Alcohol For Your Car.

[Luckydog]

A guy was telling me today that he puts a bottle of alcohol into his cars petrol tank every now and then to get rid of the water.

Is that a good idea do you think Gents?

[Pomthai]

If its good idea or not I really don't know. But water and gasoline don't mix. Water and alcohol do mix as does gasoline and alcohol. In theory the alcohol and water mix & in turn mix with the gasoline making a gas/water/alcohol combustible cocktail. The water should eventually be removed because it has mixed with the gasoline due to the alcohol, thus allowing it to go through the engine during combustion.

[Jamie]

Yes, it is a good idea and works well. We use something called "dry gas" or "Iso-Heet" here in the colder parts of the US to prevent water in the gas tank from freezing in the winter time. It also works well during the humid summer months to prevent condensation in the gas tank.

[Crossy]

Welllll, I never put anything other than fuel in the fuel tank of my car.

That said why not fill with gasohol occasionally or even every time, already got 10% alcohol mixed in If you really must put alcohol in make sure you use ethanol, methanol WILL damage your fuel system unless it's specifically designed to use it.

If your car cannot use gasohol then under no circumstances put alcohol in your tank, it will wreck the fuel system.

BTW. There is no point doing anything if you have a diesel engine, all have a water trap which will stop any nasties happening should you end up with a little condensate in the tank.

[Jamie]

When I talk about putting alcohol in a gas tank to get rid of moisture build-up, you don't need to use a lot. While the ethanol blended in to gas will remove some water, it actually doesn't work as well as anhydrous iso-propyl alcohol. You only need to add about 500 ml of this to a tank to remove a lot of moisture. Do this every few months and you will be fine. This amount of alcohol will not harm your engine even if your vehicle is not supposed to use any alcohol...it's a very small amount, but it's very effective. Of course another way to keep moisture levels low in a tank is just keep it as full as possible.

[Crossy]

I'll go along with anhydrous isopropanol (should be marked 99.9%). What sort of quantities are you talking here for, say, a 70L tank?

BUT

How readily available is anhydrous isopropanol (or for that matter any high-purity alcohol) in Thailand? What sort of cost are we talking?

[Jamie]

I'll go along with anhydrous isopropanol (should be marked 99.9%). What sort of quantities are you talking here for, say, a 70L tank?

BUT

How readily available is anhydrous isopropanol (or for that matter any high-purity alcohol) in Thailand? What sort of cost are we talking?

I have a truck with a 35 gallon (133 liter) tank. I usually put one bottle of iso-heet in the tank every few months or so. They say to use one bottle (12 ounces or about 355 mL) per 10 gallons (38 liters) but like I said, I've never had problems with just one every few months.

This link gives you a little information on the product. http://www.goldeagle.com/heet/index.htm It is available in 75 countries, so there is a chance you can find it there in Thailand.

[Luckydog]

A guy was telling me today that he puts a bottle of alcohol into his cars petrol tank every now and then to get rid of the water.

Is that a good idea do you think Gents?

Well, I took your good advice guys and put about 500ml of LPCohol containing 70% Isopropanol into a tankful

(1200bht) of 95 Gas. The immediate result was quite amazing!

My 2.6 Holden Calais is quite a fast car, but NOW she goes like a bat out of H-ell!!!

The alcohol came from a chemist locally. I'ts called Rubbing Alcohol and cost about 100bht.

If you can't get it try a bottle of Thai Whisky!!!!!! (only joking)

How often should you do this incidentally?

Many thanks gents......

Edited June 12, 2007 by Luckydog

[lingling]

Well, I took your good advice guys and put about 500ml of LPCohol containing 70% Isopropanol into a tankful

(1200bht) of 95 Gas. The immediate result was quite amazing!

70% isopropanol from your local pharmacy is not exactly anhydrous...

[Jamie]

Yes, just remember, that other 30% is pretty much all water.

[Loz]

Nice one lucky Dog!

I might try a shot of that in my Motorbikes. My 750 Magna might turn into Ghostrider!!

My C70 might just blow up!

WOnder if you should advance the timing to avoid detonation though...

[CHdiver]

I have an agrement with my car. I don't drink petrol and he get's no alcohol. We are doing both great with this. If a car manufacturer would see any problem with water in a tank, he would take care of this. Better to stay away from stuff like that. If you blow up your engine because of that you shure will be not happy.

[Luckydog]

Oh! that's great Guys....

Advised to add some alcohol THEN just when I say how good the effect is, THE DETRACTERS MOVE IN!

Thanks a bunch!

[CHdiver]

I am sorry I was so late with my answer; I will do my best to give a faster reply next time. :-) Don't be to worried, your engine will survive.

[Jamie]

You aren't going to do any damage to your vehicle by putting such a small amount of alcohol in your gas tank.

[Luckydog]

You aren't going to do any damage to your vehicle by putting such a small amount of alcohol in your gas tank.

Thanks for the reassurance gents. I must say that she is going a bit better since I gave her a shot of the Hard Stuff. Bit like yours truly!

[Crossy]

You aren't going to do any damage to your vehicle by putting such a small amount of alcohol in your gas tank.

Thanks for the reassurance gents. I must say that she is going a bit better since I gave her a shot of the Hard Stuff. Bit like yours truly!

Has the improvement continued once you stopped adding something to your fuel?

My reason for asking is that alcohol has a lower energy content that gasoline which is why there are many reports that running on 10% gasohol gives you less performance and greater consumption.

Adding alcohol does however boost the octane rating, your engine managment system would probably notice this and advance the timing to take advantage, leading to an increase in zip (you will use more juice though)

You may just have gotten rid of some water, however if you used 70% rubbing alcohol you also added water.

IMHO If you insist on adding stuff that is not fuel to your fuel tank, at least put something in that is designed for the job and not for rubbing babies bottoms

[Luckydog]

No Crossy, I don't add Alcohol all the time. Just tried it the once to get rid of any water that might have been lurking in my seven year old petrol tank.

Seems to be running a tad better now.....