Wynns Lead Substitute - 944

[Brians944porker]

Has anyone regularly put a lead substitute e.g. Wynn's, into their petrol tank to reduce wear etc ? Is it recommended ?

[Henry-F]

You shouldn't need to bother. Your alloy cylinder heads have hardened valve seat inserts which are capable of running unleaded.

Leaded fuel is generally only needed for cars which use the cast iron of their cylinder heads as valve seats.

Henry

[crisisjez]

Brians944porker said:

Has anyone regularly put a lead substitute e.g. Wynn's, into their petrol tank to reduce wear etc ? Is it recommended ?

I'm using it in my Cortina.

[gsewell]

The use of lead substitute (as opposed to super unleaded) is to lubricate the valves. From experience in my cast iron headed Caterham Xflow, the wear can take 20,000-30,000 miles to become noticeable (from checking valve clearances).

If the clearances shrink from valve seat wear, the solution is to get hardened valves fitted. But for classic cars that only do 2,000 to 3,000 miles per year, that may take 10 years before it is needed.

So, I didn't bother and my engine needed a rebuild for other reasons before the valve seats gave way. So it was all done as one major rebuild.

As ever, your mileage may vary.