lead replacement fuel additive
Submitted: Monday, Feb 17, 2003 at 21:13
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4wdNovice
hi everyone. i habve written to this
forum a few times and received lots of good advice. i will give a little bit of the history of my question. i just bought an '84 swb pajero. it is being fine tuned right now by my mechanic. it had a new engine put in 2 years ago. according to the receipt, it was a MITSU. 4G54 CANTER LONG. the fuel that the 4wd takes is lead replacement fuel. the previous owner said that his mechanic had told him that after this new engine was put in, he could now use unleaded fuel as
well. but he continued to use lead replacement fuel. i am going to continue using lead replacement fuel.
a mate of
mine said that it is a good idea when you use this fuel to also put in an addative that you can get from a motor
shop. i forget what it is called, but it has a table on it telling you how much to put in depending on how many litres of lead replacement fuel you fill up with. is this extra additive a good idea? is it neccesary? what do you guys think
Reply By: Member - Richard- Monday, Feb 17, 2003 at 21:35
Monday, Feb 17, 2003 at 21:35
I have a 1972 Merc 350SL (very precious) and use Valvemaster in conjunction with premium petrol. You can buy it at most garages in either small shots for about 25 lts of petrol or in about 250m bottles that will do abouty 200lt of fuel. (Without going up to the car to pick up the bottle I am guessing on these figures.)
I think if you talk to anyone who knows anything about these additives thay will tell you DO NOT mix them. The additives have different major components that are not compatible with each other and can cause problems. If you are not sure if the engine is set up for unleaded fuel then you have a problem. If the previous owner has been using lead replacement fuel because they know it is not set up for unleaded fuel stick to what they use and do not mix fuels. (ie do not mix for example Shell with
Caltex.) If you want to change to Valvemaster additive then use premium fuel and I would suggest it could be from any supplier. Whatever you decide to do, STICK WITH IT AND DO NOT MIX)
Richard
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: 4wdnovice - Monday, Feb 17, 2003 at 21:59
Monday, Feb 17, 2003 at 21:59
thanx for your tips Richard. Yes, i am only going to use lead replacement fuel. However, is it important that I only use the lead replacement fuel from only one particular company (Shell,
Caltex)? I mean, if i am travelling and i cannot use the same company i usually use, is this a problem. Previously i had a vehicle that only used unleaded and i wouldn't worry where i filled up. Is it a big problem if i use a variety of lead replacement fuels?
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Reply By: Suzuki Viagra - Wednesday, Feb 19, 2003 at 09:38
Wednesday, Feb 19, 2003 at 09:38
Most of my cars have been very old - the Vitara is the first unleaded petrol car I have ever owned so I've had quite a few cars that have had to use "Lead Replacement Petrol".
My recommendation quite simply is - don't use lead replacement petrol. Use standard unleaded and an additive.
Many of my cars during the last 5 years have suffered ignition problems from the lead replacement fuel additives - mainly due to contimination of the spark plugs. Spark plug life is drastically shortened.
As far as the egine design goes - any Japanese engine made since the mid 70's is capable of running on unleaded fuel due (Japan introduced unleaded fuel much before Australia) but the lower octane of the fuel and lack of lubrication mean that leaded is prefered for these engines.
What I'm trying to say here is still use the additive but if you're worried about forgetting when you fill up the tank every now and again don't sweat it.
I thought all the 4G mitsubishi engines were all designed in the early - mid 80's so it should be unleaded. This might be an interesting little issue in regards to the engine conversion's legality - if it was designed to run on ULP then the fuel filler should have been replaced with a ULP one to be a legal engine conversion in most states.
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