chrisn0883

Imported a very nice/clean 1970 Olds '98 convertible to the UK back end of 2014 (from California), under 50,000 on the clock and so far running really well & very happy with it. Today I noticed after a drive out that a half used bottle of Red Line (brand) Lead Substitute had rolled out from under the front seat so am guessing the previous owner had been using this at some stage? Its a completely original car and running fine (at the moment) on unleaded fuel but.....does anyone have any advice on whether I should be using/adding a lead substitute or not and the pro's and con's of doing this? Cheers fellas! Chris

MDchanic

Yes. Don't bother.

Valve seat recession in these engines is not generally a problem unless you use them under prolonged high-RPM / high-load conditions, such as racing or towing.

You may need to redo your valve seats at 120,000 miles instead of 150,000 miles, but I doubt you'll ever drive the car that far.

You can search this site for the various lead discussions we've had over the years.

If you do choose to use a lead substitute, I'd just go with Octane Supreme, which is real tetraethyl lead - Why screw around?

- Eric