View Poll Results: What grade of gasoline do you put in your Maxima?
87 Octane
80
11.56%
89 Octane
87
12.57%
92 Octane
213
30.78%
over 92 Octane
303
43.79%
diesel: Are car takes gasoline?
9
1.30%
Voters: 692. You may not vote on this poll
What brand and grade of gas do you put in your Maxima?
11-21-2006, 08:53 AM
#286
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Mississauga, Ontario
Posts: 438
I used 87 until almost two years ago I heard some pinging and its been mainly 89 since.
One thing to note, here in Canada the price goes up exponentially for premium gas. why because of the taxes and they figure if you use over 87 octane you must have some muscle car and you get taxed more.
I've been in the US and you pay maybe 12-15 cents more for each increment per gallon from 89->91 and 93. Over here its about 6 cents "per liter"
so we are getting gouged.
One thing to note, here in Canada the price goes up exponentially for premium gas. why because of the taxes and they figure if you use over 87 octane you must have some muscle car and you get taxed more.
I've been in the US and you pay maybe 12-15 cents more for each increment per gallon from 89->91 and 93. Over here its about 6 cents "per liter"
so we are getting gouged.
11-27-2006, 03:28 PM
#290
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Orland Park, IL
Posts: 206
Shell, BP, Mobil, Amoco, or Citgo 87 octane. Using the cheap gas like Gas City or Clark is what caused all the fuel injectors to go out on my 93 Maxima all the time. It's been 4 years since one went out when they used to go out every 9 months or so.
12-14-2006, 10:43 PM
#295
Junior Member
Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 18
Originally Posted by MarcJD
The poll is for the grade, but I don't know about all of the brands around the world.
Car has now stalled twice on the highway, and after the first time a tank full of Exxon 93 seems to have "fixed" it - may have to stick with the "name" brands from now on if another tank of Exxon 93 "fixes" it this time!
;(
12-19-2006, 12:28 AM
#298
usually the cheapest pump around my area is Arco/BP so i get that...but lately ive been trying out Chevron, Shell, or 76....premium all the way though....which is only 91 where i live 
01-09-2007, 07:26 PM
#304
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,883
I've been on this forum for over 7 years, and have used 93 most of the time. But I run strictly 87 now and have been doing so for some time. My new car requires premium so I don't feel like putting premium in both cars. So the Maxima has to get cut to 87. It runs perfectly fine. I think I burned a lot of 93 out the tailpipe over the years, and if I had to do it again, Maxima gets regular unleaded. 
01-20-2007, 02:58 PM
#306
Donating Maxima.org Member
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 311
I've only read about 4 or 5 pages of replies in this thread, so I apologize if this has been said already.
The AKI or octane rating is simply to rate at what temperature the grade of gasoline will ignite. In high-compression engines where the compression temperatures are higher, the rating number must be higher so the gasoline does not pre-detonate and ruin your pistons.
These ratings have nothing to do with the "power" of the grade or the Federally mandated detergents that are added to all grades and brands of gasoline, even generic.
The only difference in brands of gasoline is the proprietary detergents that petroleum companies add to the gasoline after it leaves a refinery.
If your owner's manual says 87, you will not do anything for you car except ride around with a lighter wallet. If your owner's manual says 91, follow that instruction if you want to have a long-term trouble-free ride.
The AKI or octane rating is simply to rate at what temperature the grade of gasoline will ignite. In high-compression engines where the compression temperatures are higher, the rating number must be higher so the gasoline does not pre-detonate and ruin your pistons.
These ratings have nothing to do with the "power" of the grade or the Federally mandated detergents that are added to all grades and brands of gasoline, even generic.
The only difference in brands of gasoline is the proprietary detergents that petroleum companies add to the gasoline after it leaves a refinery.
If your owner's manual says 87, you will not do anything for you car except ride around with a lighter wallet. If your owner's manual says 91, follow that instruction if you want to have a long-term trouble-free ride.
01-21-2007, 08:32 AM
#307
Originally Posted by kenshi
The AKI or octane rating is simply to rate at what temperature the grade of gasoline will ignite. In high-compression engines where the compression temperatures are higher, the rating number must be higher so the gasoline does not pre-detonate and ruin your pistons.
These ratings have nothing to do with the "power" of the grade
These ratings have nothing to do with the "power" of the grade
Originally Posted by kenshi
or the Federally mandated detergents that are added to all grades and brands of gasoline, even generic.
Originally Posted by kenshi
If your owner's manual says 87, you will not do anything for you car except ride around with a lighter wallet. If your owner's manual says 91, follow that instruction if you want to have a long-term trouble-free ride.
Burning too high a grade for your car might also hurt your power and fuel economy and increase your emissions.
01-21-2007, 01:04 PM
#308
Donating Maxima.org Member
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 311
Originally Posted by d00df00d
Actually, higher octane fuels usually yield higher amounts of energy when burned fully. That and the higher resistance to predetonation are why a modern engine can get more power out of a higher octane fuel by running greater timing advance and a leaner mixture.
I recommend reading this FAQ at http://chemistry.about.com/gi/dynami.../gasoline.html and read section 6.13.
