What methanol does to aluminum in only a couple of weeks. Do not
use
aluminum tubing in a menthol fuel system. Use AN line and anodized
aluminum AN or SS fittings. This yellow snot gets in the fuel
injectors and gums them up.
Paul Lamar
Paul, I suspect that the water that is in the methanol is reacting
with the aluminum and methanol. It is almost impossible to get 100%
water free alcohol by ordinary methods.
Bill Schertz
I don't recall plain water does that to aluminum Bill. There is 4
oz
of castrol oil per gallon in the methanol.
Paul Lamar
Back in the 1970's, Valvoline was supplying all the methanol and
there
were a lot of concern about the aluminum oxide (white powder) that
would
form on un-anodized aluminum parts. As was stated by someone, dry
methanol is basically only available from lab supplies. The
commercial
grade is allowed some percentage of water. It is still fine as a
fuel (a
little less heat content as the % of H2O rises). At some point, it
still
appears to run well but the power output can drop severely.
This used to
cause a lot of consternation when testing an engine that appeared to
be
OK, until someone remembered to check the barrel and "wet" methanol
was
detected. I don't remember the quantities, but the Valvoline test
was to
add some amount of water to a beaker of alcohol and if it turned
milky,
it wasn't useful as a motor fuel anymore. It, of course, was
supposed to
be checked before running the engine :)
Valvoline stated that you could leave bare aluminum in dry methanol
forever without any oxide forming. I suspect what you are seeing is
a
result of the oil in the fuel.
Gary Knutson
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