regular or premium gas? Ser

[Buzzman]

Another topic dear to my heart: High test gas or regular?The owners manual on my 03 Ser states that I should be using premium gas. I did that at first, but my wallet was getting pretty light. I've been using regular unleaded for the past 2 years with no noticable difference. Car runs fine.Funny thing is, the Altima uses the same 2.5 engine, and it's marketed as a family sedan, so of course it states that it uses regular unleaded. Fancy that.What is the general consensus out there?Thanks. Great forum by the way. Lots of good info.

[R6_240sx]

There's another thread about this already in the 240 section.

zerothread?id=224475

[nametakennow]

Given that this is a different engine than the KA in several ways, I'm not sure you can apply blanket logic.

Regardless, I don't think you'll notice a huge difference if you drop octane. I certainly won't cause any damage unless it somehow created major pinging. If you're seriously looking to save some cash, try a tank of a lower grade and keep an ear out for how it sounds.

[R6_240sx]

True, I shoulda put similar, my bad...

I was just trying to make a point that pump gas doesn't usually make a sig. difference.

[OneFastStanza]

I personally have always used premium in mine but if you are using a lower octane just do what NTN said

[Chris859]

Going a little further into that, on an '03, if it did have a small amount of pinging, the computer would just back off the timing to prevent it...

[Buzzman]

I went through a bunch of threads in the Sentra forum and didn't see anything on this topic, so that's why I asked. I checked the other forum like you said and found it very informative. Thanks.After reading about all this stuff, it brought to mind an article I read in a car magazine from a few years ago (can't remember which one), that had a story on modifying the Spec V for rallying. One thing they mentioned was that the knock sensor was too sensitive and was reacting to external noise. Apparently they removed it and wrapped it up in foam and a cloth and tied it off to the side to keep it out of the way. According to them, it improved performance quite a bit. I don't even know where the sensor is, but it sounds like an interesting experiment.

[OneFastStanza]

That article was in Sport Compact Car some years back with Dave Coleman's rally SE-R

[Buzzman]

Hey, I'm impressed that you had that info. I wish I had kept a copy of that issue.Has anyone on this forum actually tried the knock sensor removal trick? Does it work?Most of all though, does anyone know exactly where the sensor is on this engine? I don't have a clue where to look.Thanks.