owner that's in the hose leading to the fuel tank 100-200 feet away

 

i did not know that. thats good information

 

yup, something I learned a while ago when I had my Turbo'd Trans am. depending on where the fuel tanks are, you could be puttig 2-3 gallons of fuel before the fresh (your selection) fuel stars coming.

it gets hard to find individual pumps, but it's really worth it.

 

yea where I live in ny theres no individual pumps so I gotta deal with it

 

I love hearsay, actually it all works on vacuum, every time I go to fill up it takes at least 30 seconds before fuel starts pumping, thats because the lines need to be pressurized and valves have to open and close, gasoline contrary to the amount of people who think it's as harmless as water is an explosive flammable liquid, it's not just sitting in the end of the hose google how gas pumps work

 

It indeed is hearsay. And you might wanna go find a new gas station if it takes you 30 seconds to start getting gas lol... I'm not a gas pump engineer. Here is what how stuff works has to say

 

I just read the specifications in th manual and it says 96 grade!!! I can only get 91 here

 

Go back and see if the term "research octane number" is associated with that 96 number. Google the term for more information than I'm going to type here.

Research octane is always higher than motor octane (another octane measurement) and ends up being a few points higher than pump octane (what you see advertised on the pump), because pump octane is the average of the research and motor octane.


Norm

 

Dude, better recheck exactly what you read there. That was probably researched octane. I don't know of any company that sells that octane commercially. Highest it goes is 94 octane with Sunoco.

 

"upgraded" fuel octane is just a measurment of additives they put into the gas, the higher the octane the more additives. the additives makes your car run better

 

Higher octane does not necessarily mean that more additives are present, although that was the case back in the days of leaded fuel. Today, there may or may not be a higher detergent content in higher pump octane fuels.

There are about 20 ways to make a pure hydrocarbon that falls within the definition of "octane". Google the terms 'isomer' and 'stereoisomer'. They would not all have identical antiknock performance.


Norm

 

Duuude (Surfer voice)

pg. 270

"Fuel Recommendation"

Use unleaded premium gasoline with at least 96 octane (RON)

If unleaded premium is not available unleaded regular gasoline with an octane rating of 91 (RON) can be used.


Maybe the (RON) means something different but Octane is Octane right

 

since i got the car 93 all the way, once my wife filled up with regular and i noticed it right away. My wife was amazed and sorry at the same time...lol. Worst hesitation with regular...like the car was just not really wanting to drive.

 

Mine does not say that. All it says is unleaded premium gasoline is recommended for Maximum performance (91 and higher). Thus, I use 93 octane Shell. Definitely a difference though between gas brands from my experience. My mpg's have been better once I switched from Hess and Exxon to the Shell I use exclusively now. There has to be a reason Exxon and others won't submit their gas for top tier testing

 

Dubl-A - You have a strange kind of manual. I have never seen a Nissan Owners Manual with a page 270. Nissan uses a hyphenated page numbering system, where the first number is the section of the manual, and the second number is the page within that section.

The 'Fuel Reccommendation' in my Maxima Owners Manual is on page 9-3, and reads as follows:

'Use unleaded premium gasoline with an octane rating of at least 91AKI (Anti-Knock-Index) number (research octane number 96).'

That is as straightforward as Nissan can put this. The KEY WORDS are 'with an octane rating of at least 91AKI.' Gasoline is sold commercially in the U.S. under the 'AKI' rating system. Gasoline IS NOT sold at regular commercial fuel stations in the U.S. under the 'research octane' system, nor have I ever seen gasoline with an octane higher than 94AKI sold at any station I have visited in the last 61 years.

You will be fine with any octane between 89 and 94. PLEASE do not use regular gas (87 octane). Despite a few urban rumors to the contrary, your car definitely will NOT perform optimally with 87 octane. There is a reason Nissan tells us (in the manual) that if only regular (87) is available, take only the amount needed to get you to where you can get the proper fuel, and do no aggressive driving enroute.

 

RON = Research Octane Number
MON = Motor Octane Number

Practically the whole world except the US and Canada use RON so when you go to the UK and see 96 RON it really isn't a higher octane, we use the average (R+M)/2) of the RON and the MON, that is called the Anti-Knock Index. Our AKI or "octane number" is always 4-6 points lower than the RON.