Originally Posted by d00df00d
The Federal mandated levels of detergents are a bare minimum. Many big companies use more in their higher-octane fuels.
Regular Unleaded Gasoline
The recommended gasoline for most cars is regular 87 octane. One common misconception is that higher octane gasoline contains more cleaning additives than lower octane gas. All octane grades of all brands of gasoline contain engine cleaning detergent additives to protect against engine deposit build-up. In fact, using a gasoline with too high of an octane rating may cause damage to the emissions system.
01-21-2007, 08:59 PM
#310
Originally Posted by kenshi
You're correct if you put high-octane fuel in a low-compression cylinder where the fuel might not completely be consumed, but the energy output of a given amount of fuel is the same regardless of the temperature it ignites at and AKI index indicates what that temperature is.
I recommend reading this FAQ at http://chemistry.about.com/gi/dynami.../gasoline.html and read section 6.13.
I recommend reading this FAQ at http://chemistry.about.com/gi/dynami.../gasoline.html and read section 6.13.
That section doesn't address energy output, though. All it says is that your engine has to be able to run at its "optimum setting", which agrees with what I was saying.
Perhaps what you meant to say is that octane rating doesn't necessarily indicate energy output? That is definitely true, since there are a lot of ways to get an octane number. I was just under the impression that, in general, the higher-octane blends tend to have more components with greater energy output. But, especially after reading a few other sections on that page, I suppose that would depend on the formulation...
Originally Posted by kenshi
The only difference in each company's detergents is their formulation. Please refer to the paragraph in this link :http://chemistry.about.com/library/w...abyb100401.htm that states:
Regular Unleaded Gasoline
The recommended gasoline for most cars is regular 87 octane. One common misconception is that higher octane gasoline contains more cleaning additives than lower octane gas. All octane grades of all brands of gasoline contain engine cleaning detergent additives to protect against engine deposit build-up. In fact, using a gasoline with too high of an octane rating may cause damage to the emissions system.
Regular Unleaded Gasoline
The recommended gasoline for most cars is regular 87 octane. One common misconception is that higher octane gasoline contains more cleaning additives than lower octane gas. All octane grades of all brands of gasoline contain engine cleaning detergent additives to protect against engine deposit build-up. In fact, using a gasoline with too high of an octane rating may cause damage to the emissions system.
01-22-2007, 04:50 AM
#312
Donating Maxima.org Member
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 311
Originally Posted by d00df00d
The fact that all octane grades contain some detergent additives doesn't mean they all contain the same amount of detergent additives...
01-22-2007, 03:04 PM
#314
I have been using BP's Amoco Ultimate 93 for the last few tanks, and noticed the car is a little bit smoother as compared to my regular Shell V-Power 93. So I did a test with my last tank being Shell and the engine feels like it doesn't rev as easily with Shell gas, could this be due to the 10% ethanol content? Or pure placebo effect?
01-23-2007, 02:10 PM
#317
Originally Posted by kenshi
Hopefully we're all using gasoline with just enough detergent and not too much because is the gas that produces the power.
If you mean you want just enough for your engine and your driving patterns, then I agree wholeheartedly. But how are you supposed to know what that is, much less which gas has it? All gasoline has impurities, air/oil/fuel filters are never 100% effective, seals aren't perfect, sealant leaches, piston rings permit blowby, oil vapor enters the intake and leaves residue when it burns, and combustion chambers cannot always burn every last molecule of fuel that enters them. That's a lot of possible sources of deposits, and a lot of variables to account for.
The Federal minimum isn't a good measure of what "just enough" might be because the Fed doesn't have to do anything more than ensure that for "most people", deposits are controlled to the point that something else usually kills the car before the deposits do.
Besides, isn't it better to have a cleaner engine than a few extra horsepower? err on the high side with detergents at the risk of a couple of horsepower than to err on the low side at the risk of problems down the road?
01-23-2007, 02:25 PM
#318
Originally Posted by n3985
I have been using BP's Amoco Ultimate 93 for the last few tanks, and noticed the car is a little bit smoother as compared to my regular Shell V-Power 93. So I did a test with my last tank being Shell and the engine feels like it doesn't rev as easily with Shell gas, could this be due to the 10% ethanol content? Or pure placebo effect?
01-27-2007, 07:02 AM
#319
Donating Maxima.org Member
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 311
Originally Posted by d00df00d
You're absolutely right in principle. But what do you mean by "just enough"?
Besides, isn't it better to have a cleaner engine than a few extra horsepower? err on the high side with detergents at the risk of a couple of horsepower than to err on the low side at the risk of problems down the road?
Besides, isn't it better to have a cleaner engine than a few extra horsepower? err on the high side with detergents at the risk of a couple of horsepower than to err on the low side at the risk of problems down the road?
If I believe that I've got any issues (which I never have), I can always run some product like Techron through the fuel system, which is the trademark name of the additive that Chevron puts in their gasoline.
I do not buy into the "Brand Name" propaganda like Shell V-Power that tries to convince you that if you don't use their fuel, your car will not run well. While they make a compelling argument, I believe it's just a way to get folks from using the 93 octane that comes from the same refinery that Shell gets their fuel that I get a 20 cents a gallon discount on.
