Premium or regular fuel

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Premium or regular fuel

premium
16
36%
regular
21
47%
mainly regular and an additive or tank of premium occasionally
4
9%
other
4
9%
 
Total votes: 45

Gray
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Premium or regular fuel

Postby Gray » Thu Jan 31, 2008 6:51 am

In the 4.0 or 5.6L gasoline engine PF's how many are running premium or regular fuel or other.


speedline
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Location: Abbotsford BC Canada

Postby speedline » Thu Jan 31, 2008 7:44 am

Well I ran regular (89 octane) and it blew the "service engine soon" light. May just be a coincidence I am going to put premiem in it tomorrow.

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BMXPath
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Location: Texas!

Postby BMXPath » Thu Jan 31, 2008 8:20 am

I run premium most of the time.
My rule when I bought my Pfinder, was that as long as premium stayed below $3.00 a gallon, I would buy it. It has been over $3.00 for quite a while but I still buy it most of the time. I dont think I notice any real difference, I just like knowing that I have the 93 octane if I need it... Like if I go to the drag strip. :wink:

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00void
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Postby 00void » Thu Jan 31, 2008 8:26 am

i'm under the assumption that the V8 requires Premium. my boss who's fairly knowledgeable about this type of stuff said i could get away with Regular but: the engine will knock and in hi-heat the engine will bog. something also that it may not run well either at higher speeds.

i don't know what to do, so i've been filling it with Premium. my old lady is saying it's a waste of money but Premium is only $2.97-$3 here so it's not too much of difference compared to filling up with Regular.

anyone with a V8 using Regular on here? if so, have you noticed a difference?

Gray
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Location: xxx

Postby Gray » Thu Jan 31, 2008 9:28 am

From the 2008 service manual the Nissan recommended fuel for both the VQ40 and VQ56 is 'Unleaded gasoline with an octane rating of at least 87 AKI (RON 91)', ie: regular fuel.

The manual further goes on to state that for drag strip guys like BMX or for hauling a trailer for example, 'for improved performance', Nissan recommends the use of unleaded premium gasoline with an octane rating of at least 91 AKI (RON 96)'. Somewhere I've read that some places in the US you can still get the higher octane race type fuels with ratings of around (RON 120+)...now that stuff should at least give some real performance improvement. :)

The owners and service manuals give some further reading about other types of oxygenated fuels, ie: as in 'DO NOT USE E-85 IN YOUR VEHICLE'.

Local regular gasoline has been working for me but YMMV.

Click on 2008 Nissan Pathfinder service manual
.
Last edited by Gray on Thu Jan 31, 2008 9:45 am, edited 3 times in total.

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NVSteve
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Postby NVSteve » Thu Jan 31, 2008 9:33 am

I had to choose "other" from the list. We have about 4 or 5 different choices here, and whenever I cross the border, the choices are different again. Generically speaking, I run midgrade. The first 3 months of ownership, I ran premium. Since running midgrade, with many trips & daily drives in 105F & higher temps, I have not experienced any adverse reactions to the fuel. I've never heard it knock, never felt any power loss, etc.

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ralphwiggums
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Location: vancouver BC

Postby ralphwiggums » Thu Jan 31, 2008 9:34 am

87 octane. anything more is a waste of $.

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08Datsun
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Location: Santa Barbara, CA

Postby 08Datsun » Thu Jan 31, 2008 10:44 am

We've only used 87 on the Pathfinder and I haven't heard even a smidge of ping. We haven't towed or had it in the desert heat yet, so we'll see if anything changes.

I have a '97 Maxima with a VQ30 with a stick that hates 87. It will ping heavily and cut power fairly abruptly to keep it from pinging. It will even ping just a little on 91, but the computer adjusts it out fairly quick. It has the same "Use premium fuel for maximum preformance" sticker that the Pathfinder does on its' fuel cover.

SHAWNATGERBROCK
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Location: Portland OR

Postby SHAWNATGERBROCK » Thu Jan 31, 2008 12:02 pm

We have ran 87 in the Pathfinder since new ... No issues at all .... ( we do run premium if we are towing ) Just regular 76 station 87 octane any other time ...

