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I have a question about gas?

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Old 03-04-2004, 06:40 PM
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I have a question about gas?

What grade gas do you guys recommend on a maxima with a VE in it. The guy I bought the car from in OCT always used regular and I changed to Super but with the recent gas price increase I was wondering if it would hurt anything if I went back to regular. Also car has VTC's grounded and don't know if that'll make a difference. Thanks for any info.
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Old 03-04-2004, 07:17 PM
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as long as you dont advance your timing you shouldn't have a problem running 87 octane. If you hear pinging then I would use seafoam or something to clean out the engine and if that doesn't work then check the timing or just go ahead and go to 89 octane.

I've got 87 in mine right now, just retarded the timing abit (was advanced to 20*). Right now it's bone dry (well almost ) because I'm going to replace all the rubber lines going to/from the gas tank, then I'll probably fill her up with 92 again.

btw, manual does say premium though.
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Old 03-04-2004, 07:30 PM
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i use 91-93 all the time
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Old 03-04-2004, 09:04 PM
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Originally Posted by Maximan190
i use 91-93 all the time

The highest I have in town is 91 and it's puttin dents in my account. I'm now paying ~27-28 a tank, but gotta go with what my max needs (sigh)
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Old 03-04-2004, 09:17 PM
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premium it is
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Old 03-05-2004, 07:53 AM
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Manual calls for 91 octane. I always ran 90 though. around here 90 is mid-grade. Premiun is 93 which is a bit overkill if you're running stock stuff. Just find the stations with 90 mid and save 10cents a gallon without being cruel to the engine.

I'm feeling the price gouging too. 1.90 or more for the 93 I run in my new car. WOOOOOOOOOO TURBO! I don't know how these turbo maxs' do it w/ 10 to 1 compression. Extra octane additive?
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Old 03-05-2004, 08:21 AM
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always 93 here... but then again I don't drive a lot anymore and gas is cheap.

you CAN run 87, just make sure you don't have the timing bumped up any. the car is designed for 89+, but it will run just fine on 87 with the loss of a few hp.
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Old 03-05-2004, 12:26 PM
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Funny, I read another thread somewhere yesterday discussing what grade is "okay" to use for premium fuel cars. I think what it seemed to come down to was if the manual/gas filler cover said "premium recommended" or "premium required". I'm pretty sure the VE just says "recommended".
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Old 03-05-2004, 02:25 PM
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93 everytime
i wouldnt use anything but highest grade.
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Old 03-05-2004, 04:02 PM
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Same here. Always 93. Once while visiting Chicago, I even put 95 in it! But that was the only time I ever saw that high octane.
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Old 03-05-2004, 04:41 PM
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Yup, I always fill up with 93, but there arent many stations with that around here, mostly 92. Quick question for you guys, do you fill up at stations with separate hoses for each octane? At the ones with the single hoses I would guess some other gas gets mixed in, not sure how much though. Where I live the stations that have 93 with separate hoses are more expensive than the ones with singles, so I just go single.
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Old 03-05-2004, 05:24 PM
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Wow...87-$2.35,89-$2.45,91-$2.50...I need to move.
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Old 03-06-2004, 12:05 AM
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I was in Thomasvill GA the other day and 93 (from BP Connect) was $1.71/gal. I think it might be up to $1.80/gal by now. I thought payin' $1.90/gal was bad. I stand corrected.
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Old 03-06-2004, 05:31 AM
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Originally Posted by rymo926
Wow...87-$2.35,89-$2.45,91-$2.50...I need to move.

Man, did France take over. That is expensive, I agree I thought paying $1.82 was expensive but man it sux living where you are.
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Old 03-09-2004, 12:27 AM
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I use premium all the time and had to pay 2.01/gal the other day. Gas prices are supposedly supposed to be really high this summer ($3+/gal).
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Old 03-09-2004, 12:50 AM
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I don't know about the VE -- the compression is pretty high, but in my VG I use Regular (see http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=292286 for a detailed explanation) that's 85 in colorado! (high altitude).

It is recommended that you use premium though, and it would be at your own risk that you use low octane fuel... This post is for nevelty purposes only! (You get the idea..)

Most importantly, low octane fuel can damage an engine with advanced timing, and possibly a forced induction engine so keep that in mind.
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Old 03-09-2004, 12:53 AM
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Originally Posted by zach_denver
This has been eating away at me... I didn't want to say anyting because I know eveyone's going to freak out, but I have to argue...
Check out this post:

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....91#post2778791

I hope I don't get excommunicated, because this website is awesome and you guys have been a great help...

