You brought up heat in your first post, so just crious. How she runs at lower temps with a slightly lower octane rating.

 

you know, I came up with a revolutionary idea. You could use a lower octane than premium and be just fine as long as it doesn't ping.

 

I got a better idea, and the owners manual even agrees... here it is:

run 87 octane and simply don't boost or go uphill! You'll save gas money, you'll get great gas mileage without boosting, and you won't detonate!

 

I actually run our mid-grade 87 during the week when I'm putting to work. I have gotten on the throttle to pass cars and experienced detonation. I run the 91 on the weekendz, and I rarely ever end up getting two tanks in a row of the 87.

 

lets get real, you buy a z because you enjoy the performance. Lower octane fuel will degrade that performance. Why do it? Run the highest octane rating you can find, besides there are other additives in premium fuel that can benifit your engine. Also turbos dont like low octane fuel especially in warm weather.

 

Lower octane will not degrade performace as long as there is no detonation. And it's been found that lower octane has the same detergergents and additives that higher octane does. 91 is the highest you will ever have to go. Remember, higher octane does not mean its better quality gas.

 

BS. 91 is the highest you'll ever have to go on a STOCK TT or nearly any NA (not running nitrous). Try running 91 octane on a hot summer day on any TT running more than stock boost and tell me what happens. My car detonates at 91 octane... And anyone who fine tunes their car will make more power on 93 octane because they can safely run a little leaner.

Again, you'd be a retard to use the bare minimum when 92 and 93 octane cost the same damn thing.

You don't post on tt.net do you? Because you would've been banned by now over there for giving advice like this.


And CanyonCarver... I hope you're joking about running 87 octane during the week. You're just asking for trouble if you aren't joking.

None of you will get any pity from me when you detonate your VG30's to hell because you ran too low of an octane fuel on too hot of a day.

Specialty Z says it best... "gas is cheaper than engines"

 

The 87 was actually a typo. I run the mid-grade 89. I'm well aware of detonation and the consequences. I'm also capable of driving without causing detonation All spirited driving is done with hi-test.

 

91 is the highest you ever have to go?! People only run race gas because it sounds good.

 

that would be my next point if he thought he had a good argument as to why 91 is the highest anyone would need.

 

there's an edit button. I know cuz i use it frequently.

Last time i checked Engineers weren't stupid ppl. If they say use highest octane available, I would follow that advice. Seems to me that Turbo'd and High Compression engines from any manufacturer stress Premium fuel. Sometimes ppl question and downright hate on Nissan's designs and decisions on the Z32. Most of it just because they make it more difficult to modify the vehicle. It's the way it was designed and i'm pretty sure there was a purpose for it. The point is, premium is recommended and that's what you SHOULD be putting in. Are you guys honestly so cheap that you refuse to spring for the extra few cents per gallon to ensure your cars safety? seems like a no brainer to me.

 

They also say use only genuine nissan parts, which is what the stealership carries.

And that any and all service should only be done by a certified nissan tech, which also only works at the stealership.

And altering the vehicle in any way, can and will void your warrenty

And that disableing or removing any emissions systoms from the vehicle is against the law

And there was no alien crash at roswell, it was a weather balloon

MUMMKAY

 

No they can't, legally. This is a very common misconception. They can lie to you and tell you it's void because of a modification, lying is what they do best, but if you know your rights and the details of a warranty, you'll know that only the part you modify or replace and any part it affects can be voided.

For example, if you install an aftermarket intake on your car, your intake is not covered under warranty, but any part of your exhaust, suspension, or really anything else is still covered.

You can lower a car under the factory warranty, and the only things that will be voided under warranty are suspension parts that could be inversely affected by it being lowered.

You can even install aftermarket turbos on a warrantied car and if something breaks that is not a direct result of the turbos, it's warrantied (of course if you blow the engine boosting too much, they're not going to warranty it). So if your power steering pump craps out on you, that's obviously not related to the turbos in any way and they would therefore be bound by law to replace it under warranty.

(I had to know these facts back when I worked at Ultimate Z because 350Z owners are obviously paranoid about losing the warranty and they never understood this. My job was to inform them of the law so they understand that they can put the parts I'm selling them on their car and still be covered under the factory warranty.)



Back to the point though... Nissan pushes Nissan parts for their own profit. Nissan does not make ANY money on gasoline sales, so they make no profit from telling you to run the highest octane premium only. They tell you to run that because it is the safest option.

Again, 91 octane might be fine for some cars and stock boosting 300ZX Twin Turbos, but ANY REAL tuner is going to tell you to run the highest octane non-leaded fuel you can, within reason (obviously 105 octane non-leaded race gas might be overkill if you aren't boosting 20+psi daily.) If 93 octane is available in your area, it does not cost a penny more than 91 octane, and therefore there is NO SINGLE REASON to get 91 octane when you can get better protection from pre-ignition with 93 octane.

