Hey, what octane gasoline does everyone put in their Max? Are there any benefits to using higher octane, and does it hurt anything if you use a lower octane? I've read many articles on this subject and the general conclusion is, using 91 octane over 87 is not worth it. What does everyone think?

 

hey bro, i use 93 octane all the time, I believe if you use less than premium then you have a potential of detonation.

 

I also use 93. You'd have to search for it, but I think some folks did compare cost vs fuel efficiency for 87 vs 93 and concluded that using 87 didn't really save you anything overall.

 

I use Sunoco 94 most of the time. I think it gives the car a bit more power.. like between 87 and 94... u can feel a diff.. well at leas i think.....

 

or 92 if 93 isn't close by. Only the best for my baby.

 

Unfortunately in the NYMA, the only AKIs available are 87, 89 and 93. Since Nissan recommends 91 or above, i always get the 93, but just to see what happened, I got the 87 once. The car doesn't stutter or miss with the 87 in, but it feels like you are driving with the parking brake up just a little. My gas milage went down about 30 miles a tank lower than it normally gets. The extra 15 cents a gallon really doesn't make me much of a difference.

 

Well, said. I tried using some lower octane gas a couple of times, and I must agree w/ medsonic--it definitely feels like your car has lost power (and thus a little more sluggish) when you use lower octane gas than the factory recommended 91 octane. Occasional use of lower octane would probably be okay if premium isn't available, as the car will retard it's timing to lessen any potential pre-detonation in the cylinders. The slowed timing will lead to lowered power production in the car. Nonetheless, I almost always use premium in my car to ensure it's running to its "Max" potential.

 

I fill with equal amounts of 89 and 93 AKI. That's the economical way to purchase 91 AKI gasoline.

 

Mobil 93 for me everytime..... yum!!

 

Not all stations allow you to change grades however. I have tried this before (by your suggestion) and have found that they do not allow you to push another grade button after you have selected your first one.

 

That's an interesting solution, and in theory it sounds good but...I'm no chem major, but if you put two different octanes in the tank, one would have to be more dense than the other. Therefore, most likely the 93 octane would sink to the bottom and the 87 would be on top, creating a complete seperation in the actual gasoline. Then wouldn't the car use each gasoline octane seperately? Like it would burn the 93 octane first, then go to the 87? Somehow this dawned on me from the 10th grade so i'm probably a little off on my facts, but is there any truth to this?

-Custom-

 

I used 85 the first time and 87 the second on a trial bases not intending to use it again. I then went to 91 and have been there since. The engine does seem to run smoother with the 91 than it did for the others. Take Care

 

probably not custom because the car is always moving and the gas is swooshing around... it doesnt just sit still if it would seperate it would probably mix it up from the movement, but who knows i just go with 93 all the time

 

Is 93 octane just in certain places? I live in Colorado and have never seen 93 before. The highest is 91 here.

 

I'm curious; does Nissan recommend 91 because of the engine's compression?

 

My owners manual says Minimum octane level 91 octane.
But I use Formula Shell 93 Octane, And every once in a while a little 94 Couldn't hurt.

 

There's 93 at Shell? hmm.. I live in Canada.. so maybe itz different. Only 91 at Shell here..

 

I use 93+ using a 87/89 octane fuel my JWT ECU will not perform a its best, and every ECUs and Chips manufactures recomend the use of a premiun gas.

 

That's pretty interesting...I would have never thought that the grade of the gasoline would effect the performance of the computer. Does anybody know why this is?

 

At the fueling stations I use, it has to be two sequential transactions. Pump eight gallons of 93 AKI, pay, get receipt. Pump eight gallons of 89 AKI, pay, get receipt. This is only a minor nuisance if you pay at the pump with a credit card.

 

You are misinformed. The two fuels mix immediately and are inseparable. It's the same as mixing 86 proof with 100 proof liquor.

Some fueling stations had (or still have) multi-blend pumps. The customer cranks a dial to select the desired grade of fuel. He can select 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, or 94 AKI fuel. There are only two underground tanks, one with 87 AKI and the other with 94 AKI. The pump mixes the fuel to suit the customer's demand.

 

I used to fill up with Chevron or Texaco but lately I have been using Sam's Club gas stations (less than a year old stations) and their gas seems to be very good (and 20-22 cents cheaper).

 

I always use the highest grade available at the particular gas station. I used 87 octane before and like the others said, it did feel slugish. Once is good enough for me. Only problem is that it drains my wallet a bit using high octane gas.

 

Has anyone tried using an even higher octane like 109 or 119? There is gas station where I live that offers both. Does anyone know if that is too high of an octane and would have any detrimental effects on the engine?

 

There is no such thing as "too high of an octane". There is "enough" and there is "not enough". 109 or 119 octane will not hurt your engine unless that unusually high octane rating was achieved by adding damaging chemicals to the fuel.

