# Which Fuel Grade? Final Answer!



## JohnnyB12781 (Sep 7, 2005)

I ran a few different searches and spent a good part of an hour reading different threads on which fuel grade is best for these cars. I have a 2002 GLE Maxima. The owner's manual recommends premium but says you can use regular grade. The government's fuel economy website www.fueleconomy.gov also states that it uses regular 87-octane fuel. BUT....somebody told me the other day that you MUST use 93-octane. I argued this and showed him the owner's manual and he insisted that 93-octane is NECESSARY. That is when I began my searching of this board and also a few other internet sites. While searching this board I got many hits but everything I read still leaves me on the fence. Some say you can run 87-octane with no problems and some say you must run 93-octane. Some say that "premium" means 89, some say it means 91 and some say it means 93. So once and for all.....which grade of fuel should I be putting in my 2002 Maxima? Which octane rating is considered "premium"? If I continue to use 87-octane, will it give me problems in the future?

Thanks in advance!


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## gargantuia (Sep 15, 2005)

The manual for my '01 says the same thing. I've been using regular-87 octane- for nearly 2 years ever since 91 pushed $2/gal. I average 25K mi/year w/o a problem, just a little knock during the summer (running the a/c & the hammer down). I believe premium means 91 octane.


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## Puppetmaster (Mar 28, 2005)

The owner's manual suggests that 91 is the recommended... I've run 89 with no issues a couple times, but usually run 93...


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## ALSET (Aug 18, 2005)

As long as its Chevron ...its all good!


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## brianw (Feb 25, 2004)

Premium = minimum 91 octane. (in California, we get squirrel pee they call 91 octane... sigh).

The ECU is tuned for 91 octane or higher. It will actively detect knock and will retard timing as appropriate if you use lower-octane fuel, so you should be ok.

Being that many of us here are performance junkies, it makes sense for the performance junkies to only run premium, tho, since running lower octane will cause the ECU to retard timing and spark, costing up to 15hp/15lb-ft, particularly at the high-end...


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