 

Yes that was the point i was trying to make.
ZLover just worded it better. thank you.

 

Wow, this thread took a real turn somewhere. I think the original poster was asking for a dailly driven N.A. Z. Your average run of the mill, dailly driven N.A. Z. Can run off lower octane fuel, if it does not knock. You modded Z needs better grade fuels. Upgraded TT's need the better fuel. Stock TT's might be able to run lower grade, But like Z lover and Riz said, why take a chance ??

 

Umm yea, did I say anything about running on more than stock engines pal? I'm talking about stock 300's here. And what does factory call for n stock 300's? That's right, 91 octane. Lets be honest, how many people first off have nitrous, and second off actually use it? Not many. I'm not talking about running more than stock boost. I'm talking about the cars that are stock TT or not. So if your car is running more boost and detonates on 91 then thats your problem, and by all means use higher octane. I do have a good argument for using 91. Next time why don't you message me privately if you're confused as to what I'm saying instead of trying to make me look like a fool in front of the entire forum. Don't go and call me out on something that wasn't stated in my post. Thanks.

 

WHERE, in your original post did you say ANYTHING about a stock TT or NA? Nowhere. You said

and I don't PM people when it comes time to point out their mistakes because I don't ever hide what I have to say... discussing them on the formu lets other people learn.

 

I was going along with the rest of the post since no one was talking about running it with nitrous or more than stock boost. Looks like besides you no one brought up anything like that. I didn't make a mistake, I was following the thread. By the way, do you have more research and developement done than Nissan that says you have to run more than 91 on stock?

 

I hope you guys know that when I responded to this and wrote that you should use whatever doesn't allow knocking or pinging that I qualified it also by saying that for built motors and high boost applications you need the extra octane. I would also never tell anyone to run less than what the vehicle manufacturer recommends. If Nissan say's to run 91 minimum, then that's what you need to do. There's nothing wrong with using higher grade fuel. I was just saying that on my N/A car, it does fine on 89 without any problems at all. Conversely speaking however... On my 911 Turbo I have to run 91 or beyond at the very least. Here in SoCal, you can't find anything other than 87,89 or 91 unless you want to buy racing fuel. I have to run 91 with booster in the Porsche if I plan and driving it even slightly hard. Hope that was all clear. I don't mind paying the extra when I know there's a benefit. My N/A car see's no benefit from 91+ other than it wiped out a brand new high flow 3 way CAT in less than a year from running booster through it. I had to lessen the octane in that car to keep it from doing it again. Like I said though, if the car is designed to run off of higher octane or is built up or boosted... you need the extra points. Bottom line... "Don't be hatin'!"

Rod.

 

That's basically what I was saying at the top of the page. I didn't think I had to mention that I was talking about stock because it looked like everyone else was talking about stock as well. Of course more boost is going to require higher octane. I'm not hatin, I simply don't appreciate people telling me that I'm wrong when I know I'm not.

 

When you get right down to it, you're all arguing over 20 cents per gallon; which in these cars is not even $4 per tank. If you cant afford the extra $4 per tank, then you can't afford this car. Sell it and buy a Honda.

 

I'm not arguing over the price

 

I've never been to a place where 93 octane is $0.20 more than 91 octane. While I agree it'd be worth it if it were, 91 octane here today is $2.25 per gallon, and 93 octane is also $2.25 a gallon. Which means there's even LESS reason to go with the bare minimum when you can get better resistance from detonation for the same price. (I'm agreeing with you, just saying that there is no price difference between the two).

Back to my original analogy, if synthetic and conventional oil both cost $3 a quart, would there ever be any reason to buy conventional knowing that, while they both lubricate equally well, the synthetic will protect longer than the conventional? Just like if both 91 octane and 93 octane cost the same (which they do, at least here), why would you get 91 octane? No reason for it.

But the question that began this thread was

YES, the Z32 ONLY TAKES PREMIUM.

 

I'm in Cali, so we only get 91. The difference between 87 and 91 is 20 cents. I wasn't talking about the difference between 93 and 91. If we had 93 out here, then I would be using it.

 

Down here in San Diego, the difference between 87 and 91 is usually more like 30 cents. Also, we're still paying about $2.70 to $2.80 for a gallon of "Premium". this ain't like the rest of the country... You guys get good gas for cheap, we get cheap gas that's expensive. I really hate it... Untill I see the snow drifts piled up on the evening news while I'm chillin' on my fron porch in shorts and a t-shirt

Rod.