Premium fuel?

[fr4c]

Just a quick question for you guys on here with 2010 3.5SR's. I know for 2010 they tuned the VQ for us so we can run on regular, but I have always stuck with premium (Shell V-Power) because I was afraid of knocking. Are you guys filling up with regular, or sticking with premium for our high compression engines?

[SHIFT_COUPE]

Been using 89 on my 3.5SR with no problem at all. Ran 91 or 93 on my 3.5SE, glad they switched over the premium fuel requirement.

[Ranga14]

I have the 3.5SE and use 93. I used 89 for the first 8-10k miles and had no issues though.

[bembol]

Nissan tuned the '10 VQ's to run Regular? Okay...


Do you really want to risk having "issues" for less than $5 every fill up? I will never understand the State of Mind of people who buy Premium/High Octane cars and question it to save a few Dollars.

I remember when Gas Prices prices hit $1.50+ CAN/Regular, I saw driver's downgrading to Regular?!?!

[wade001]

if they say it will run on regular then you dont need to run premium. it's a waste of your money in my opinion if you dont have to run it. you will not have knock or running issues.

[DaCoupe]

I think we need to sticky a thread about fuel, this question comes up way too much

[fr4c]

Nissan tuned the '10 VQ's to run Regular? Okay...


Do you really want to risk having "issues" for less than $5 every fill up? I will never understand the State of Mind of people who buy Premium/High Octane cars and question it to save a few Dollars.

I remember when Gas Prices prices hit $1.50+ CAN/Regular, I saw driver's downgrading to Regular?!?!

Guess I wasn't clear with my initial post, but I have been running premium since receiving the car and was just wondering if owners of the 2010 3.5's are running premium or regular. The 08'-09' 3.5SE required premium, but the 2010 3.5SR was tuned to run on regular. In all intent and purposes I just wanted to know what people are filling in their cars, in the off chance that I do have to fill up regular due to unavailability of premium.

The VQ is a high compression engine, and I do know it requires at least 91 octane (I drove a 04' G35 before this car). I'm just a little interested in exactly what they did to the 2010 models, and specifically the pros/cons of running regular versus premium.

Does this explain my "state of mind" for you?

[wade001]

some information in regards to fuel;
Since there has been debate on fuel for our cars i will do a little write-up on this issue. hopefully you will find this information useful.

What gives our fuel the power for our engines? people in the petrol field call this volatility; volitility standards are established by the American Society for Testing and Materials. Volitility is measured in PSI (optimium volitility is around 9PSI).
Volitility is basically how easily gasoline evaporates or forms into a vapor and mixes with air. the higher the volitility the better combustion you get, thus better fuel ecomony and power.
seasons and volitility;
summer fuel- at warm tempuratures gasoline evaporates more easily so a lower volitility is needed to ensure good combustion compared to winter fuel, the usual range for summer fuel is between 7-10.5 PSI max.
winter fuel- because tempuratures are much lower a higher volitility is needed to create the best combustion, the standard is 15 PSI.
so does a higher volitility always mean better? No.
if the volitlity is too high it can lead to what is called vapor lock, or a lean condition caused by vaporized fuel in the fuel system. Remember your fuel sys is meant to be run on the liquid form.
The vapor will take the place of the liquid fuel and cause bubbling in the fuel sys. preventing proper operation of a fuel injection sys. This will happen if you try to use winter fuel in the summer.

Octane rating; This is the measure of the fuels anti-knock properties.
Knock or detonation (pinging sound) is the abnormal or uncontrolled combustion in the cylinder. knock occures at a higher rate then normal combustion, creating higher tempuratures and cylinder pressures. this will damage your engine over time.

gasoline grades are rated based on the average octane rating. most cars are made to run on 87. what makes a car usually run on higher octane is a) higher compression b) forced induction or c) timing. so unless the mfg specifies a higher octane, you don't need to run it. And just because there is a higher octane rating it doesn't mean the fuel is more volital. Actually, a higher octane level also means less power per punch because it has more less volital additaves that take up the fuels volume.

Gass stations and ethanol;
why are gas stations advertising they use 10% ethanol? simple, it's an alcohol, alcohol absorbs water, all gass stations are allowed a certain amount of water in their tanks. the ethanol absorbs the water and hepls prevent damage to your engine.

Aftermarket fuel additaves: uhm, its a waste of you money. they don't make a difference and its been proven

Tips on getting gass;
1) Don't go cheapo and always go to discount gas stations, the volitility of their fuel will most likely be lower and is not as good as brand stations.
2) avoid filling up when they are filling their tanks or just filled the tanks, the new gass churns up the water, allow a day or so after they fill up because by then the water will have mostly settled by then.
3) go to busy gas stations. they have a greater fuel turn over and will have freasher fuel.
4) try to fill up early in the morning as the gas is a little more dense and you will actually get a bit more for your money.

Well, i hope this will help you guys.

[2008AltiCoupeDan]

i'm just gna add one thing also- from the past 2 years and gas threads, dealership mistells and technician/mechanic tells, the vq's ecu has a sensor that reads and adjusts the incoming gas octane lvl. you do not NEED to give it 93/91, you WILL sacrifice a bit of power at the high end of the power level if you use 87. maybe even 1 mpg. but that is all, there is no damage that will occur, or buildup. all you lose is a little POWER.

And-this isnt new for the 2010 models. its the same w/ all the 3.5 ac's since 2008 btw.

/endrant

[DAAN.]

anti-knock sensor controls the ignition timing sys

[wade001]

yes, like you said that is what the knock sensor does. but you will loss a little power/mpg because the ecu is programed to be optimium at a certain grade, using a grade above will not hurt your engine though at all.

[2008AltiCoupeDan]

ty Daan :P i forgot the term- plus i was in class and the teacher was comin over ha

[DAAN.]

[adidas2go]

The knock sensor doesn't read fuel octane, it simply detects vibration created in the cylinder walls due to pre-detonation, also know as knock. It responds by signaling the ECU to retard the ignition timing until the knocking stops.

There is nothing that changed in the build of the VQ35DE Rev Up motor from the 08-09 models to the 2010's. So I don't see it relevant to go cheap on the fuel. With the compression of the motor, I would use premium just to utilize its potential. However, you can run it over its lifetime with 87, and you wouldn't see any problems because of it. I would stick with premium personally though.

[Jlinz20]

Honestly for me i just use premium, the savings for using regular arent that big for me to really care. If i was saving say 10-15 bucks per fill up then hell yeah i would downgrade to regular but im not gonna die over 2 or 3 bucks and it gives me a little peice of mind that im giving my car better fuel.

[mrodrig2]

I will never understand the State of Mind of people who buy Premium/High Octane cars and question it to save a few Dollars.

'I will never understand the State of Mind of people who think that more expensive = better quality.'

If it says you can use regular, use the damn regular gas, save your pennies and don't worry about it. NONE of you daily drivers are ever going to notice the 2 HP that you might potentially lose.... Heck you probably 'lose' more power by your difference in elevation....

[gearhead05]

I think we need to sticky a thread about fuel, this question comes up way too much

Nico is way ahead of you lol

http://www.nicoclub.com/archives/gasoli ... myths.html

That's been up there for quite awhile

[DReed86]

My thought is I bought my coupe when premium was 4.97/gal so until premium gets up to that Im always filling up with premium.....

honestly its a small thing you can do for you car to help it run smoother...

[el_blacky06]

if anyone else does not understand the octane ratings please see this site www.octanereport.com