Mk2 Petrol engines

[FredTransit]

None of the original Mk2 engines were made to run on unleaded petrol. This will be obvious to a lot of us, but it's suprising how many people don't realise it, and even confuse being made to run on unleaded with being tuned to run on unleaded. I was called recently by somebody who was looking at a petrol Mk2 camper, and was assured it was the original unchanged engine which had been tuned to run on unleaded. I had to explain that the lead was vital for the health of the valves, and without it in the long run there would be some damage. I don't want to sound too bitter here, but we were pretty p*issed off when we were told in 1987 our Mk2 would never be able to run on unleaded without using and addative. Maybe not much of a drama now, but there are still some low milage campers out there that have the original engines, so worth a mention.

[WINDSCREENGUY]

but you can always remove the head and have hardened valve seats machined in and problem solved

i had this done on a mk2 escort

[bortaf]

or stick a sierra unleaded head on
been running my Mk2 on U/L for about 3000 miles no probs, yet but an unleaded head is going on in the summer.

[FredTransit]

I absolutely agree, and have done this a few times myself. Or just ran the old engine till it went bang and got a Mk3 UL. Many people don't understand that the wear/damage takes quite a lot of miles, but it's still worth a mention.

[madmark]

with my mk1 i use super uleaded and treat it to some lead replacement now and again!
i think it would take thousands of miles to start showing the wear on the engine , i wish 4 star was still here ,
i am still not totaly convinced about super unleaded as i dont think there is much difrence ,just loads more money!

[FredTransit]

superunleaded is just higher octaine, it doesn't have the vital lead in it (hence unleaded). There isn't any quick fix with the V4, not any unleaded heads to change to. We had the heads done on a Mk1 years ago. It got nicked for the engine!!!!

[transitgeoff]

ran a mk2 on unleaded with orig lump for years with no problem, i think pintos are more than ok to just use with whatever petrol you can get

[bortaf]

Me old Mk3 mini bus had a label on the rocker stating it was fit to use unleaded in it, so i did, 15,000 miles later the valve seats where so worn i had to replace the engine

[FredTransit]

Me old Mk3 mini bus had a label on the rocker stating it was fit to use unleaded in it, so i did, 15,000 miles later the valve seats where so worn i had to replace the engine

Maybe it meant the rocker cover, not the engine under it................

[madmark]

i had a F reg mk3 2ltr and that had burnt out valves! ! what a wepon that was!