Which Petrol?

[pooner01]

i just recently bought a perfect condition VK after driving my parents car for too long and my mate said that i should be using Leaded petrol instead of Unleaded... is he spinning shit??? or do VK's actually run on Leaded petrol?

[Darren]

That's a very good question, your mate certainly isn't spinning any shit, they beginned to changeover vehicles around mid - late 1985, production ceased in March 1986. I would imagine if it's a fairly late make going by the compliance plate it would be unleaded otherwise leaded.

The best thing to do is pop into a place such as Repco, Sprint Auto or a place like that and ask them. I know the the guys at Spring Auto here near me are generally fairly knowledgeable and should be able to answer it so it's worth a try.

Failing that ring a Holden dealer which deals with servicing and they'll be able to tell you for sure.

My sister had an 84 Astra or something like that, she was told when she bought it 2nd hand that is was unleaded, it wasn't until the head went that we actually found out it was infact leaded.

[jafo]

my freind had a vk that was running on leaded dont know what year it was though

[SCUMMY]

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[3800VK]

If you can fit a Leaded Pump Nozzel into the filler then it is probably leaded. I think all non Efi VK's were leaded.

[holdenlover]

Very good point

[Grantis1976]

All Holden red, blue and black motors were built to run on leaded fuels only.
My other beast - VC, runs on shell optimax ( unleaded ), with a fuel additive that most servo's and auto stores sell. Dont remember what its called. Unleaded will kill your motor unlest its modified to suit.
Good Luck !!!

[OSL-060]

Upper cylinder lubricant boys and girls then you can run unleaded until the cows either come home or die of carbon monoxide poisoning

And DONT run non EFI cars on optimax, it is a dense fuel made for fuel injected vehicles.

Use BP Ultimate if you must use a HDHO fuel, otherwise stick to fuels like Vortex Gold etc.

Jake.

[Grantis1976]

So far so good for the VC, how does Optimax differ from BP Ultimate on this account???

[OSL-060]

ok I was vague in the last post and even contradicted myself I'll try and say it again..............

Shell Optimax and BP Ultimate are not PULP as most people are led to believe. They are HDHO fuels (High Density High Octane) designed for fuel injected engines and contain cleansing agents that are supposed to clean injectors and reduce carbon deposits.

From what I have heard BP mix up all the premium unleaded fuel then simply add their individual cleasing agents, rather than starting from scratch making it better suited to carburettored vehicles.Optimax is less suited because it is an even denser fuel than Ultimate.

Along with being more dense the cleasing agents in Optimax eat away at your valve recession additives making it even less suitable. Shell will naturally claim their fuel is great because they want more people to run their cars on it instead of LRP. They don't give two sh!ts about your valve seats, only profit.

Honda Motorcycles have been having big drama's running optimax of late, this got me asking questions and learning what I mentioned above.

Hope that clears things up a little.

Jake.

[grover]

if you to run unleaded in your vk,Flashlube is the stuff to get.you can either run it straight out of the tank-10mls per ten litres of fuel,or buy the kit which lives in your engine bay and is drawn into the manifold by vacuum-about $70.not sure about the mainland but here in tassie unleaded on has 92 octane rating while premium unleaded and lrp has 96 octane.

[VBSL79]

I Have a VB Commodore with a blue engine and all i use is unleaded petrol in it with none of that flash lube and its been running fine the only difference is i lost a bit of power thats all i been running unleaded petrol in my car for almost a year

[Grantis1976]

VBSL79, I would "srongly" advise that u use flashlube or a similar product. The end result is a pushrod engine that will look like its had a grenade thrown into it.
Good Luck !!!

[grover]

QUOTE (VBSL79 @ Jan 11 2004, 09:08 PM) I Have a VB Commodore with a blue engine and all i use is unleaded petrol in it with none of that flash lube and its been running fine the only difference is i lost a bit of power thats all i been running unleaded petrol in my car for almost a year
Mate you are playing with fire running straight unleaded unless your head has been done up to take it. ie:hardened valve seats etc.tick tick tick...when's she gunna blow....................

[OSL-060]

As the boys have said you should consider running an upper cylinder lubricant or have your head reconditioned because it may be too late for preventitive action. The 202 Head (I'm guessing) will be a reasonably priced reco and be fairly easy to remove and replace yourself.

Jake.

[VBSL79]

I got a reco engine in me VB Commodore and i think the head is a LPG head but i have heard no pinging yet i heard it on my VH Commodore but so far no problems

[grover]

unleaded wont make it ping unless you have a higher than normal compression ratio.thats not the problem with it.unleaded has nothing in it to lubricate the valves and seats but if your head is modified you should be ok.you only need upper cylinder lube if you have leaded petrol valves and seats.

[Grantis1976]

Better safe than sorry. Ur call mate.
Good Luck !!!