Hi I'm new. and my mom is about to buy a maxima (probably) I'm going to be using it a lot. and I'll probably do a couple of cheap mods. We were wondering which years of the maxima use only premium fuel?

 

your car will run on 87 but it might not run to the best of its ability. Don't take this the wrong way but 87 is for those who are on a budget and who describe their car as just something to get from point A to point b and nothing more. You can probably get by with using 89 and have a bit better performance but I just think that the extra refinement that 91-93 (premium) octane gas goes through has to be better for my engine (performance and cleanliness wise). I wouldn't and I can't use any other grade of gasoline considering that my modifications. Not that this is bad but I have to be a bit more resourceful when I get gas (look for the best prices on gas on Priceline.com) and when I will lay down the lead foot and for how long.

 

My mom is a "point A to point B" kinda person But I"m not. In fact I'm very much into performance. see my website
http://www.geocities.com/subarusurfer/ when i have my REAL car it will be different. THe maxima is only untill I have enough for my subaru. IT (the maxima will really be my mom's car)
here is another question. Will the engine last as long running on regular?

 

Will the engine last as long running on regular?

I don't think that it will last as long in the long run if you use regular over premium although this is just my guess. I like having my own piece of mind knowing that I am doing everything I can do to prolong my engines life by paying a little bit more and going with premium.

 

All 85-00 maxima's are supposed to use 91 octane or better. Sure the car "seems" to run fine on 87 but it doesn't. You cause your knock sensor to retard the ignition timing alot more which shows as a powerloss. Where as if you ran 91+ octane your ECU runs full timing curve. My car has 221k miles and it has always run 91+ octane since day one. Besides with a full load and the AC, lights on the maxima could start knocking/pinging (detonation)on 87 octane. Any knocking or pinging should not be tolerated it will put a hole in the piston, blow a headgasket or mess up the piston rings. Hmm maybe we need to FAQ the topic on what octane?

 

I agree with Nismo87SE on the gas. I had an acura Legend awhile back, and I have definetely noticed the difference between 87 gas versus the premium stuff...there were a lot of rough idles when using 87 and eventually it killed the 02 sensor. That is why for the Max now, I use only 93 from mobil...
by the way, Nismo87SE--wow--221K miles...is that the original engine in there?

 

Yup the orginal engine is still there. Also my high mileage engine still puts down standard compression. We have always taken great care of the car since it was bought new in 1987. Its pretty quick for an old car, but due to my fault its on 5 cylinders and the front manifold is cracked. My car has no power now, but I have an extra set of tweaked heads I'm going to install . Its gonna be mid-high 15's or bust!

 

I remember in 1987 when I saw my first Maxima. There wasn't anything close it then. I fell in love with Maxima's from that point on. Took me a long time to buy one though. I bought a 99 in 99.

 

You can get by using less than premium, but the ECU will sense this and dial back the performance accordingly. I have a 4th gen and on the filler cap it say "For best performance, use premium fuel." Since gas prices went up, I've been skimping by on midgrade, which my dad is supposed to use on his 3rd gen. I haven't tried nor will I try 87. I have my limits

A good example of the adaptive ECU was an issue of Import Tuner where they dyno'd an R33 Skyline. Now they run on 95 octane in Japan, and the ECU ran less boost b/c they were only using 92. Once they put some octane booster in, the ECU turned the boost back up, resulting in a 30hp gain!

 

I'm pretty sure that my owner's manual and everything else I've read (on 2000 models anyway) says 89 octane. I don't remember about my '96. You won't get better performance using 92+ if this is the case. Usually only higher-compression engines (>10.0) require the highest octane fuel.