 

Octane is both a number of chemical hydrocarbon compounds (not just one - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octane) and a measurement of knock resistance.

And there are at least two methods of rating "octane-equivalent" knock resistance - in addition to "pump octane" which has no chemical meaning or direct measurement at all. "Octane-equivalent" is perhaps a better way of stating what the term 'octane' really means in most peoples' common usage. Yes, this can be a bit confusing.


Norm

 

I usually do 91 or higher.
Wish our cars averaged at least 30 mpg.
I average 19-20 now, not really that great!

Wished there was a magical way to change it other than driving like a grandma. lol

 

makes sense, thanks!

Also the manual came from a 2010 originally sold in PHX, AZ.

 

If you live in the city your not going to get great mpg out of the Max or most cars for that matter. Luckily for me, I live in rural country/city area of western NJ so I get 23-24mpg avgs per tank in the winter/summer and 27-28mpg avgs in the spring and fall when the weather is just right! I can't really complain about that.

 

I started with regular for about 5000 miles. Now I am using Hi test and have another 4500 miles. I record the mileage so I can get a mileage number. Lately, it seems the Hi test is doing worse than the regular did. But it is winter now and the ethanol additive may be doing things to my numbers. I get around 21 mpg so I'm not kicking too much.

 

All else being equal, octane does not enter into MPG. Octane enters into performance and a better running engine. I can tell you that using regular in the 7th gen Maxima is NOT a good idea. Nissan designed the fuel system of this car for 91 octane. It will run fine on any octane from 89 (midgrade) to 94 (highest octane premium I have seen).

Not only will you have lower performance with regular, but Nissan warns us that if we have no choice but regular fuel, to take ONLY the amount necessary to get us to the proper fuel, and DO NO AGGRESSIVE DRIVING ENROUTE. If I cared about my car, I would heed that warning.

 

Premium all the way -- at either the Shell stations or Valero stations here in San Antonio.

 

I recently worked at a Nissan dealership and two other people drove new Maximas. Both run 87 octane. Nissan told us that premium fuel isn't required on the new ones. I just bought a 2011. The dealership filled it with 87. I just filled it up for the first time with premium and can't tell any difference.

 

It's like eating healthy, you can't tell a difference but you know it has benefits

Salesman will tell you anything to sell a car, they all suck, when I worked for BMW I saw salesmen fill M3 & M5 with 87

 

Well, well; looks like somebody has not read the owner's manual. These cars can get by rather well with 89 octane, but 87 octane puts the fuel system in a situation for which it was NOT designed, and in which it will NOT operate efficiently.

Using 87 in the 7th gen Maxima is a very bad decision, and is somewhat equivalent to me surviving on fried pies. I will survive, probably for an extended period. But my body was never designed to operate optimally on fried pies.

 

Nissan corporate said 87 was fine, not sales staff at the dealership.

 

Then Nissan corporate is run by a bunch of utter dumbasses! I had an attendant accidentally fill my tank up with 87 several months back and the car responded terribly to it. It sounded like the exhaust system was ready to explode and the engine struggled and hesitated badly during any acceleration. Plus the idling was severe.

Don't fill it up with anything less than 89. You'll live to regret it. And when something does happen to your Max b/c of it, Nissan corporate will throw up their hands and tell you your to blame! Unless you got in writing they said it was okay to use 87 octane.

 

My 2010 MAX SV is leased so alternate between 89 and 92 octane. Have not noticed and difference in pickup or MPG.

 

Premium since day 1.

 

You REALLY got hold of a fool or a spy. Anyone at Nissan Corp who advised you regular was fine in this car for more than emergency situations must secretly be a Toyota spy. He obviously hopes you will have trouble with your car. Everywhere we look in the Owner's Manual makes it very clear regular is NOT AT ALL OK for this car.

Regular is normally for engines with comprerssion ratios below 10 to1. This car has a ratio of 10.6 to 1. Compression ratios in regular production sedans don't come much higher than 10.6 to 1. PLEASE don't make the mistake of using regular in this performance sedan. If you must use regular, trade this car in for one that is set up to operate on regular.

 

Well its obvious on here who really loves their Max..I use nothing but premium..thats why i have 170k and its still running strong

 

The number one rule of what gas to use is the highest grade recommended for your car