I recently purchased a 1973 1800cc Auto kombi. The owner used a lead supplement fuel and this may be a silly question but do you need to convert the engine in anyway to use unleaded fuel?
Thanx
Steven

nope. it will run fine, maybe better, on unleaded.

Thanx for the help, its my first volkswagen... and my first car
Steven

Cool. Most people take a while to find out that the best VW's are type 4 engined kombis. Some just never learn! And you can even spell it right. welcome to the wierd wonderful wild world of volkswagen.

Any family history of volkswagens?

So what are you going to do when you arent a newbie. You'll have to get a new nick.

A little bit of volkswagen history... my grandad had two beetles one was a 1956 oval and the other was a later model i think, maybe 1968...
good point bout the nickname.... not sure... guess i will wait til im not a newbie any more :P

so, my 1600 kombi will run better on unleaded fuel also?
cheers, Ian

There's been a number of threads here debating fuel use. The general consensus was that your VW will run better on unleaded. Some swear by Shell optimax saying it gives better economy as well, although personally I dont notice any benefits from it.

we had a guy trying to sell fuel additives come to Club VW meeting a few months back. Now this is a guy who is feeding is wife and kids by selling valvemaster and even he wouldnt say that a VW needed anything other than unleaded. All he would say is that using valvemaster couldnt hurt.

I had a 1600 Kombi which I was advised to use unleaded 3 out of 4 fills and super the other.
My current Kombi has a 1916 in which I only use premium unleaded

Read this - it will tell you all you need to know about octane, lead and oxygenates in fuels and how they affect the aircooled VW engine - all types.

http://www.geocities.com/aussiebug1970/octane1.html 

If you can't be bothered reading it - then the short answer is - all aircooled VW engines can run on unleaded fuel without damage. They should only need 91 octane (normal unleaded) if they have normal compression, but it certainly won't hurt to use Optimax/Synergy8000 etc (98 octane) if you think that make it run better (it probably doesn't).

so what do you need to do, where do you need to go to convert from LRP to unleaded?

Not much to it!

1. Pull into a petrol station
2. Fill up with unleaded
3. Pay for it, start up and drive off!

If there's any LRP still in the bottom, it will mix with the unleaded and will soon disappear. Now you can live happily ever after on unleaded. And it's cheaper too.

out here in Western Sydney where the average petrol station tested close to 20%!! alcohol, in a random media investigation (Daily Telegraph 10/01/03), ULP can’t be recommended for any vehicle. Even early 90’s carbureted fords built for ULP ping like buggery ever since a litre hit the dollar mark.
91RON ULP of several years ago was good enough, but the brew available here now definitely isn’t.

As said b4 there have been a few threads on here and despite the 'ulp is fine. No PULP is better. No its not" argument I think everybody is happy saying that LRP is crap and should not be used in VW. I have also been told that the advantage ( if any ) of PULP is the cleaning etal that it does...eh
SO newbe...dont worry about filling it with LRP every what ever just use ULP or PULP oh and do watch out for the Ethanol...:sandrine

Fair call :thumb

Theres an article in the Open Road, with the major brands policy on ethanol. Shell, caltex, BP et al all state that no ethanol is added to their fuel and that IF it were added in future it would be less than 10% and it would be marked on the pumps.

I dont know if you should believe a newspaper media hype or oil company policy hype, but I've used unleaded fuel since adam was a boy (yeah OK so we only got unleaded in 86 and I didnt even drive back then) and had no problems even from cheap independant stations. And who is to say that LRP isnt getting a dose of ethanol too?

Now, if I remember right super or leaded petrol attracted a tariff which was introduced as an incentive to switch to ulp....as there is no more super/ leaded petrol, it having been replaced by LRP, why do the tariffs remain in place? is the govt being greedy by keeping them in place? did they think we'd forget?. i think the former!!!!

what about that syringe of stuff they sell at servos for leaded vehicles? what is it? should we squirt one in every now and then?

[Edited on 11-1-2003 by silver]

VW alloy head, hard valve seats, bronze valve guides = NO additives.

Yes, no additives are necessary in VW engines. Like the salesman guy said, the best thing you can say is that they probably won't do any harm.

Your 1800 Kombi came stock with a 7.3:1 compression ratio - VW detuned the Type 4 engine from the 411 sedan, which originally had an 8.2:1 compression ratio. For 91 octane or even less, your 7.3:1 Kombi will still run fine on normal, cheap ULP. You don't need PULP; you can pay more for it if you like but really it will make no difference to your detuned bus motor.

I'm skeptical that even 20% ethanol really does any harm. 10%, as suggested by the NRMA, seems too round a number to me. What makes 10% OK and 11% not? In Brazil the fuel is up to 40% ethanol, and apart from changing the jets to run richer, VW doesn't change anything else. The fuel does NOT dissolve the lines or any of that nonsense.

my bro has a 1916cc beetle and the guy he bought it off recommened to use this stuff called "flashlube" which is meant to do something with the valves etc he also said he uses LRP and my bro still uses LRP so its time to go over and experience what use guys are!!!!
cheers
rhys
p.s. there are signas here at all the petrol stations say"NO ETHANOL IN OUR FUEL"ahahahaha:jesus

so a friend of mine who just bought a "new" kombi was proudly discussing how it had been converted to use unleaded.
you don't need to get this done?
really?
my head is spinning.....i have been using LRP. I can just pull up and use unleaded?
too many different types of fuel...
OH MY GOD!!!

You bet. Another great reason to buy a VW.

They phased out leaded fuel in the US in the 1970s, and all the old VWs have been running around on ULP fine since then. Ours are no different; we just started later.

Fill your tank with normal, cheap ULP next time you fill up, enjoy the savings and be happy you drive a VW.

Yes Sooty, like Phil says, just fill 'er up with normal unleaded and drive the thing.

No additives, and unless you have a high compression engine, you don't need PULP.

The only rider is - don't use ULP with enthanol (called E10 on some pumps).

Ethanol results in less "fuel" in the fuel, so the engine runs lean.

No problem if you have a modern car with an engine computer than can change the mixture on the run, but your old VW WILL run lean on enthanol mix fuels, unless you increase the main jet size in the carby.

So use ULP without any ethanol if you can.