For some reason I've always thought the slightest bit of methanol would be terrible for a standard gasoline fuel system given the corrosive nature of methanol. Then I realized "Heet" fuel dryer is either isopropyl alcohol or methanol. Is it ok to have a small amount of methanol in your fuel tank...rather, is it any more harmful than the 10% ethanol they already add?
Methanol and fuel systems?
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The problem with methanol is that even small amounts of water can cause separation of a methanol/water layer in the tank. Also, there are a number of papers I have read over the years talking about the formation of formic acid from the methanol (they are both one carbon species and the oxidation path is methanol to formaldehyde to formic acid). This occurs on engine startup and can cause this acid to collect on cold metal parts and therefore cause corrosion. Since there is now ethanol in the gas in most places, the use of an alcoholic gas line anti-freeze is no longer warranted. If you do need one, use the isopropanol version. It eliminates the problems seen with methanol.
We hardly need any gas dryers nowadays, because of the alcohol in most gasoline.
Avoid methanol.
The tiny amount in a bottle of HEET should not be any concern, however.
Avoid methanol.
The tiny amount in a bottle of HEET should not be any concern, however.
what about methyl hydrate ? it is widely used as a gas line anti-freeze .
Methyl hydrate is a unneeded different term for methanol.
Methanol (or isopropanol) will mix fine with the gasoline, which already has ethanol in it most likely. It will not form a separate layer with the water. Any water that is in there is already mixed in with the aforementioned ethanol, unless you dump in a gallon of water. So gas-line antifreeze is pretty useless nowadays.
Most car manufacturers recommend against using methanol, but I doubt one bottle of Heet will do anything bad. They would've been sued out of existence long ago if it did.
Most car manufacturers recommend against using methanol, but I doubt one bottle of Heet will do anything bad. They would've been sued out of existence long ago if it did.
Sprint cars running straight methanol have to clean out the lines and nozzles etc and take very good care of the fuel system. It can cause big damage.
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