 

The altitude affects octane, colorado must be too high to have 93 octane. if you were in california it would be the same gas at 93 octane.

 

I use 93, nothing else. I used 87 a couple of times, and the engine knocked. Nothing major, but when I would rev the engine in neutral, just before it would rev up it would knock. Using 93 solved the problem, and I noticed a considerable increase in performance. Geez I really thought all that was a myth.

 

I've been convinced. I'm going to start dumping 91-93 octane in the tank and see how that runs. Like I said, I read that the difference between 87 and 91 octane is virtually nothing, but i'm going to give it a go on the next tank. Thanks for all the input.

_CUSTOM_

 

For the Maxima and most high-performance cars, premium gas is mandated for maximum performance and minimize engine knocking. However, for other lower performance cars, the premium gas won't be of any benefit (say a Toyota Corolla or a Honda Civic--non-modified of course!), and using regular gas is just fine (w/o seeing any drop in performance)--this is probably due to the engine design, such as a lower compression ratio. Also, in addition to usually higher compression ratios in hi-po engines, you can also have more aggresive timing in the engine CPU, and thus you'll need the higher octane to prevent any potential pre-detonation, which leads to a power drop.

In areas of high-altitude, such as the Rockies, you can use slightly lower octane due to the thinner atmospheric air, which acts to give the gas a pseudo "anti-knock" index--thus using 91 octane in Colorado will be like 93 octane at sea level. Nonetheless, although you have a higher "pseudo" anti-knock index at high altitudes, you're still facing the fact that you have thinner air, thus your engine will develop less power than at sea level, and there's nothing you can do when you're up at high altitude. But then again, every car up at high altitude will lose power in the lower oxygen environment. I may be wrong, but I've read somewhere (Motor Trend, I think) that you lose about 3% maximum power per 1,000 ft. gain in altitude.

Most manufacturers will let you know which level of octane in gas to use, and they're not doing it just to help out the gas companies. For those at high altitude, you can use slightly lower octane and not experience engine knocking problems. In any event, use premium grade in the Maxima for optimal performance.

 

yo 96Max,

try out the pioneer or sunoco for all Your octane needs.

 

Instead of messing with pumping two grades of gas at one stop, a person can fill up with 93 one time, then at 1/2 tank, fill with 89... Then, when it reaches 1/2 tank again, refill with 93... and so on... and so on... This will keep a -fairly- even mix of fuel in the tank. The 89 fillup will be a little lower than the 93, but still probably be just fine.

Personally, I don't fool with it, and use straight premium. Five cents a gallon for 16 gallons just isn't worth the trouble. For 80 cents, I'll use straight premium and not deal with the hassle. An extra dollar a week isn't worth the trouble of mixing the fuel -to me- .

It's your money, and your car. Do whatcha' want.

Good Luck!

 

I agree with n2oMike, I don't find it worth the trouble to mix octanes. However, where I live (VA) 93 is 10 cents a gallon more expensive than 89, not 5. However, the Shell right down the street from where I work has premium discounted 6 cents a gallon on Tuesdays. So I make sure to fill up on Tuesdays, and 93 is only 4 cents more a gallon than 89. That's only 35 cents more for a tank of 93, than a tank of mixed 89/93. It's not really worth 35 cents to swipe the check card twice, and make two entries in the check book.

n2oMike....I realized you were saying 5 cents/gallon, because it's 10 cents/gallon different, but you're mixing half and half. Doh!

However, I have seen 5 cents/gallon difference between 93 & 89. I think it was near Minneapolis.

 

what kind of prices are you guys paying for premium? its 1.69 around here, it sux i remember when i could find it for like 1.17 a few years ago and when it was rising, 1.50 seemed like so much, i wish it was 1.50 lol

 

I pay 1.49 in atlanta. I remember 2 years ago it was .99. Damn I miss those days. But the gas prices are slowly creeping up. I only use Amoco. Question for you all, since BP has taken over Amoco, will Amoco gas still be used, or what?

K

 

I heard that the VQ engines are sensitive. It's a high compression engine, making it sensitive to octane levels in fuel. I tried 92 plus 104 octane booster, and the car felt more responsive, and it increased 29 miles.

 

I'm in Boca Raton (south florida), we're still figuring out how to punch our god damn ballets...The gas stations are charging around 1.80 per gallon for premium, and 1.62-1.64 for regular. If you drive 5 minutes to Broward county, you can find prices 10 cents lower per gallon. It's ridiculous, what they are doing is called something like "class-targeting" or "financial-grouping"...something like that. It is apparently illegal, and there are a few gas station owners around here that are actually filing suits against gas stations that are 6-7 cents higher b/c they are near million dollar neighborhoods.