Hi all, after droppping my 1700cc in my 62 and had done a few thousand miles i started to get a ping and a miss. So we Jumped on the fone and spoke to our mechanic and he asked us what fuel are we running we said the lead replacement and he said use shell optimax it more expensive but it gives you better acceration and beeter milage and now my car is running smoothly, of course this is a rebuild motor so check yours out before putting optimx in it.

yeah same with my old worn 1500, wont run on lead replacement but runs great on Optimax

Yes it has been said many times on this forum. VWs do not need Lead Replacement Petrol; the engines are designed for unleaded. Use normal unleaded on stock engines.

I have been told to use optimax with valvemaster additive. Do I need the additive. I am running a 1916cc

Since this topic was threshed out on the 'old forum', I have been using the Shell brand of 'Unleaded Super' in both my stock 1800 kombi and my wife's 1500 beetle and I noticed an immediate difference in drivability and performance. I have had some trouble trying to convince Heather to pay more for her petrol, but when I drive the car with the 'standard' stuff in the tank, I can immediately pick the difference. I have not calculated mileage figures yet though.

So can I use Premium (95 RON) in my 1600 Type III Automatic, or does it have to be 98 RON?????

PS.....it is stock.....

my mech said something like....:
Use LRP or Remium Unleaded as standard unleaded's RON value changes between 90 RON and 94 RON on a good day so its no good for our cars. Premium and LRP are 94/95 RON and up and thats what our cars need. If you have an old car just add valve addative to the tank if you wish.

It makes sense and my car runs better, idles better and doesnt 'run on' like it used to.

yeah, my 1600 sp would ping lightly and run on like a bitch if i ran it on regular unleaded, mind u compression is only at a mild 7.2:1 which theoretically should be ok for regular. So much for theory....

i only run it on premium and it runs cooler, doesnt ping, doesnt run on. Also with premium unleaded from the major brands there is consistency in quality. I found that with regular unleaded sometimes u could get rat shit and other times u could get cow shit

i run valvemaster on reccomendation from VVDS, only costs $13 to treat 250L so why not.

hi all from what i have been told the lead replacement fuel leaves an enormous amount of carbon build up within your heads, so i use and recommend optimax

Only Shell appears to quote the octane rating of their petrol now, I notice that Caltex has removed all reference from their bowsers.

The Shell standard unleaded is stated to be 92 or better, the lead replacement crap is 96 and Optimax is 98.

A standard 1200 or 1300 (& maybe 1500) should derive no benefit from anything other than standard unleaded.

With my 1600 I alternate between standard unleaded and Optimax, and fill the tank at the half full mark. There is a noticable pinging if only standard unleaded is used and it runs beautifully with the half & half method I employ.

Shirebug:

Optimax has solvents for fuel injectors, so I would imagine you don't need anything to keep your valves going. I use Optimax in both Hoonbug and Mr Fasty with no troubles.

Andrew

Well, I think everyone knows by now: LRP is crap and will clog your heads. It only exists so the fuel companies can milk people with cast-iron headed engines. Any VW that has been rebuilt properly in the last 25-30 years will run just fine on ULP - even standard with the advance set correctly. Optimax seems like overkill unless you have raised the compression to suit a radical cam; even a friend's 60's camaro runs fine on premium with a lead subtitute. I only use premium ULP because my stocker sits long times without being driven (we're currently separated-) it was running just fine on standard when I was driving it regularly - the premium seems to resist going "stale" a little better (and should help with the reduced CR when I add "carbie Cleaner" to freshen it up.)

[Edited on 9-10-2002 by 70AutoStik]

[Edited on 11-10-2002 by 70AutoStik]

No doubt about it premium is the way to go. I have a drip system(additive) in my 60 kombi 1200 6v and it runs fine but have noticed a remarkable improvement in all other vws using premium fuel. volma1

yep you will see an improvement in both power and fuel economy using premium, even with a stock motor

Do you need to adjust your timing before using optimax?? I have a worked 1916cc but std heads...

Rather than quote what he said she said the mechanic said...

I tested optimax for 4 weeks in my mitsubishi lancer against regular unleaded. I didnt notice ANY power increase or ANY difference in mileage. And this from a car with electronics that should be able to take advantage of these things.

