Fuel and Oil Preferences

[turbo95sir]

I have a 2002 Pathfinder LE 4x4. This is my first SUV after spending the last 10 years driving sports sedans. I have always put in premium 93 octane gas and Mobil 1 synthetic oil. Is this necessary for an SUV? I don't mind using synthetic oil, but premium gas nowadays, especially with gas prices the way they are...I dunno. Any experiences and/or advice would be greatly appreciated.

[timmack]

welcome to nico!

i started using regular in mine when i got it, and switched to premium. shortly after, the mpg actually went down..but that could be due to the cold weather and the fact i had a bunch of stuff wrong which might have hurt the mpg a bit. i didnt notice any change in engine sound or performance after the switch, though. as far as oil, im not sure what was in it before but i keep mobil 1 synthetic blend in it, and noticed that it did get a tad quieter at startup than when i first got it....hope this helps.

[turbo95sir]

Thanks for the warm wishes! I am glad to be here.

From the sounds of it, it seems as though the lower gas mileage could have been due to other factors, but I will try another grade (probably 89) and see what happens with my MPG and performance. I suspect this type of vehicle, I will not need premium gas.

Thanks for the discussion surrounding the oil. I will probably just go with Mobil 1 since I have used it in every other car I have owned and have had no problems. I just heard that once you go synthetic, you don't go back.

[Buzzman]

I have a 2002 Pathfinder LE 4x4. I have always put in premium 93 octane gas and Mobil 1 synthetic oil. I don't mind using synthetic oil, but premium gas nowadays, especially with gas prices the way they are...I dunno. Any experiences and/or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Not to be mean, but I'm going to suggest you do a search on this subject. There have been many discussions and posts on this subject before, with a lot of good information as a result. FYI, I run synthetic oil and regular gas in my 02 Pathy.

[timmack]

definitely. dont rely 100% on my opinions or results, theres alotta good ppl on this site with alot of good opinions who have tried many different things with mixed results.

[turbo95sir]

All good points guys. I just thought I would get a quick answer. I haven't searched for this info on the forum and will do so. Thanks again.

[AlabamaDan]

Since 1999 I've ran 87 octane, regular. Seems to run well on it - better than premium. For oil I use Castrol Syntec Fully Synthetic Motor Oil 5w-30 or 5w-40. I use the premium Purolator oil filter.

[bmlawless]

My opinion on oil is to use conventional oil and have Jack at my corner tire shop change it for $15 every few months. This may be an old wives' tale, but I've heard that once you are running synthoil, you should not switch back to melted dinosaurs.

As far as gas goes, check your owner's manual. Mine said to use 87 anit-knock index (AKI) or 91 reasearch octane number (RON). Some manuals refer to "Octane". When I got to the pump, it said "minimum octane rating using (R+M)/2 method". This caused great confusion so I asked to folks at several message boards and got several opinions saying to use premium and regular. This cause even more confusion so I went searching for the definition of AKI and RON. After about 3 minutes, here's what I found.

AKI and Octane are numbers calculated using the formula:(Research Octane Number + Motor Octane Number)/2 a.k.a (R+M)/2

The number on the big yellow sticker on a gas pump in the U.S. in "Octane" or AKI. If your manual says to use 87 Octane or 87 AKI, then grab the handle with the big yellow '87'.

Other parts of the world use RON to classify the grades in their pumps.

Feel free to research this on your own to verify it just to be safe.