95 octane unleaded

[wesmin]

Hi Folks, finally got my Zed on friday and loving it. My local garage sells 95 octane unleaded petrol and I was wondering is that good enough or should I travel to Tescos and get their premium petrol

[Stew]

It should be run on higher octane stuff according to the handbook.

 

It can run on 95 though although this is meant to be to 'get you to 97 minimum' fuel.

[Zugara]

I run on 95 with no know issues, but Stew is right, hand book says 98.

[choptop]

98 Octane is best or 99 if you have a Tesco's near by

[Chris`I]

Tesco

[Jez @ H-Dev]

Tesco 99 and V-Power are the best. 95 RON isn't recommended as the engine is more likely to knock / detonate.

[BACON]

Tesco's Momentum all the way!!!

 

Sometimes go miles out of my way to make sure I'm putting the good stuff in; would never use 95!

[Ken]

I also go out of my way for V-Power.

[rtbiscuit]

the car is tuned to run on the high octane, if you want to run it on cheap stuff you'll need to look at getting the car remapped to run on it.

 

don't want to kill your engine over a prelonged period of time.

[Willieo]

Surely the knock sensor retards the timing if it senses pinking?

[Keyser]

Every Little Helps

 

I use Tesco 99 all the time

[rtbiscuit]

Surely the knock sensor retards the timing if it senses pinking?

 

not always,

 

i don't know the full ins and outs, but people like horsham and abbey can explain it better.

[Chris`I]

If you search on the subject Mark posted a graph showing then the knock sensor works.

 

Basically on 95RON you are relatively safe as it will drop it into the high det map so the engine wont blow up, but it wont be running anywhere near where it should be and you are robbing yourself of performance for what amounts to a very small amount of money considering the car you are running

 

Seen it time and time again people claiming that running 95RON is fine, they go on a dyno, have a bit of a

[Southernspeed]

Mark dyno'd my car at a touch over 250 hbhp on 95ron. Perhaps I'm losing a bit of performance compared to if it had been mapped on 98 but it runs really well. But as has been said, it's designed to run 98 (which I didn't know 'til after I'd had it mapped) so maybe on a stock map you'd be better advised to run 98.

[Daryl]

I would never run a performance car on anything but premium fuel. Its like going to a fancy restaurant and just ordering garlic bread as your main course. Not to mention any potential damage you could do to the engine.

[Willieo]

My 300ZX UK spec twin turbo is tuned for 95 and I tried running it on premium to see if there was a difference. There wasnt except at the till. I realise that it could be retuned timing wise to take advantage of premium but if it isnt then it is pointless. That said I have run the 350Z on 95 and I can hear pinking at low speed in high gears and now that I have tried 99 octane I can feel a real difference in the way the engine responds. What I didnt find was better fuel consumption but maybe that was because I was enjoying the better response and engine power.

[rtbiscuit]

My 300ZX UK spec twin turbo is tuned for 95 and I tried running it on premium to see if there was a difference. There wasnt except at the till. I realise that it could be retuned timing wise to take advantage of premium but if it isnt then it is pointless. That said I have run the 350Z on 95 and I can hear pinking at low speed in high gears and now that I have tried 99 octane I can feel a real difference in the way the engine responds. What I didnt find was better fuel consumption but maybe that was because I was enjoying the better response and engine power.

 

yes but the 300zx was built to run on 95ron; just like my jag is. so putting 98ron in really only gains a small amount. its more for giving the engine a clean.

 

but the 350z is built to run on 98ron, so running it on 95 ron can kill as much as 50bhp off your power.

 

its not what the 350 gains on 98ron, its the fact that it looses with out it.

 

i think the difference in a tank of 95 over 98 is you save about £10, but you get more miles out of 98 ron,

 

basically what is thought as a saving on 95 just robs you of power. fill it with 98 more than makes up for the cost with the extra miles, and the fact you keep all your power.

 

if you want to run it successfully on 95, then get it mapped for it.

[Chris`I]

Its like own brand beans vs Heinz. At the end of the day, its all beans, but anything but Heinz just isnt doing it right

[wesmin]

I can get 102 octane in one petrol station, is that too high? Tesco don't do momentum over in Ireland and there is no shell stations so can't get v-power either.

[Chris`I]

I can get 102 octane in one petrol station, is that too high? Tesco don't do momentum over in Ireland and there is no shell stations so can't get v-power either.

Anything higher is fine, just dont expect any extra performance over what 98RON would give. I think in reality it will wind the timing forward so you may get a bit of performance gain, but not 100% sure.

 

Is it not uber expensive?

[Railgun]

The only thing I can get locally is BP ultimate, and that's 97. Assume that's ok.

One query I have is, do these fuel additives like STP claiming to up the op actually work, and if so, is it worth keeping a bottle handy if yer caught short and have to fill up on the cheap stuff?

[rtbiscuit]

The only thing I can get locally is BP ultimate, and that's 97. Assume that's ok.

One query I have is, do these fuel additives like STP claiming to up the op actually work, and if so, is it worth keeping a bottle handy if yer caught short and have to fill up on the cheap stuff?

 

no harm in boosting the 95 ron stuff to get you to the next petrol station etc.

[planetsurfer2]

If you look at my dynos you'll see a difference of about 7 HP. First dyno was with 95RON fuel, second was with 98RON fuel.

[Ekona]

The only thing I can get locally is BP ultimate, and that's 97. Assume that's ok.

One query I have is, do these fuel additives like STP claiming to up the op actually work, and if so, is it worth keeping a bottle handy if yer caught short and have to fill up on the cheap stuff?

BP is fine, it's what I run the 911 on and what I used to run the Zed on

 

The additives make a hell of a difference. Due to a balls-up by one unnamed tuning company my old mk3 turbocharged MR2 was mapped for 100+ RON rather than the 97 I wanted. As such, I had to fill up every single time with a tank of the good stuff plus a bottle of the additive, and if I didn't do so it would pre-detonate all over the place. Scary stuff, but at least it gave me full confidence in the product. Millers is by the far the best bang for buck, £4.99 gets you one shot for a whole tank. Well worth keeping a bottle in the boot just in case.

[wesmin]

Nissan don't recommend using octane boosters in the manual. The 102 is priced at £1.42.4 per litre and 95 is 136.99pence per litre here. Not a Massive difference.