Hey guys so we are out of 93 octane gas here in the triangle area and the only option left is 87. I am down to a quarter tank and have tried 8 gas stations with no luck. I don't want to put 87 in my car but I am at a crossroad now because I don't know when we will get any 93 back in the Raleigh-Durham or Cary-Morrisville areas. Would putting a little bit say 3-5 gallons of 87 in with the 93 I have left in the tank cause any major issues? What if I could find 89 (highly doubt it) somewhere?

You can run whole tanks of 87 without issue. The cars computer will adjust the timing to compensate and keep it running properly (no detonation). You will loose some HP/torque with the adjusted timing but it will come right back as soon as you put higher octane back in.

Debonair wrote:You can run whole tanks of 87 without issue. The cars computer will adjust the timing to compensate and keep it running properly (no detonation). You will loose some HP/torque with the adjusted timing but it will come right back as soon as you put higher octane back in.

Thanks Debonair. I was wondering if it was just a thing of changing the timing and reducing the HP/Torque. I remember when the Genesis came out and they gave you the option of running 87 or 93. It was only a 10 HP reduction at best if I recall correctly somewhere between 368-375 HP depending on gas type. I just hear about Mercedes and BMW and how they mess up when people put 87 in them when they require 93.

Why are ya'll out of gas? Didn't see that in the news anywhere or I may have missed it.

Ilya wrote:Why are ya'll out of gas? Didn't see that in the news anywhere or I may have missed it.

Pipeline bust in Alabama that effects gas to South East U.S. New media sent everyone into a panic and they bought up all the gas. So we only have 87 gas at very few gas stations and no 93 in the triangle which has over a million people. My wife texted me earlier and said she found a gas station with 93 but I went to that same station this morning and they didn't have it. Hopefully they do when I get there or I have to get 87.

Got 93 from the station my wife called!

Nice! And that's crazy lol.

That's crazy. Try a bottle of octane booster if you really want as many of your horses as possible to stay in the stable.

But like debonair said Infiniti Nissan timing is dynamic. It will try to run as much timing as it can within the mapping and back off as needed for engine safety.

Definitely smart to ask some cars would audibly knock with 87

walt1227 wrote:

Ilya wrote:Why are ya'll out of gas? Didn't see that in the news anywhere or I may have missed it.

Pipeline bust in Alabama that effects gas to South East U.S. New media sent everyone into a panic and they bought up all the gas. So we only have 87 gas at very few gas stations and no 93 in the triangle which has over a million people. My wife texted me earlier and said she found a gas station with 93 but I went to that same station this morning and they didn't have it. Hopefully they do when I get there or I have to get 87.

Sorry you had bad luck there. Here in Winston-Salem Triad it wasn't too bad; mainly Sheetz and a few rural stations. Mostly I saw lower octanes sold out, plenty of premium here. I haven't had any issues filling up.

Perhaps some of the motor-head experts here can correct me if I am wrong, but performance is the only main difference between using 93 and less octane. I reckon that since the engine is tuned to use 93 for max performance, using less octane will simply reduce the performance but it will not actually harm the engine if used on a temporary basis.

Larz wrote:Perhaps some of the motor-head experts here can correct me if I am wrong, but performance is the only main difference between using 93 and less octane. I reckon that since the engine is tuned to use 93 for max performance, using less octane will simply reduce the performance but it will not actually harm the engine if used on a temporary basis.

You are correct.

Debonair wrote:You can run whole tanks of 87 without issue. The cars computer will adjust the timing to compensate and keep it running properly (no detonation). You will loose some HP/torque with the adjusted timing but it will come right back as soon as you put higher octane back in.