Z
heheheheheh
j/king, nice work, Personally I use Arco at 20* and a resistor inplace of the knock sensor with no pinging, knocking, studdering, etc.

I just filled up with premium and it was 1.99 today I'll probably change my fuel filter and cut open my old one. I dropped my gas tank yesterday to change the lines going to the charcol canister and looked inside the tank and it looked like it just came out of the factory.
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Old 03-09-2004, 01:45 AM
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Originally Posted by MrGone
heheheheheh
j/king, nice work, Personally I use Arco at 20* and a resistor inplace of the knock sensor with no pinging, knocking, studdering, etc.

I just filled up with premium and it was 1.99 today I'll probably change my fuel filter and cut open my old one. I dropped my gas tank yesterday to change the lines going to the charcol canister and looked inside the tank and it looked like it just came out of the factory.
I agree with you to the extent that you agree w/me , but I think it is a REALLY bad idea to place a resistor in place of your KS.

Why?

You don't always hear engine knocks, and one caveat of the article I referenced is based on the following statement, "Today's engines use [...] a knock sensor to adjust settings automatically for low-octane gas. [...] The engine control computers keep pushing to maximize performance on whatever grade of fuel is used."

So your car's computer 'thinks' conditions are perfect when they are not. Your choice, but personally I wouldn't risk damaging my engine for a few HP..

Z
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Old 03-09-2004, 01:53 AM
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Your car does look pretty pimpy though..
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Old 03-09-2004, 02:04 AM
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Yeah, I'm aware of all the dangers of running the resistor, I thought about taking it out 'just incase', I've got a spare motor just incase, but I'm not really looking forward to building it back up lol.


Thanks for the compliment
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Old 03-09-2004, 07:22 AM
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i always put89 in it, cant afford 93, we dont have 91 around here, one day my stepdad took my car to work and he filled up a half tank already with 87 and ive never felt the car run so crappy
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Old 03-09-2004, 08:29 PM
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Originally Posted by MrGone
Yeah, I'm aware of all the dangers of running the resistor, I thought about taking it out 'just incase', I've got a spare motor just incase, but I'm not really looking forward to building it back up lol.


Thanks for the compliment
Let me racant another post by saying:

I WOULD recommend putting a resistor in place of the KS if you have an extra motor to spare!
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Old 03-10-2004, 12:29 PM
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I always put 89 or 91 (premium). A friend of mine ordered 103 racing gas for his WRX and you can feel the difference... Might be thinking about that...
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Old 03-10-2004, 02:43 PM
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Originally Posted by Seyath
I always put 89 or 91 (premium). A friend of mine ordered 103 racing gas for his WRX and you can feel the difference... Might be thinking about that...
I don't know if it's true, but when I test drove the WRX, the dealer (who really was one of the most knowlegable/straighforward salesmen I have met) said all subaru's w/the exception of the STI should run on regular, and the STI is should run on midgrade!

Maybe he is way off, but it didn't sound like it, or maybe that is only in Colorado (altitude)..

Now don't freak out! I understand there's a placard in the fuel door that says "premium only" so I would follow this recomendation (Or would I..? ) ((yeah I probablly would..)) and this goes against much of my understaing of forced inuction engines..

Unless your friend ALWAYS runs 103 octane (e.g. his WRX is not a daily driver.) it may be a bad idea to run it at all because when he switches back to 91 or 93 (whatever premium is in your area) some knocking may occur as the engine compensates for the lower octane gas (this is just speculation of course..)

Just my $.02 -- your mileage may vary..
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Old 03-10-2004, 02:46 PM
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Originally Posted by zach_denver
I don't know if it's true, but when I test drove the WRX, the dealer (who really was one of the most knowlegable/straighforward salesmen I have met) said all subaru's w/the exception of the STI should run on regular, and the STI is should run on midgrade!

Maybe he is way off, but it didn't sound like it, or maybe that is only in Colorado (altitude)..

Now don't freak out! I understand there's a placard in the fuel door that says "premium only" so I would follow this recomendation (Or would I..? ) ((yeah I probablly would..)) and this goes against much of my understaing of forced inuction engines..

Unless your friend ALWAYS runs 103 octane (e.g. his WRX is not a daily driver.) it may be a bad idea to run it at all because when he switches back to 91 or 93 (whatever premium is in your area) some knocking may occur as the engine compensates for the lower octane gas (this is just speculation of course..)

Just my $.02 -- your mileage may vary..
You're absolutely right Zach. Luckily for the basterd, my friend has a father who will buy anything he wants so he has a 2001 Integra as his daily driver and his WRX is just a track car.
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