Delica Canada | Mitsubishi Van Club

Apologies in advance, as I'm sure this has been covered, but the search appears to omit the terms "v6" or "gas," which makes it tough to find.

I've narrowed my Delica search to the L400, and am having a hard time nailing down a solid answer on the V6 requiring premium gasoline or regular - especially our 87 Octane regular here in the lower mainland since so many Delica resources online are from all over the world. The V6 being thirstier than the diesel becomes potentially a bit more financially painful depending on what I'm putting in the tank, so I figured I should probably try to find out.

Some say it's fine on regular, others say it's fine on regular but with decreased performance and fuel economy, and others say that you'll get detonation and damage the engine. So if any BC folks could chime in with their experiences, I'd really appreciate it.

Am interested in this too, especially since my Delica didn't come with the Japanese owner's manual

My Delica just went cross country on regular. 10K kms, no issues at all, about 12-14 L/100km.

Interesting point on premium. I will give it a try to see if the gas consumption changes, but most articles I read said regular, and in any case, in Japan, most people use regular - premium fuel is mostly for the high-end cars, so I wouldn't expect Delicas to use premium fuel, like ever.

Other vehicles that used the 6G72 engine were 1987-2000 Dodge Caravans among plenty of others... no one then or now is feeding their Caravan premium fuel and don't have the compression ratios to require it.

I've got a 02 Spacegear. For my first year I ran 87. I now put in 91-94. I find I get marginally better fuel economy with the better fuel.

jimmyd wrote: ↑Tue Oct 20, 2020 10:13 am I've got a 02 Spacegear. For my first year I ran 87. I now put in 91-94. I find I get marginally better fuel economy with the better fuel.

Do you get 8%-14% better fuel economy though? (the price differential between 87 and the higher grades). If not ... why do it?

definitely regular

Does the Japanese owner's manual mention anything? (I didn't get one with my Delica)

gillbates wrote: ↑Mon Jan 25, 2021 8:45 pm Does the Japanese owner's manual mention anything? (I didn't get one with my Delica)

Regular gas, in mine.

Mine says 91 octane on it, so I use that or better. Far as I know it’s all about timing, and if you’re ignition timing is not set up for premium then high-octane won’t be the benefit you imagine it to be.

Keep this in mind:
Under Japanese Industrial Standard, octane rating of gasoline must be 89.0 or above for Regular and 96.0 or above for High-octane respectively. High-octane gasolines commonly sold in Japan normally have 98-100 octane rating regardless of brands.
So maybe mid-grade is what you’re really looking for?

mirth wrote: ↑Thu Jun 17, 2021 9:06 pm Keep this in mind:
Under Japanese Industrial Standard, octane rating of gasoline must be 89.0 or above for Regular and 96.0 or above for High-octane respectively. High-octane gasolines commonly sold in Japan normally have 98-100 octane rating regardless of brands.
So maybe mid-grade is what you’re really looking for?

Don’t forget that there’s RON and AKI ratings. Japan uses RON, Canada uses AKI, it’s confusing as hell. 98 RON == 93 AKI. So regular in Canada is perfectly fine. Once again, the 6G72 engine went into Dodge Caravans. Ain’t no way anyone ever put midgrade into those. :D

mirth wrote: ↑Thu Jun 17, 2021 9:00 pm Mine says 91 octane on it, so I use that or better. Far as I know it’s all about timing, and if you’re ignition timing is not set up for premium then high-octane won’t be the benefit you imagine it to be.

Yup, as I posted above, don’t forget it’a a Japanese car and it will show a RON requirement. Check this out:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octane_rating

Scroll to Examples, go down to RON 91, it’ll show Regular gasoline.

Thanks for that. Going to drop to regular from now on.