Methanol risky?

[AKWRX]

Originally Posted by hotrod

The fact the engine is made of aluminum is not important. The issue with methanol and corrosion only applies to metal parts that are "wetted" by the fuel continously, ie the inside of injectors, fuel rails, fuel lines etc. Larry

Agreed. Unless you are adding large quantities of methanol to the gas tank, none of the fuel system is exposed to any significant amounts of alcohol. When injecting, only the intake tract downstream of the nozzle sees any alcohol. Once in the combustion chamber it's chemical compostion changes under the heat of combustion to mostly water vapor, and the usual gas byproducts. Even alcohol "funny" cars running all methanol don't have any long term corrosion issues. However, that may be a bad example, since the service life of those engines isn't very long anyhow. Not sure what alcohol does to aluminum, but it probably just speeds up the normal coating of aluminum oxide that exposure to oxygen does to all uncoated aluminum.