Last seasons VP Methanol ?

[Romero Llamas]

I have 1 to 2 gallons of VP racing Methanol left over from last season. It has been mixed and spent the Ohio winter in a 5 gallon plastic container. I suspect I should NOT use it in a go kart ? (just to be safe)

Hate to waste it, but I feel better starting with fresh fuel.

Can I run it in the 4 cycle lawn mower ?

Any other tips or ideas ?

Thank you

[Tom Bowman]

It would ruin the carb on your lawnmower. I had to replace the carb on a leaf blower due to damage caused by E15 gas.

I'd use it for weed killer.

[steveohara]

It would ruin the carb on your lawnmower. I had to replace the carb on a leaf blower due to damage caused by E15 gas.

I'd use it for weed killer.

[ted johnson]

I'm with Steve. We had a 55 Gal. drum of methanol for karts and for RC airplanes at the shop in Florida. It was on a welded stand, off the floor and sealed between uses. Pop used that alky for sales in the hobby shop, and we both used it for karts for a couple of years before it ran out. It still ran great in some finicky modified RC race plane engines. Ted

[Scott Elkes]

Same as Steve and Ted. Back in the day, I did not have any issues with old methanol.

NO! To using methanol as fuel to power lawn equipment.  

Try this for your kart to use up your "old" methanol.

If you are concern, I do this my lawn equipment starting a new season in using up old gasoline. I fill the mower's empty 5 gallon tank half way with "fresh" gasoline. Do my first start, let it run or mow part of the yard. After cool down (I usually have a several gallons of old gas from previous season). I'll pour into around a gallon (or less) to around 3/4 full in the tank. Then mow. I repeat the process on future mowing events until the old gas issued up.

[steve welte]

my reply didn't go through last night. Run it for practice. Won't hurt a darn thing. If you suspect moisture add a couple oz. of acetone to blend it in. I drained all the tanks last fall and ended up with over 5 gallons. I'll run it this spring in practice or fun events. Keep it out of anything that isn't made for alcohol use.

[Rod Van Deusen]

Do what E.C. Birt said he seen Smokey Yunick or somebody do years ago, strain it through a chamois. It supposedly captures the water out of the methanol. Does anyone think that would actually work ( not that I would try it)? Yours is pre-mixed so probably a bad idea...LOL

[Paul F]

Water can be removed a couple of ways but definetely not with a Chamois though something kind of similar works. Here is a link to a paper on a cheap way to do it, pervaporation, which I think is basically a molecular sieve as it usues special membranes. http://files.engineering.com/getfile.asp..._water.pdf
Methanol has such an affinity for water, hydroscopic, that I have had it go bad stored in 5 gal plastic jugs. In my opinion the best way to store it is in steel. It is best to minimize the time the liquid is exposed to air as it is continuously sucking the available humidity.
I ran methanol in a sprint car for years. Now I'm more than happy to run E0 (non Ethanol) pump premium in my kart engines, Sorry for all you folks in Ca. It's $3.29/gal locally here.

[Rod Van Deusen]

Water can be removed a couple of ways but definetely not with a Chamois though something kind of similar works.  Here is a link to a paper on a cheap way to do it, pervaporation, which I think is basically a molecular sieve as it usues special membranes.  http://files.engineering.com/getfile.asp..._water.pdf
Methanol has such an affinity for water, hydroscopic, that I have had it go bad stored in 5 gal plastic jugs.  In my opinion the best way to store it is in steel.  It is best to minimize the time the liquid is exposed to air as it is continuously sucking the available humidity.
I ran methanol in a sprint car for years.  Now I'm more than happy to run E0 (non Ethanol) pump premium in my kart engines, Sorry for all you folks in Ca.  It's $3.29/gal locally here.

Thanks Paul. I know I wasn't the only one that raised an eye brow when E.C. originally posted that years ago on Bob's. By the way, he wasn't claiming that it worked, just that he seen someone doing it and asked what was going on. I thought it was funny okie engineering (no offense to okies, my dad's an okie actually from Muskogee) from back in the day.

I agree with the steel container for storage although I've a couple gallons in a Scribner plastic jug for a couple years now and its still clear as a bell. Its kept in my fuel/oil storage locker which is off the floor which may be an important factor.

[Paul F]

Not all gas jugs are the same. I successfully stored methanol in thick white plastic fuel jugs but had it go bad in the much thinner red plastic variety gas jugs. The fuel jugs had a much nicer O-ring cap seal which could been the most important factor.