After reading the owners manual for my new 2012 as compared to my 09 I see they changed the Premium Gas and Ester Oil from Required to Recomended. They also removed the line that says only use regular in emergency.
Must be a PR thing since it's the same Engine and Computer.
I will still use Premium and the Ester oil.
Don't want to start the age old debate over which to use
I purchased the Maintenance agreement for 5 years which covers the Ester oil

 

I put plus in my car and 5w30 and i have worked at nissan dealer that ester stuff is all a money making scheme

 

91 octane and better will give you the best performance and mileage. ester oil is IN many full synthetic oils so yea I agree Nissan is just charging you more for what's basically re-branded full synthetic

 

explains what ester oil is...
http://www.motoiq.com/magazine_artic...-diamonds.aspx

 

You are correct in that the language for 87-octane usage is different between 2009 and 2012 owner's manuals. However, I see no difference in language between 2009 and 2012 owner's manuals with regards to oil. Both say "NISSAN recommends Genuine NISSAN Ester Engine Oil available at a NISSAN dealer." but also indicate that all API certified 5W-30 oils are acceptable.

2009 (see page 386 for fuel, see pages 385 and 388 for oil):
http://www.nissanextendedwarranty.co...san-Maxima.pdf

2012 (see page 420 for fuel, see pages 419 and 422 for oil)
http://www.nissanextendedwarranty.co...san-Maxima.pdf

 

As to fuel choice - I usually use premium, but will occasionally use E10 to fill less than half a tank, as it usually 20-30 cents cheaper than premium around here.

The ester oil was developed to address a problem specific to the VQ37HR engines, and Nissan decided to see if they could recommend it in other Nissan engines (I assume to try to recoup costs and make some cash). It is NOT an ester oil. It has a small amount of an ester based additive in it. I have not seen a single GOOD UOA from it, only some OK ones and some bad ones. It is an incredibly overpriced oil that shears badly.

There are many more cost effective and better options available.

 

I wish I could even <get> non E10 fuel here.

 

The 5W-30 is fine for these cars. That's what I was using in the 3.7 in my 2010 Acura TL every 5,000 miles with 23,000 miles with no issues.

 

Just had a chat in a parking lot with an owner of a 2010 S model. he says he uses regular 87/89 (I can't recall what it is around here), and an occasional fill up of the mid-grade 91 octane. Since the manual highly recommends premium, I'm not inclined to save on the 30 cents a gallon difference, although I would like to of course.

 

You might lose a few horsepower but I highly doubt using 89 would cause any long term damage.

 

Oil problems don't happen because of using varying weights, or change intervals, problems with engines and oil are directly related to owners not changing the oil and add to that hard driving

 

Ready to change oil in my car, not gonna do Ester, going to move to full synthetic from the dino oil that the last owner used. I've been searching the last 20 minutes for what oil to put in, and those threads are just a bunch of long arguments. lol. Impossible to find what you're looking for in there. Somebody please just answer this dreadfully simple question for me:

For my daily driver, fully synthetic 5w30?

 

87 octane will never give the best performance for the 7th gen Maxima. A few here on the ORG use regular and say it works with their car, but others here tried regular and found their car would barely run.

I personally would NOT use regular in this car, even if the car seemed to run OK with it. And if there was an emergency, and regular was the only fuel available, I would drive very carefully (NO brisk accelaration, etc) until I could find a higher octane fuel.

BUT -

89 octane is a TOTALLY DIFFERENT situation. I have switched from premium to midgrade (89 octane) after the first 18 months on each Maxima I have owned (every generation but the first). I have never detected any change in performance or MPG when changing.

Those who say they are getting better MPG with 91 or 93 octane instead of 89 are not measuring correctly. MPG should be the same for 89, 91 and 93 octanes. That is because, as long as the engine handles the octane with no problems, octane is not directly related to MPG. The reason 87 might give a slightly lower MPG is because the fuel system on this Maxima will not handle 87 octane with maximum efficiency.