In every VW (other than turbo race car running 20psi boost) I have owned for the past 6 to 8 years I have used normal unleaded fuel with no problems whatsoever. I have occasionaly used optimax but have never gotten anything near a suspicion that I had noticable more power or economy.

I have pulled down an engine that ran exclusively optimax and it was cleaner than the day it was put together. That much is true.

Had a valve master guy come to club VW meeting last month. Showed his pretty powerpoint presentation on the screen with graphs of this n that, quoting all sorts of figures for old pommie cars but wouldnt say that it was any use to us even when asked the direct question. All he would say was "it couldnt hurt". Now if the guy trying to flog it wont say that a Volkswagen needs it... who the hell is!!! Wish you were there that night phil.

If you are worried go out to the shed. Do a valve adjustment. Run unleaded for a month. Check the valves. Still the same? well youve done your own research and now you can stop paying extra for fuel you dont need. If not then I stand corrected... go back to LRP with valvemaster.

Hmmmm.
Well last week and about $40 ago I swapped over from LRP to Optimax to give it a try.
Haven't really an opinion as such just yet cause the Dog need a carbi kit put in. I did notice a mild increase in responsiveness but that might have more to do with the extra 10psi that each tyre needed. Considering that yesterday they wanted 107.5c/l I doubt that I will become a loyal subject for long. Have been keeping a record so will last out for 8 tanks and see if theirs any significant variation with the last 8 tanks of LRP.

The Bronze.

107.5c? That's regular around here!

On a more serious note, Bronze: If you read official VW literature, you will find your engine doesn't really need lead - and a bit of furthur research will quickly show you it certainly doesn't need LRP. You didn't say what CR you're running, so switch to premium - I seriously doubt you will miss any decrease in "responsiveness:" If you are not running your engine at Group A type revs, with a cam and heads to suit, Optimax is a bit of a waste. If you are running close to stock CR, try some standard ULP - at worse, you may need to back your timing off by 2-4 degrees (and I doubt you will notice any less power,) but if you have a 009 you may find it actually runs better!

Bronze, when you posted this message your Posts Number was ..... 666.......
Not trying to tell us something eh..?:P
But in any case I look forward to your test results.

Hey! What happened to the Bronze's message?

I put half a tank of Vortex in the bug this morning (was very very empty so very little LRP in there) and staright away noticed she idles smoother even with the big cam.
Havent noticed any change in power and will report back on fuel consumption...
Oh and i only paid 94.9 for Vortex....

my 98 EL facon runs smoother and quicker while on optimax with better fuel consumption. work that out.
its all i use in my race car too

after putting the blower on I started with shell and down in Caanberra I used Mobile and what a stink it just would not stop pinging so back to shell and no more problems

70AutoStik

107.5c? That's regular around here!

Yeah thats price per litre not GALLON like in Washington.

the price here is approximatly $4.50 per GALLON

Actually, Dave, the US use 3.78 litres to a gallon, not 4.something like the UK. And then you divide it through you US price conversion.

Check out my "How to be an Aussie" page I use for my posts to New Beetle websites. It's got all the conversions you'll ever need.

http://www.greebo.net/beAnAussie.htm

Andrew

Yer right - Broome's a mere 6.5h drive from here (just down the road.)

I'm not saying optimax is no good (even if it was available around here - we only got premium earlier this year,) just that it's probably not worth the money unless you're running high CR and constantly pulling hard. For example: many drivers have reported that premium works out more economical than regular when they are pulling caravans or trailers over long distances - but it does depend on the vehicle and the ECU used.

here's some interesting comments on octane ratings.

www.geocities.com/motorcity/lane/1970/octane1.html

OK 70AS where abouts are you. She is a wild place out there. I hitched uo the coast in 1982 and ......um....it was "interesting" to say the least!

Pulled into Millstream the night Bob Hawke got voted in (yeah yeah showing my age - i know!)

One blokes job was to swim the river with a full esky so you could get a drink during your dip!

Hedland based - so yeah, further than the other side of the world! That's not too bad, remembering the night Bob got voted in - so long as you didn't stay drunk till he quit (as I suspect he did.)

As for the quiz on what oil to use - VWs, unlike a lot of other cars of that era, are happy with common multigrade oils. Many recommend against synthetics; Berg because they say they "resist heat," preventing the cooling from working properly, and many others have reported oil seal leaks soon after they switched to them.