I had some 111 octane for my ATV...So I had the wife call the station that sells it and they said it was unleaded...Well today I drove by the station and in bright yellow and black it says at the pump it is leaded..GRRRR...I only ran maybe 1-2 gallons of it to ten gallons of 93 BUT it sure ticks me off that I ran it thinking it was leaded....I hope it does not hurt my cats or any sensors..
I had the same issue with a local Shell station...they changed brands of race gas and had removed the "contains lead" stickers...I questioned them about 110 being unleaded but the manager assured me it was unleaded....couple weeks later the stickers were back on the pumps....I cant understand why they dont sell 100 unleaded...legal and wont damage a modern ride..:dumb:
It died on you a few times and you think that is "fine"...:dumb:.....Leaded gas will eat your O2 sensors....some cars will run great for a while...some will be screwed immediatly. A friend of mine with a c-6 Corvette put the 110 in on his way to the track...he never made it..car was towed back to the dealership..had to replace the O2 sensors and buy a new tank.
There is no reason it should have died a few time? Are you sure that was the issue? A couple gallons really wont affect anything...
as long as there's no cat running leaded gas is fine. i do it all time lol. a few gallons even with a cat isn't going to kill it, don't worry about it. fyi - vp makes a 109 octane unleaded now that's pretty good. i've used it ones and saw no knock.
The cats arent the problem....as I said the O2 sensors will degrade over time with leaded....plus lead will cause other problems over time...just not safe to use in a modern engine from everything I have read...no way it will go in my tank...
quoted for truth yes it degrades the o2 sensors, but it takes a long time for that to happen. i've been running leaded gas for about four years now in my neon and i just had to replace my wideband sensor a few months ago. and the last few seasons i've been running leaded gas at least once or twice a month, so it's not like it's only a little that gets run through there. other than potential o2 sensors and possibly some wear of the spark plugs there is nothing in the engine that is going to be damaged by leaded gas. people stopped using it because of emissions, not because it was harming anything. the industry will also tell you that leaded fuel caused premature corrosion of the exhaust systems, which in reality means that it rusts at 150k instead of 170k lol.
I come from a time when there was no such thing as unleaded gas at a service station (called that because they pumped your gas for you).....lead is dirty in combuston...leaves deposits in the engine and oil...I would never put it in my tank....how soon it affects your components varies from car to car...like the Corvette owner I mentioned..he didnt go 5 miles till his engine started missing...killed his O2 sensors that quick...... .....all I am saying here is be aware that leaded gas will affect your engine at some point as it did your wideband sensor..
If you run a few gallons once a month for some all out track passes, you'll be ok. I get the CEL about 2-3 days later......I clear it, and it is fine. I never get it the same day though? funny huh? Certainly not great for the vehicle or the sensors, but would probably take a lot over a long period to really hurt parts. Unleaded 104-110 race gas is the best. I get what I can get at the track. ..to be honest, I am not sure if it is leaded or not.
So if your theory is correct tell me this: Why does every race engine in the world use leaded fuel? They are running much higher compression and revving the engines higher than any street car could ever imagine. With that said, leaded fuel hurts no parts in a race engine...
NASCAR now requires 100 octane unleaded....leaded gas has been banned for some time......lead is a cheap and easy way to gain octane and race engines are rebuilt constantly..........and street vehicles are not designed for lead...but if you like it...:huglove:
That brings up another issue...do you really need race gas? Leaded or unleaded the higher the octane the less energy per gallon. If you car does not ping on 93 you will probably lose power using anything with higher octane. In fact, in the RT owner manuals Dodge warns that the use of fuel with an octane higher than 89 will result in loss of performance in the 5.7 Hemi. Why then do most high perf engines use prem? Higher compression, cams, spark advance and other things more than offset the loss from using fuel with less BTUs. That is why my tuner supplied me with 2 different tunes...one for 93 to use on the street and another for 100 to use at the track. Links to more info: http://www.state.mn.us/mn/externalDocs/Commerce/Gasoline_Octane_Facts_102902052227_OctaneFacts.pdf http://www.fact-sheets.com/cars/high_octane_gas/ ..
NASCAR is far from every type of racing. And 2008 is the year they are testing it. 2007 and prior was ALL leaded fuel, so it has not been banned for some time, more like 5 months. NASCAR is 43 cars, the rest of the racing world is in the millions number. It wasn't banned for bad reasons, it was banned because that is what people use in their street cars. And NASCAR really wants to portray the stock car image, yes they also changed it because a lot of people think lead is a health hazard, but that was just part of the gig. Race engines are rebuilt often, but they see more abuse in one night of racing then your truck or my truck sees in one year. So lets say you run a race engine 20-30 nights before it needs to be freshened, that is a lot of abuse, there is no street car that will ever see that abuse. That is the reason for rebuilding. Now saying that it is a cheap and easy way to make octane is a little wrong if you ask me. VP race fuel is selling for nearly $10 a gallon right now. Last time I checked that was far from cheap... With all this said, I don't run lead in my street car, for one reason alone. I don't need it. My compression is low enough and I don't need to bump my timing up to the point where race gas is necessary.
