Isopropyl alcohol

[Brandon H]

if you put it in a FI car it will ruin your fuel pump I have seen it happen a few times from hanging around some people who thought that it would make them faster. so if you run a FI car have fun dropping the tank eventually. it happens after prolonged use. also just build your car fast enoogh so you dont need to use it.

[InsaneCamaro]

My friend runs 100 pure denatured alchol through his throttle body. He has a 87 Grand National running low 11's. Running the alchol through brings his 104 octane up to about 118. He hasnt had any problems with it.

[Dominic]

isopropyl = bad = very reactive tertiary alcohol.

It will eat seals.

Ethanol = not so bad = not so reactive primary alcohol

go take some organic chemistry... don't put isopropyl in it mmm kay?

[Darknight]

I've had all the organic chem I need. The prefix "pro" means it has three carbons. It also, by that very fact, is better than ethanol, because it burns slower, and is less likely to vaporize. It absorbs more heat than ethanol, making the engine run cooler, besides the fact that it has a higher octane rating.

Besides that, car seals have been made resistant to isopropanol since the 60s.

Bottom line, it's not going to hurt to run isopropanol in a car every so often. I never said anyone should keep it in the tank. Just use it when you need a little extra bang for the buck, and don't be so afraid of it. The main thing that burns out fuel pumps is not having enough fuel in the tank. Keep 1/2 tank or so of fuel, and your pump will be fine. People are so afraid, even of the tried and true.

DK

[chas]

i believe quite a few of the cheap gas additives (used for wintering or 'engine cleaning') are basically isopropyl alcohol. you couldnt use these unless your seals would stand up to it.

[toast]

Well i did a test with Isoproyl Alcohol about 4 years ago. I used a brand new lawn mower that has never been ran on gas before and put 90% isoproyl in the tank ONLY. I put a restrictor plate on the carb to reduce in the incoming air. 3 pumps on the prmer and like as if the mower was running on gas it came to life and i ran it that one using nothing but alky for a year. After a year i removed the head and it ws clean with no damge done to the engine at all. After that i converted it back to gasoline and sold the mower. As far as alky messing up seals, there was a rubber diapram in the carb which helped pump the fuel and after the running in with only alky there was nothing wrong with the diapram and still worked after i converted back to gasoline.