I've had my timing advanced to 17* a while back and have religiously put 93 octane in my gas tank since I've owned the car. This past summer I've been home in New Jersey (went to school out in Illinois) and I've been subjected to full service gas stations. So I went to go get my gas tank filled and the guy puts in 87 octane. I didn't see it until I got my reciept which said xx gallons @ 2.91 (price of regular). I looked up at the pump and the number of gallons matched up with that on the reciept, meaning that it was regular gas that went into my gas tank.

When I went to start the car, I noticed the shifter vibrate quite a bit more than normal but then eventually go back to normal. I'm guessing the knock sensors did their job and retarded the timing.

My question is: is my timing now back to the stock 15* (or even less than that) or will it go back to 17* now that I've emptied that tank and filled it with 93 octane?

 

should not be.

whatever is set by consult is what is used as base. the knock sensor will retard from there downwards when it detects a knock.

with no knock (93) it should go back to the base of 17 degrees

 

unless you were completely out of gas, like the tank was dry and you actually stalled, the gas that you fired up on was the 93 that you had put in the tank last. IF its knocking, as soon as you get some 93 back in there the timing will return to normal

 

Your best bet would be to just reset the ecu. this will push the timing back to 17 degrees adv.

Chas

 

dont worry about it, the ks will do its job and you will have less power for a bit, but once your needing gas again it will be ok. just drive it and treat it normally. dont reset the ECU or bring it to the dealer or anything

 

do you know what you are talking about?

 

reset ECU ranks right up there with "clean your throttle body" on the scale of universal fix it all solutions.

maybe only 2nd to seafoam though

 

Yes actually i do. Resetting the ecu will alwayz start the car back in learning mode. I have worked on nissan, mazda's, honda's. if you don't believe me, just get your hands on a scan tool..check ecu before and after and you will see difference in timing (when you use lower octane fuel). I used to tune those cars using smt-6 at modern performance in Long branch, NJ.

Anywayz I was talking to the nissan tech who did my advance..he told me that if i do fill up w/ lower grade octane..it will retard the timing. He told me to get the timing up..the fastest way would be to drain the gas..fill up with highest octane avail and reset ecu..which would push back to default timing..which in my case is 17 degrees.

Chas

 

Well seeing as the default (factory) timing is 14 or 15 degrees, either you or your tech don't know what your talking about.

 

Can I have the gas you drain out? Thanks. We can set up a paypal deal.

 

yea it pings if u dont use 93 octane

 

I think what he means is that the retarded timing will be reset to what it was set to before the lower octane gas was put in, which in this case would be 17 degrees. Whenever you modify your timing, you increase the default, which won't change by resetting the ECU (someone correct me if I'm wrong...).

 

umm.....NO

 

 

I wash my ECU in seafoam to re-set it... Car runs MUCH better and it fixed my EGR problem... Washed the EGR codes right out of the ECU!

 

Sorry to be off topic but frankb121- where did you go to school in Illinois??


To be on topic, the resetting the ECU thing- our ecu does learn and this is the best solution to the problem if it still exists.

 

again...no it isnt. resetting the ECU will have no impact on the timing

 

is the VQ30 ECU a "learning ECU" also?

 

Holy s***... For the last time, our ECU's DO NOT "learn" a base timing!

It comes from the factory set at 15*, the ONLY way to change it is with a Nissan Consult tool. When you set it 17*, IT STAYS! The only way to permanently change it back is to use the Consult tool again to set the base timing to 15* again.

No amount of resetting in the world will change this/

If the ECU senses a knock, it will temporarily retard the timing back towards 14-15*, once the knock goes away... It is right back to 17*.

 

I wash my car with Diluted Seafoam

I use a 50/50 Seafoam-Water mix in my radiator and coolant system

I wash my laundry using a special powdered Seafoam

I wash my hair with pure Seafoam. It's sooooo shiny

Also, my favorite drink is a Jack and Foam on the rocks.....

 

i use seafoam for my laundry too!!!!

 

i think this post needed to be the second one in this thread

 

I said it in the third post pretty much

some just cant read

 

i agree, some people cannot read, but you need the BIGGEST wheel spacer for the back you can find...