Unleaded Petrol in a Leaded car?

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Soldato
Joined
26 Jun 2005
Posts
20,224
Location
Australia
Im i right in thinking that V power would do the job? Or will it need some of that additive stuff?

The car in Question is a 1982 Volvo 244 GLE


Thanks all:)
 
You'll need the additives so as to give the engine the lubrication it was designed for from the lead in leaded petrol.
 
paradigm said:
You'll need the additives so as to give the engine the lubrication it was designed for from the lead in leaded petrol.
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Lead reduces detonation and allows you to run a higher compression ratio - that's why it was used in fuel. It also protects the valve seats from wear.

A 1982 engine like that Volvo 244 will probably be fine on unleaded but may need the timing retarding slightly if it pinks - other than that, I'd just stick a bottle of decent additive (i.e. Millers VSP or Castrol Valvemaster) in every other tank if you're that fussed about it.

I've run much, much more archaic engines on straight unleaded without issue - the valve seat recession that is so problematic on older engines is only really noticeable if you are doing heavy motorway mileage where the engine is being held consistently at high RPMs for extended periods of time :)
 
You can have the valve seats replaced can't you? Vaguely remember the classic car peeps all doing it when they switched from 4-star to LRP here. So perhaps unleaded with additives isn't quite so good.
 
yeah you can get hardened valve seats fitted but it involves removing the head and sending off to engineering firm most firms will charge around 200-300 for this add the labor for head removal etc then its not a cheap option.
regards
Andy
 
We had an old metro pretty much die on the lead replacement they did for a while when 4 star was phased out. LRP made it cut and and completely shagged the engine on what was an old but mechanically fine car.
 
I've been running engines from around 1935 vintage to current on unleaded for years and none of them have proved a problem. Valve seats have been fine and you time it to suit the fuel.

Only 'problem' I've found is the total advance for leaded is higher than for unleaded so you have to run it a bit retarded at idle.

One rebuild I did a while back I re-ground the seats and used additive afterwards. I probably didn't need to bother and the 'octane booster' did nothing to allow me to push the timing up.
 
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