Leaded Fuel And What Is Its Effect

[kenjan]

I may be moving to central america to head up an operation for my company, and I am contemplating shipping my av with me. One problem is that only leaded fuel is available. I know this will probably play havoc on the emission control, but I am not sure what are some of the other effects leaded fuel will have. Fortunately emission control standards have not been set in that country, and I guess some remedies can be found there (cat removal came first to mind).

Can someone tell me what would leaded fuel do to my av and some possible workaround? Since there is no required emmision check, solution that would render the truck off-road only here would be perfectly ok.

Thanks!

 

[DougD]

The biggest thing you'll have issues with is the lead tearing up the O2 sensors. I'm not sure if you can use O2 Simulators all around, if you can you'd be fine in that regard.

 

[kenjan]

So, what is an O2 simulator? Is it some type of dummy O2 sensor that feeds info to the ecu? Where would I be able to obtain something like that?

Advices on any other possible effects of leaded fuel would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[gojira-san]

So, what is an O2 simulator? Is it some type of dummy O2 sensor that feeds info to the ecu? Where would I be able to obtain something like that

You're correct. It simulates the oscillation that a normal O2 sensor would have. If I remember correctly they usually oscillate between something like .5 and .75 volts. Casper Electronics sells O2 simulators.

You'll also need to remove the cat. since the lead will plug the converter. You'll just need to get a catalytic "test pipe" that is a straight pipe to bypass it.

I am not sure what other problems you could have with running the engine on leaded fuels. You might get some lead coating in the valve train but I am not really sure about that (I'm more of an electronics/electrical kind of guy)

Additional info: You may have to keep the O2 sensor connected to the ECU so it can get a heat measurement. I will have to look at the shop manual at home to see if that is needed on the AV. It probably could be bypassed with the right value resistor.

 

[nfhjr]

Your local Chevy dealer should be able to help

 

[emontini]

Lead will also clog the cataylitic converter