which petrol additive do you use ?

deQuincey

deQuincey

Quousque tandem...?
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hello

I assume that you will have a similar problem there in the usa, than me in europe, leaded petrol has dissappeared long time ago, so we have to use additives to compensate the effect of lead

Can you tell me which additive do you use and, if possible, what is your particular experience ? also it will be nice to know which RON graded unleaded petrol you use

p.s. I am using 98 RON petrol, with MILLER´s VSP Plus, but i feel it very expensive, and I am trying to find alternatives, I can not use 100 RON petrol (it is not available in my area)

regards
 
Ron

fyi...The pump octane in the US is an average of RON(research octane number) and MON(motor octane method). Add 4 or 5 points to the US pump octane number to get RON.

Jon
 
I use millers VSP.

Here in the UK you can still get 4 star leaded petrol from some stations. I have one near me but it is quite expensive and given it probably sits there for a long time the unleaded + additive might be better.

The stuff you really want is avgas (100 octane) for aircraft with your timing adjusted to make use of the higher octane!
 
You do NOT need leaded gasoline. BMWs, from at least the Neue Klasse sedans, all have hardened steel valve seats in aluminum cylinder heads.

Here in the US, unleaded gas has been widely used since the 1970s and leaded gas has not been available since the 1980s I think.

What I have noticed is that once lead was no longer used, the insides of the engines were dramatically cleaner once the lead was no longer available.

Now if you have a British car ....
 
Thanks, I don't use any additives on my German rigs; on my MGB...nothing in a while. In the past I use Chev. techroline prior to smog tests as a system cleaner.

I find that using regular vs. premium as the petrol in the tank prior to smog test my HCs are very low...lower RON/burns more completely and gives higher energy from the complete burn leaving less unburnt matter for sensors...Usually better for high compression engines. My MGB and CSi don't require smog tests anymore.
Jon
 
Bill Riblett said:
You do NOT need leaded gasoline. BMWs, from at least the Neue Klasse sedans, all have hardened steel valve seats in aluminum cylinder heads. Here in the US, unleaded gas has been widely used since the 1970s ....
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Bill is spot-on. How this is not common knowledge is beyond me.

USA experience: I use Chevron techroline for the injected cars when I am in a state that does not have Chevron/Standard stations, 1/2 the recommended maintenance amount.

If I have an engine full of schmutz (as Bill alluded to) beFORE a full fluids change I dump a whole bottle of the techroline into about 3 gallons of gas and drive the car hard making sure its at full operating temp til almost out of those 3 gallons of gas. Then FLUID CHANGES on the injected cars. On carb-ed cars, one step further before the oil change. Add one gallon of high-octane and pop the air cleaner cover and with revs above 4k dribble a can of Ventil Sauber down the carb throats, this breaks up the deposits of schmutz on the valves. Some people use ATF for this but I just cannot bring myself to I hate the smell of combusted trans fluid (plus the smoke clouds out the tailpipe are brutal.)
Then do your oil changes.

I realize the OP asked about lead/octane additives, but since they are unnecessary on our cars I just chose to babble a bit while waiting in the airline terminal.

Cheers!
 
Yes - as has been noted above - Unleaded fuel is just fine in these cars. I have used unleaded fuel in my 2002 for over 25 years. The M30 in the E9's are the same for us. Hardened valve seats are very much an original installation for our engines (M10, M30 and such).

The one thing that has changed is the alcohol that is added to our fuel now.

I use Marine Stabil in all my (non daily driver) cars. I also use it in the fuel I store for my generator, pressure washer, mowers, chipper, trimmer, chain saw, et al. I use it as a preservative - not an an enhancer (unless you count the effect if my fuel was to go bad).

Works great for me....
 
30csl said:
I use millers VSP.

Here in the UK you can still get 4 star leaded petrol from some stations. I have one near me but it is quite expensive and given it probably sits there for a long time the unleaded + additive might be better.

The stuff you really want is avgas (100 octane) for aircraft with your timing adjusted to make use of the higher octane!
Click to expand...

hi

so I see you use the same as me, millers VSP seems a good product, but I feel it very expensive (almost 5 pounds per bottle, and a bottle is needed for 40 liters)

I would like to use castrol valvemaster in which 250ml per bottle are enough for 250 liters

but the real thing is that I would like to avoid doing stupid things adding additives that are really not needed

i am surprised by the rest of comments, that will give light to this tunnel: are you sure that a 1971 M30 engine is equiped with hardened valve seats ?? in that case no additives are needed !!

please advise

regards
 
No additives are needed, BMW and MB both utilized hardened seats from early on. In California Premium is about 94 or 95 Octane, I never have pinging. Dieseling once in a while? Sure, but not often.
 