Billy T.
Posts: 92
Joined: Thu Jan 24, 2008 2:46 pm

Postby Billy T. » Thu Jan 31, 2008 12:11 pm

I ran one tank of 87 thru my V8. I could tell a difference in performance, no doubt about it. Also seems like gas milage suffered a bit vs the first tank of 93 I had in it. Been running 93 ever since.... Only about 5 bucks a fill up over 87.

With an almost 10:1 CR, running 93 vs. 87 will make a pretty significant difference in power. That is for the V8, though...

Billy T.
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Joined: Thu Jan 24, 2008 2:46 pm

Postby Billy T. » Thu Jan 31, 2008 12:16 pm

The 4.0 has a 9.7:1 CR and would probably run a bit better on 93 as well.

You won't notice it on normal driving, though. Just hammer down performance.

yarilo
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Location: Moscow/Russia
Contact:

Postby yarilo » Thu Jan 31, 2008 1:15 pm

Here is - in Russia we use 92 octane as minimum, sometime even 95. In our manual (Europe version) mentioned - higher than 91.

Makc

P.S. Anyhow, we have no 87 - only 80, 92, 95, 98.

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00void
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Location: Holmdel NJ

Postby 00void » Thu Jan 31, 2008 1:20 pm

Greybrick wrote:From the 2008 service manual the Nissan recommended fuel for both the VQ40 and VQ56 is 'Unleaded gasoline with an octane rating of at least 87 AKI (RON 91)', ie: regular fuel.

The manual further goes on to state that for drag strip guys like BMX or for hauling a trailer for example, 'for improved performance', Nissan recommends the use of unleaded premium gasoline with an octane rating of at least 91 AKI (RON 96)'. Somewhere I've read that some places in the US you can still get the higher octane race type fuels with ratings of around (RON 120+)...now that stuff should at least give some real performance improvement. :)

The owners and service manuals give some further reading about other types of oxygenated fuels, ie: as in 'DO NOT USE E-85 IN YOUR VEHICLE'.

Local regular gasoline has been working for me but YMMV.

Click on 2008 Nissan Pathfinder service manual
.
hmmm. before i got the truck i downloaded the complete 2008 user manual that comes with the truck. on page 479 (in the PDF) it says:

RECOMMENDED FUEL:
NISSAN recommends the use of unleaded premium gasoline with an octane rating of at least 91 AKI (Anti-Knock Index) number (Research octane number 96) . If unleaded premium gasoline is not available you may use unleaded regular gasoline with an octane rating of at least 87 AKI number (Research octane number 91) , but you may notice a decrease in performance.

the guy at the dealership said (and half the time, most of theese guys don't know what they're talking about) that if i were taking delivery of a V6 i could use Regular, but with the V8 it requires Premium.

when i got my 4Runner (V8) the manual said sorta the same thing. it said that it recommends Premium but you could use Regular with decreased performance. it obviously recommended Premium when towing or hauling heavy loads. when gas was really cheap i always filled it with Premium. when the gas rose i started using Regular and never noticed a difference EXCEPT for very hot days in the summer accelerating on the highway over 70mph. the engine never knocked and no sensors or anything were affected. my boss told me that bogging/(slight) decrease in power was because of the heat in the engine, air temp and something with the octane amount.

i guess i'll have to try filling with Regular and see for myself. i don't mind spending the $$$ if it's required, but if it's not, it's just wasteful.

Gray
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Location: xxx

Postby Gray » Thu Jan 31, 2008 2:05 pm

Hi OOvoid,

for the recommended fuel octane reference in the service manual download the above 2008 copy, then click on the MA-maintenance section, then go to page MA-10 for recommended fuel and fluids. A further reference will also take you to the 'General Information' section page GI-40 which further states that: Gasoline Engine, Use unleaded gasoline with an octane rating of at least 91 (RON), which is unleaded regular fuel in this part of the world.

.

Danguy426
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Joined: Mon Dec 03, 2007 10:25 am
Location: NYC

Postby Danguy426 » Thu Jan 31, 2008 2:54 pm

I'm tryin to hedge myself on this one. i feel almost guilty putting 87 into the tank. And most advocates state that I dont need to put 91 into the tank. So i'm running 89 octane (roughly 3.35 a gallon in my neck of the woods. premium will cost me about 3.49 per gallon)

When the dealer told me 87 is fine for the v-8. There is a chance you will hear slight pinging or knocking. So i decided not to go that route... so i'll be running 89 for now.

I guess as a test... on my next fill up i'll put 91 into her and see what happens.


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