Has anyone here run 88 Octane E15 fuel in their Pathy/QX4? There's a gas station by work that sells this blend for 15 cents less than regular 87 Octane gas.
It would save me some pocket change every week that could go towards the QX4's maintenance fund....
Reading owner's manual ->
Page 10-3 talks about 91 octane being recommended but 87 octane being acceptable. Also states that Infinti does not recommend using an oxygenate blend (containing ethanol) - but even regular gasoline here is E10.
So what is the difference going from E10 to E15?
Running 88 Octane E15 in VQ35DE/2002 QX4
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nickelghandi
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Re: Running 88 Octane E15 in VQ35DE/2002 QX4
Horsepower and fuel economy is the biggest difference. That money you will save filling up will be spent filling up more often. 89 seems to be a good in between type of fuel for the budget-minded. You will get pretty good economy and save more than if you went for premium. These are high compression engines and need the extra resistance to pre-detonation that comes with running higher octane fuel. I run 92 octane fuel in my Pathfinder, but sometimes in winter, I will run 89 because I get pretty bad economy in winter anyway.
The reason it says 87 is "okay" is because there is a knock sensor that retards the timing if it detects pre-detonation. That robs you of horsepower and fuel economy and burns dirtier than premium would which isn't great for your cat, but not that bad. If that knock sensor fails (and they do occasionally) then your can have pre-detonation and damage your engine.
The extra ethanol will also eat at your rubber driving up those maintenance costs even more with vacuum leaks, and possibly fuel leaks.
Since you already have a thread regarding desired fuel economy gains and seem to be budget-minded, I would advise that you not only forego the 88 e15, but also opt for a higher quality fuel than 87 as well. A huge part of why you are getting lower fuel economy could be the fuel you are choosing to use.
I know some people will disagree with this, but premium is what is recommended for these vehicles and it is what I use and see 20MPG+ on many of my tanks. I decided on this fuel after running many, MANY tanks of 87, 89, and 92 and recording my results. I had a pretty good test track. I drove 50 miles exactly every weekday for my total commute mixed city, highway and country roads, and used my other car on weekends for the pure city driving. I do not have that commute anymore. I bought a house in the country closer to work and my commute is now all country roads and less than 10 miles. Any data I gathered now would most likely be invalid because often times the engine isn't even totally warm by the time I get to work.
I obsess about data collection and analysis (part of my job), and almost always have my laptop with me to record the results (again, part of my job). I live for this stuff, but do your own tests and experiment.
I would like to do a dyno test with regular vs. premium in this vehicle, but that seems like a waste of money to me.
If I can find my spreadsheet, I will upload it here so you can see the data, but trust me in this at least: higher quality and higher octane fuel will ALWAYS translate to better fuel economy in a car designed to take advantage of the extra combustion resistance. Whether it is more economical and budget friendly or not depends heavily on the current gas prices, how the vehicle is driven, geography of the location the vehicle is driven, and goals of the driver.
Occasionally running some kind of fuel stabilizer or additive will help alleviate many of the issues caused by ethanol, but premium has all of that in it already.
I will find and upload my data, but you will need to see what works best for you. The cheapest option is not always the most economical. Sorry for the lengthy response lol.
The reason it says 87 is "okay" is because there is a knock sensor that retards the timing if it detects pre-detonation. That robs you of horsepower and fuel economy and burns dirtier than premium would which isn't great for your cat, but not that bad. If that knock sensor fails (and they do occasionally) then your can have pre-detonation and damage your engine.
The extra ethanol will also eat at your rubber driving up those maintenance costs even more with vacuum leaks, and possibly fuel leaks.
Since you already have a thread regarding desired fuel economy gains and seem to be budget-minded, I would advise that you not only forego the 88 e15, but also opt for a higher quality fuel than 87 as well. A huge part of why you are getting lower fuel economy could be the fuel you are choosing to use.
I know some people will disagree with this, but premium is what is recommended for these vehicles and it is what I use and see 20MPG+ on many of my tanks. I decided on this fuel after running many, MANY tanks of 87, 89, and 92 and recording my results. I had a pretty good test track. I drove 50 miles exactly every weekday for my total commute mixed city, highway and country roads, and used my other car on weekends for the pure city driving. I do not have that commute anymore. I bought a house in the country closer to work and my commute is now all country roads and less than 10 miles. Any data I gathered now would most likely be invalid because often times the engine isn't even totally warm by the time I get to work.
I obsess about data collection and analysis (part of my job), and almost always have my laptop with me to record the results (again, part of my job). I live for this stuff, but do your own tests and experiment.
I would like to do a dyno test with regular vs. premium in this vehicle, but that seems like a waste of money to me.
If I can find my spreadsheet, I will upload it here so you can see the data, but trust me in this at least: higher quality and higher octane fuel will ALWAYS translate to better fuel economy in a car designed to take advantage of the extra combustion resistance. Whether it is more economical and budget friendly or not depends heavily on the current gas prices, how the vehicle is driven, geography of the location the vehicle is driven, and goals of the driver.
Occasionally running some kind of fuel stabilizer or additive will help alleviate many of the issues caused by ethanol, but premium has all of that in it already.
I will find and upload my data, but you will need to see what works best for you. The cheapest option is not always the most economical. Sorry for the lengthy response lol.
Re: Running 88 Octane E15 in VQ35DE/2002 QX4
This is exactly the information I was looking for. Thanks.
My experiment of driving at 75mph vs. 72mph netted me an additional 0.2 mpg. Not worth it as I got almost run over multiple times by the speeding hooligans. Both were at 87mpg.
I have learnt to barely use my brakes and feather the throttle.
Up next, I will give the 89 octane a shot to see what happens.
My experiment of driving at 75mph vs. 72mph netted me an additional 0.2 mpg. Not worth it as I got almost run over multiple times by the speeding hooligans. Both were at 87mpg.
I have learnt to barely use my brakes and feather the throttle.
Up next, I will give the 89 octane a shot to see what happens.