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MG TD TF 1500 - Lead free petrol additive

Hi MG friends,
On my TD, the engine was completaly remade in 1997, since this time I have run 3000 miles. Unhappy at the time I did not change the head to an lead free one. That means I run with an Elf additive with 98 octane petrol. It runs perfectaly well. The question is: is there somebody in the same situatiātion who saw a valve recession?
Thanks for a reply, Georgibus
Georgibus

Georgibus - I have not converted the head on our Tds engine to lead free yet and we have been driving the car on a regular basis (in fact it is now our primary transportation vehicle while our main vehicle, an MGB, is undergoing some engine work). While I have experienced some valve recession, there has not been a sufficient amount to require a valve job, much less installation of hardened seats yet (by the way, I am not using any kind of lead substitute additive at all and run on lead free regular gas). My philosophy, on bothe the TD and our MGB has been to ignore the lead free situation untill such a time that the valves recess far enough into the head to make inserts necessary. This philosophy seems to be working well for our situation, as I just this year had hardened seats put in the head of the MGB engine after some 15 years of driving the car as an everyday driver and the vehicle we use for our yearly trip to California. We also do not baby either car. The MGB is driven constantly on the freeways and always in excess of the speed limit (the nice thing of an MGB is that it is low enough to come in under the police radar) and the TD spends most of it's time on the road at 4200 RPM. Good luck - Dave
David DuBois

Georgibus

We have been running our TF 1250 on unleaded plus Castrol additive. This is a potassium phosphide lead replacement - which the Consumers Association here found to be the most effective lead replacement. In addition the formulation also contains a ferrocene derivative which acts as a flame stabiliser and effectively increases the octane rating of the fuel.

We have found that the car runs rather more sweetly and cooler on this than it did on the old lead enhanced fuel. Over 3 years 15,000 miles there's been no valve trouble at all. Tappets have not needed resetting and compression is fine.
Paul Joachim

I've run for about 10'000 kms with Esso lead replacement additive, and the valve clearance remained the same over all that distance. And repeatedly I was told that inserting hard seat rings is a risky business, because they often fall out, and then your head is scrap. Any contributions to this topic will be very welcome! Concerning octane rating: I think you gan go for the lowest available, it will still be much higher than what you could have when XPAG engines were made (if your compresssion ratio is standard).
Remo Peter

Georgibus:- 3000mi in 6 yrs? Your MG sees the road even less than mine... :)

At rate of 500mi/yr, I think it'll probably keep running for a century or more before VSR becomes any major issue.

But by that time... we might well need some substitute for that liquid stuff "petrol", of which supplies might dry up by about AD 2050. 8(
Will

many thanks for contribution, Will I must say that now
after a lot of work on the TD, radiator modification and installation of the 5 speed gear box I will increase the milleage of the car.
georgibus

We were running an MGB on a fuel additive and in less than 7.000 miles we had 25 thou plus valve recession on exhaust valves 2 & 3 becaue they run hotter.
Apparently the aditve was doing sweet FA. For less than £300.00 the head was convewrted to lead free.
The moral?
Don't trust the hype; check that there is not another better additive. The manufacturer of our additive has various additives but only two are generally sold and our supplier was not aware.

CHANGE YOUR HEAD TO LEAD FREE.
Bob Marshall

This thread was discussed between 15/06/2003 and 04/07/2003

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