I can easily afford the 30 cents per gallon difference between midgrade and premium in my area ($3.39, $3.69 and $3.99), but automotive writers and engineers I have trusted for years always say that using a higher octane than your car needs is a waste, as neither performance nor fuel efficiency are affected unless we are running WOT time trials, and even there, the elapsed time difference is miniscule and the MPG does not change.

 

I have always run 91, 92, or 93

 

i always alternate...usually 89 89 91/93, 89 89 91/93
As far as oil, have always used Mobil 1 Fully synthetic for 10K oil changes...
you could eat of my Benzo engine at 250K no drips, leaks etc with that routine

 

I run 93 because I am a big shot...and for Oil..I put in the regular stuff..because in reality that's all the car really needs. The owner manual does say that those oil brands are acceptable. And the mechanics I go to said that there is really no difference unless you have a Sports car or a Muscle car.

 

I do 91 octane I did 93 for a year, but I feel its a waste. If I had a brand new corvette or an M3 I'd go 93, for a nice maxima, ill go 91 thats far enough!

 

Where do you live, Im currently in GA for school but back home in NY/NJ most gas stations carry 87/89/93, and the same grades are here in GA, with normal pricing, randomly I will pull into a gas station that was 91 and 93, which I don't like cause I will just fill up with 93 and realize that 93 is priced way higher cause they slid a 91 octane into the mix I have never really cared enough to check into the difference between 91/93, I just know that some owners complain about Maxima engine pinging running 91

 

It seems that 89-91 is fine the Maxima. But like any car, 93 will just help keep the engine clean and last longer. If it is a lease, 87 is too high. If anyone plans on driving to 200K then 93 may be a good choice.

 

Who the heck told you this?

 

Looks like you did just that.

 

and this is he reason used cars are so beat

 

I thought today's modern engine management systems adjust the timing etc: depending on the fuel used.

 

That is a safety mechanism to protect the engine incase someone accidentally fill it up with regular but people realized if the engine don't ping then it can be run on regular.

Most modern ECU can adjust

 

Any 7th gen Maxima that pings under any driving situation with 91 octane BADLY needs a tuneup. The fuel system in this car EXPECTS to receive 91 octane. 91 octane is what Nissan intended us to use in this car.

I have moved to 89 octane after the first 18 months in every Maxima generation except the first, and sometimes I drive WOT when passing other traffic going up long grades, and have never heard even the first hint of a ping. And I am **** about any sounds coming from my engine compartment.

Scientists and those involved in automotive research have always told us that moving to an octane higher than the fuel system on a car needs does NOT improve MPG. There was a time I questioned that, but after 64 years of driving, and checking this out with every Maxima gen but the first, I have found the scientists to be correct.

I don't know the exact difference in detergents between the two grades, but, other than that possibility, I would have difficulty believing that 93 octane gives any measurable improvement over 91 octane in the 7th gen Maxima, except making the driver feel good about babying his car. And making the driver feel good is one thing the Maxima has always been about.

 

If anybody's Max is pinging using 91 octane I would suggest...
1) Do not fill-up at that station ever again.
(Most tanker drivers are not going to fill a premium tank with regular gas...but stranger things have occurred).

2) Re-visit and verify that the pumps actually have valid certification/inspection labels.

3) If you suspect fraud report it to your (local) weights and measurement department.

 

You need to check your fact. All gasolines have detergents to keep the engine clean, higher octane will not keep the engine cleaner. Furthermore, if you use lower octane rating than your engine requires the knock sensors in the engine will retard the ignition time so that the engine is not damaged. This will cause a slight loss of engine perfromance and gas mileage

 

 

Interesting read on the premium vs. regular discussion on the Murano forum.

http://www.nissanmurano.org/forums/8...12-murano.html

 

Royal purple 5w30 & 93 gas and your good to go ....i have 135,000 miles =) the car runs great.