HB Chris said:
No additives are needed, BMW and MB both utilized hardened seats from early on. In California Premium is about 94 or 95 Octane, I never have pinging. Dieseling once in a while? Sure, but not often.
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Well, according to my sources the hardened valve seats in BMW engines wasn't done before 1985.

Anyway, you could always find a standard lead replacement to a low price/liter at your local gas station.
 
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Stefan said:
Well, according to my sources the hardened valve seats in BMW engines wasn't done before 1985.
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I respectfully beg to differ with you. To the best of my knowledge (which is not saying much) all M10 and M30 engines employed aluminum alloy cylinder heads with hardened steel valve seats. The issue is more typically a problem with cast iron cylinder heads, some of which do not or did not have separate inserted valve seats. Valve material also dictates the need for harder valve seating material or some lubricant (e.g. tetraethyl lead) or there is the likelihood of valve seat recession. The metal used in BMW's valves in the M30 engines has always been hard.

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/partxref.do?part=%0911121254253

24.png
 
bengal taiga said:
I respectfully beg to differ with you. To the best of my knowledge (which is not saying much) all M10 and M30 engines employed aluminum alloy cylinder heads with hardened steel valve seats.
Click to expand...

Its a little more generic than that. Any engine with an aluminum cylinder head has hardened steel valve seats. No lead required.
 
m_thompson said:
Its a little more generic than that. Any engine with an aluminum cylinder head has hardened steel valve seats. No lead required.
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It is commonly understood that all aluminum heads were fitted with valve seats hard enough to accommodate unleaded fuel. However, not all valve seat inserts, even for light alloy cylinder heads - are the same and this includes "hardness."

"The original equipment manufacturers use a variety of seat materials, including cast iron, iron alloys, nickel alloys,cobalt alloys (stellite) and powdered metal (which generally contain no chrome or nickel, only vanadium and iron). Most OE seats in passenger car aluminum heads are a high grade of cast iron or powder metal. The better (more expensive) materials are usually found in high output and turbocharged engines, with hard seats and stellite being used mostly in diesels and industrial engines."

"Seat and valve materials must be compatible with one another as well as suited for the application. A hard valve generally requires a hard seat and vice versa. A stellite faced valve in an industrial engine, for example, would require a stellite seat. A titanium racing valve, on the other hand (which is relatively soft), would require a soft cast iron or beryllium-copper seat."
http://www.aa1car.com/library/ar993.htm
 
As most of you know, Ethanol (a corn alcohol additive) is a big part of fuel today. In my opinion, far worse for our cars than unleaded fuels. There are stations that sell “Non- Oxy” 92 Premium for recreational vehicles and collector cars. Your local Street Rod websites have links to the locations of these stations. I will only run “Non-Oxy” in my collectors cars.
 
Stefan said:
Well, according to my sources the hardened valve seats in BMW engines wasn't done before 1985.

Anyway, you could always find a standard lead replacement to a low price/liter at your local gas station.
Click to expand...

I need to clarify my earlier post.

Well, according to my sources the hardened valve seats "adapted to unleaded fuel" in BMW engines wasn't done before 1985.
 
So what about ethanol?

Is this bad for either e9s or new vintages? Here in Maryland they are allowed to put up to 10% ethanol but do not need to tell people. Exxon labels the pumps as 10% ethanol.

I use Shell, Texaco, or Chevron because I read somewhere that they were better (Chevron and Texaco have Techron cleaner as additives). Do Shell, Texaco or Chevron use ethanol? I don't know. Not labeled on the pumps.
 
HB Chris said:
No additives are needed, BMW and MB both utilized hardened seats from early on. In California Premium is about 94 or 95 Octane, I never have pinging. Dieseling once in a while? Sure, but not often.
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Where do you find 94 or 95 octane premium. All the stations I go to list it at 91 Octane.

My Coupe runs fine on it but I usually put it in 1st gear and ride the clutch when I shut it of to prevent run-on.

I have a 69 Fairlane Cobra with a 428 CJ torque monster engine and I have to add a little race fuel or Toluene to bump the octane of premium to satisfy its needs.
 
Again, the Best way to find High octane as well as Non-oxy, is to ask the street rod members in your area. The Minnesota Street Rod web site has a listing of gas stations in my area that sell these types of fuel. I am sure this is the same throughout the US.
 
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