No more LRP?

[T i m]

Hi All,

The missus came home tonight and said that the local Tesco's petrol station had said that they won't have any more LRP, ever?

She asked why and was told it's illegal?

Doe we know this to be true bacaue of the few petrol stations left around here (most being replaced with flats) none have any LRP in stock?

So, is it d-i-y time with some lead additive or just run the old 2L Pinto lump on unleaded as it's probably leaded up enough now in 90,000 miles?

All the best ..

T i m

[Bob Eager]

Have a look back in the 'can i use unleaded in a lawn mower' thread. There were a couple of useful URLs.

[T i m]

Cheers Bob.

I did look (quickly) for the thread (as I remembered something about that) but couldn't find it (now have). ;-)

I wasn't sure if we got onto high compression perfomance engines like the Pinto lump in my 82 Sierra? ;-)

sPoNiX's AA link tells me we will have to do a 10 mile round trip to get LRP from now on .. ;-(

May not be an issue for long as the poor old thing is starting to show it's age ..

All the best ..

T i m

[Nick Read]

Its not illegal, just no longer produced because demand for it is so low that oil companies don't consider it's profitable to produce, store and distribute it any more.

Nick

[mrcheerful]

LRP is still available at morrisons and tesco in essex.

Alternatives for your car are: retard the timing to the unleaded figure and use an additive every fourth tankfull or get the head off a late pinto (there is a mark on the exhaust port flange to denote hard valve seats), or get new seats fitted in your head.

If you run yours on unleaded then the valves will poscket into the head, this has no noticeable difference until all the valve clearance is used up, then you lose compression. So if you use unleaded make sure you check the tappetts every year.

MrCheerful

[T i m]

Thanks for that.

So, I wonder how long the valves will take to recess on the 1 > 4 tank cycle. I might try to take it the last 10k to 100k .. not likely to do that again on any car I own from new ..(and I'm less likely to do that as well!)

All the best ..

T i m

[Paul C Lewis]

One of the self fulfilling justifications that the self-appointed EU environmental guardians used when framing the directive to outlaw the marketing of leaded petrol, was that as the demand for it was rapidly declining, it would soon become uneconomical for the oil companies to generally supply it, therefore a ban would have no serious negative impact on consumers! The fact that the rapidly declining demand would also mean there would ultimately be no effective environmental case for a ban, and therefore no reason for legislating thus, seemed to escape them. (In fact as we have seen, the environmental case is rather against a total ban, as the alternatives to 4 Star leaded petrol - super unleaded + DIY additising, etc, are generally accepted on balance to be on environmentally worse.)

However our masters spake, leaded petrol was (mostly*) outlawed, LRP and additives were introduced, many older cars were scrapped, LRP was generally found to be crap, demand declined and eventually LRP has become uneconomical for the oil companies to supply ...

There are of course a number of practical alternatives available to those who need leaded petrol:

1) Real leaded 4 Star petrol.* - Yes it wasn't all banned, we were graciously allowed to continue selling up to 0.5% of the nations petrol as real leaded 4 Star. For details on where it is still available, see: (Not that the Bayford Thrust fuel is actually almost 5 Star petrol!) 2) Unleaded + fuel additive. A whole range of valve seat wear additives are available, some with octane boosters (or you can use super unleaded as a base if needed.) See for information on some of the available additives that have been tested and endorsed. Of note is the availability of a real Tetra-Ethyl Lead additive. (see: ) Personally I'd rather leave the blending of petrol with TEL to the oil companies, not being partial to a spot of lead poisoning. 3) Have your engine modified, with hardened valve sets if possible and economical. (or just use plain unleaded and run it into the ground until 4) applies)

4) Buy a new car, moped, petrol powered lawnmower, chainsaw, hedge trimmer, cement mixer, vibrator, or whatever appliance you are struggling to legally enjoy, safe in the knowledge that you will have no further negative environmental impact, and that you've done your bit to promote tomorrow's throw away society...

[mrcheerful]

.

Provided you use an additive every fourth tank then the wear should be quite slow. If you use unleaded all the time then the valves will sink noticeably within 5000 or so.

mrcheerful

[T i m]

(In fact as we have seen, the environmental case is rather

It didn't seem like a 'better' solution?

I thought that supply was governed by demmand? If we could get LRP at our local station I'm not sure we would flinch too much if they put the price up?

It looks like the closest for us would be too far (40+ miles round trip)

Possible then ..

(see:

Me too ... ;-(

That's probably the fate of the 82 Sierra .. ;-(

The Mk II Escort based kitcar needs some engine work and the 1300 'Kent' engine should be easy to re-seat / valve? until

Another car is the best we could hope for / want (the kids round here don't care how much your car cost you they still play football up againt it (bless them))

moped,

Most (possibly all) of our bikes run unleaded anyway (as mentioned elsewhere on this or the lawnmower thread).

petrol powered lawnmower, chainsaw, hedge

Don't have ..

vibrator,

Not mine but batteries ..

or whatever appliance you are

Exactly. I recently bought (100 quid) what today would be to most folk a 'too old' 170k, Rover 218SD that gives over 50 mpg. This is the same as my BMW R100RT motorbike and that only takes two people and can't carry much easily (even with the trailer). Ok the bike can 'filter' but traffic still slows you up.

If less people were obsessed with size, speed and performance (for no reason I mean) I'm sure we would be driving round in 'safe' 100 mpg cars today? That means and even in comparison with my old Rover (Honda?) the oil reserves would last twice as long or the pollution would be halved?

Do you *need* your 12 mpg vehicle (assuming you aren't a truck driver) ;-)

All the best and thanks for all the links / info ..

T i m

[The Natural Philosopher]

Anyine who has taken a lungful of modern unleaded petrol, as compared with the simpler chemsityry of leaded cannot fail to be aware o just how many aromtaics carcinogenic compunds of FAR wrrse health hazard than lead it now contains.

The main reason for going unleaded was that it poisons catalysts, and cataylysts were the received wisdom of cleaing up hyrdocarbon and other emmissions. Of course in our cold climate on cold days and short journeys they never actually WORK. They aren't fitted to lawnmowers, either.

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