Talk:Engine knocking

Interesting article but what about the Lead question
I found the detail of this article useful, but there is a major question waiting for some authoritative content here.

Buried in the Abnormal Consumption section narrative we have, "The addition of ... lead ... will suppress detonation extremely well ... tetraethyl lead (TEL), a soluble organolead compound added to gasoline, was common until it was discontinued for reasons of toxic pollution." I agree this needs citation, but more importantly, knocking was, presumably, a significant problem to which TEL was a successful solution that delivered economic benefit to some class of interested party over considerable time.

Now TEL has been removed, we don't seem to have reverted to having a problem with knocking. How so? Was there never really a problem to solve or have we found a modern solution that renders TEL unnecessary? If so it isn't discussed here. Atconsul (talk) 16:28, 9 October 2023 (UTC)


 * The potential problem of detonation remains as high as ever. Initially the solution was to use the additive TEL. Since banning of TEL, other less harmful additives are used. See Tetraethyllead.
 * At Tetraethyllead it says: The use of catalytic converters, mandated in the United States for 1975 and later model-year cars to meet tighter emissions regulations, started a gradual phase-out of leaded gasoline in the U.S. The need for TEL was lessened by several advances in automotive engineering and petroleum chemistry. Safer methods for making higher-octane blending stocks such as reformate and iso-octane reduced the need to rely on TEL, as did other antiknock additives of varying toxicity including metallic compounds such as ... ... ...
 * Dolphin ( t ) 22:32, 9 October 2023 (UTC)