should i use a lead substitute in fuel in a 1987 yamaha venture

[jman]

not sure i just dont no if the valve seats are hardened can anyone help me out with this i pulled off the side cover it says use leaded fuel

[bongobobny]

Nah! Unleaded works fine. Regular is usually OK but mine had a slight spark knock under load so I ran premium most of the time, but others have had no issues using regular unleaded. So far I have never heard of anyone eating valves using unleaded...

[Squidley]

I have never used any lead additives in any of the 1st gens I have owned. Run them on '87 octane and dont worry about it....

[dacheedah]

gas n go, 87 is all u need

[Yammer Dan]

87 Unleaded is all you need.

[Pegasus1300]

As I remember lead was banned in the early 70's and by 1983 the debut year of the 1st gens it was pretty well gone from all our fuel here in the states. I have always run 85/87 octane in my V4s with no problems.I had one motor to 150k+ and that motor in now in another bike doing just fine.

[MikeWa]

Many cast iron cylinder heads had the valve seats ground directly into the head. The lead in the fuel acted as a lubricant between the valve face and the seat. When the lead was removed the valve face being harder than the cast iron began to eat into the seat (head). Especially on exhaust valves with positive rotaters. This was called valve recession as the valve worked it's way up into the head. The cure was to replace the valve seats with stellite steel inserts. Aluminum heads being soft always had steel valve seat inserts so the change from lead posed little or no problems for them.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Mike

[jasonm.]

unleaded gas has been arounf since 1975...And yamaha has the longest valve checks= 26k. Thus they are very good quality. Nothing to worry about . I have only needed 2 shims in 80k miles. But remember to check them or have a good shop do it. The engine must be COLD when this is done. Thus you cannot drive to a dealer and wait outside for it to be done. The shim tool is still available...I think...

[a1bummer]

I wouldn't worry about the unleaded stuff. A bigger issue would be the ethanol that's added to most 87ish octane fuels. I run whatever doesn't have ethanol added. Usually 91 octane. But sometime that even has ethanol added. Ethanol is corrosive to carburetors and carburated fuel systems. Which was one reason I converted my 78 F100 to MEFI. I would like to do it to the 84 VR as well. Just haven't had the ambition to do the research much. Ethanol also tends to strip away oil from cylinder walls. Seafoam added to the fuel will help with lubrication of the upper end of the engine and help reduce the ill effects of ethanol. Usually about 1oz/gln fuel. I do notice a difference when its added.

 

Bill

[Max]

I was told by our local Yamy dealer that unleaded fuel wasn't an issue with the '87'. The only concern was that ethanol has a tendancy to dry out the vulcanizing properties of the rubber components in the carbs. Apparently the only fuel up here that doesn't have ethanol is premium (if it's ok to name them) shell, ultramar & petrocan. Quite a few sites around the net generally concur.

I took his advice to the bank almost 2 years now without any issues.