I am a new owner of a 2000 Maxima and was reading the owners manual and noticed that the fuel requirement is 91 oct gas, at 148,000+ miles and since I have no idea if previous owners have adhered to this should I just make sure I use 91 oct gas?
The previous owner said nothing about the factory gas requirements.
The manual states that if premium (91) is not available regular unleaded (87) can be used and that for maximum performance premium is recommended

 

 

 

To be completely honest with you, the guys who use 91 octane are trailer queens, use whatever you can afford. Unless you're going to the track and want the maximum amount of performance you can possibly have, any gas will get you from point A to Point B. I assume you'll be a daily driver. In all seriousness, it doe not matter.

 

 

Is this thread for real? I don't know what the situation is in Canada or how the trailer queens act there, but I am just waiting for all the other threads to start showing up from the OP, such as "I have a knock sensor code" or "my mpg is way too low" and so on and so on...
All of a sudden everybody is now a internal combustion engineer and thinks that fuel octane and "what you can afford" are two statements that go hand in hand...

 

One can choose to drink a $10 jug of vodka vs. some expensive Grey Goose too. BUT would you want to? Hell no. Would you do it if you had a choice? Hell NO.

Apparently one can use ANY gas now, me thinks I go fill up with Diesel for that best MPG!

 

 

Use premium bro, unless you don't mind the future problems.

 

Thanks I will.
I wasn't aware of this requirement when I purchased the car, but oh well. That's what happens when you don't know it all.
Live and learn.

 

100% correct....been using 87 for more than 8 years and no impact on mileage, maintenance, or performance. I'm not hitting the track so....just a daily driver and road tripping car.

 

Please enlighten us to the "future problems" you speak of?

 

I know this is controversial to some of you here but if your car is not pinging on regular
you don't need premium.
It's just in your head. Like your stupid little cone filter that gives you 20hp.

If there was a sticker saying using 91 for maximum performance on a prius gas door
the prius guys would be going on about only using 91 in their priuses.

Going camping in death valley hauling a trailer full of junk up a hill,
91 would be a good idea to use though.

Just one more thing I want to say is that it's federal law for cars here to run on 87 just fine and
our 5gen maximas aren't exactly AMGs that it's constally de-tuning the engine with 87. It's not.
91 is not adding performance.

 

If it's working correctly, it won't ping since timing is pulled. It's all in your head if you think it's not detuning in summer heat. You will not achieve proper mpg in that scenario, either.
Which....is why 91 is recommended. Do you think they want to advertise that you have to use 91? It's not a selling point.

The guy above says he doesn't have any problems. I believe him b/c it rarely gets hot in LA. It's in the 90s+ here all the time in the summer and very juicy (sometimes for 6 months straight). That killer heat is noticeable and causes maximas to ping with low octane. It's not like I've witnessed it 1st hand and solved the problem with 93. You know what happened the next day? The driver told me the pinging was gone and the car was much faster than before. No way!

 

Premium isn't a requirement but a recommendation (per Nissan)

 

I've had good luck with my Maximas...4th gen went over 230k miles, 5th is over 215k now (still going strong). I never really babied them, but I did perform oil changes/maintenance on time & used the recommended gas.

 

My Max has 275k miles and you wouldn't even know it. She runs great. Cars been in the family since new and has only ever used 87, or a majority.

Only switch to 91 octane if you're actually noticing 87 octane is causing problems such as the common ping.

 

You shouldn't wait for the inevitable problem to come, and then fix it. That's like saying yeah I burn oil, I'm going to wait until my motor starts knocking and my valve covers leak until I put more oil in.

 

Some people have hundred problems, some people have none. I've yet to ping with 275k on 87 octane. It's luck I guess.

 

Do 87 and report back!

 

87 octane runs fine until you turn up your hearing aid or turn down your radio.

So to stop pinging with 87 octane, I recommend these:

 

^
Wouldn't the car retard the performance?

 

retard is involved, yes.

 

@OP

http://www.courtesyparts.com/pdf/2000-Nissan-Maxima.pdf
some fuel suppliers sell gasoline containing oxygenates such as ethanol, MTBE and methanol with or without advertising their presence. NISSAN does not recommend the use of fuels of which the oxygenate content and the fuel compatibility for your NISSAN cannot be read. If in doubt, ask your service station manager.

If you use oxygenate-blend gasoline, please take the following precautions as the usage of such fuels may cause vehicle performance problems and/or fuel system damage.

The fuel should be unleaded and have an octane rating no lower than that recommended for unleaded gasoline.

Unleaded premium gasoline with an octane rating of at least 91 AKI [...] Research octane number 96


So there you go...

 

The poster has 275K on 87 octane, I think the "inevitable" has had time to rear it ugly head if it wanted. I'm at 215K also mostly all on 87, and mine runs like a top. Think of all the gallons of gas it takes to get to 275K, the most "inevitable" result is more money sitting in your pocket. Run premium if you notice issues, or if it just makes you feel good; to each his own...

 

Reply of the year! Thanks dude, this made my day LOL
Funny on so many levels, perfect for this thread...

 

Jesus...who knew octane rating would be such a sensitive topic. I suppose all those defending 91 and up are bummed they are paying more for something they don't necessarily need?

See DonkeyPunch's and MaximaBennett's posts...they pretty much sum it up best.

FWIW...I've ran almost 200K on 87 octane and still going strong. Sure there are mechanical issues, but not fuel or engine related.

 

http://youtu.be/8YaaZZN9VYs

 

Would the 17* timing disappear if you use regular fuel?

 

Poof it's gone...

 

No because you force the map to have advanced timing. So it'll advance timing on top of what you've got. So now that you're tuned for higher octance, using lower octance may result in engine go boom.

 

George be funny guy.

 

george_

 

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