Offroad-Express

Have a bit of water in diesel tank. have drained tank and am wanting to do the old trick of putting methylated spirits in tank with the fresh fill to make the water pass thru the system harmlessly. is this a good idea now days on a diesel.? and how much to use.??? is it dangerous to use to much. deranged reckons only a teaspoon to a tankfull which seems like a very small amount to me hardly worth bothering with
anybody have any experience ?
might be better to play it safe and buy a genuine injector type cleaner
opinions???

Last time i done it i put a whole 1L bottle of meths in with a full tank of fuel.

I chucked a 1L in mine

it is an old wife's tale. it wont work. Try it on a small scale in a glass

a bit off topic but years ago I ripped a rear brake line out in the bush so we clamped a pair of vice grips on the hose and refilled and bled the system up with a bottle of meths and I drove around for a month or two before I got around to replacing the brake line and fluid

Mudde1 wrote:it is an old wife's tale. it wont work. Try it on a small scale in a glass

It sorted my problems, and had no other issues. It works well.

Mudde1 wrote:it is an old wife's tale. it wont work. Try it on a small scale in a glass

No it will work!

Meths is Hygroscopic which means it attracts, absorbs and retains water . It is also pretty flammable so it can be burned with the fuel in the engine. Alcohol would do the same, you could always chuck in a bottle of Jack

that would be a waste of jack if your throwing it away ill have a couple bottles....

Rule of thumb I've been taught is 1L to 70-100L of fuel..

but you can buy a product that I have used alot of in the past and has worked really well in my old truck and I've seen good results from it being used in the marine industry is this
http://www.vms.co.nz/VMS_products/fuel_ ... octor.html

Cheers Yael

Don't do it on a diesel.

meths soaks up water ok, BUT it can make the water go through the water filter and damage your IP/injectors.

just dry the tank out best you can and refill with diesel. provided its only a small amount the water, it will just get caught in the filter. if worried about it put in 200ml of marine 2 stroke oil.

What vehicle/ engine pruggerdore?
If its a new common-rail do not do anything but get rid of every tiny drop of water from the tank. Meths lets water go through filter and wreak havoc with injectors and pump... mega $$$

our camper99 4.2 isuzu diesel normal mechanical injection.left cap off at servo after filling (you cant see it under the fibreglass sides ) was waterblasting it at home when I noticed cap missing after the water blaster had been over it several times. yea Im of 2 minds too. you trust the water traps to catch the water and do nothing. I dont believe the water traps work much at all. or you add something to the tank that attracts the water then tries to carry it thru the system harmlessly if it dosnt get thru its not good for the pump and injectors.....
damed if you do, damed if you dont lol
maybe we should have a vote

can anybody say that meths will carry the water right thru harmlessly with technical knowledge to back it up.

Ian, "Ice 4x4" you seem to have science behind you ???

keep the opinions coming guy's appreciate it.

ice4x4 wrote:

Mudde1 wrote:it is an old wife's tale. it wont work. Try it on a small scale in a glass

No it will work!

Meths is Hygroscopic which means it attracts, absorbs and retains water . It is also pretty flammable so it can be burned with the fuel in the engine. Alcohol would do the same, you could always chuck in a bottle of Jack

I am not saying it wont absorb some water, the problem is that it wont absorb a massive amount, and because meths is mostly ethanol (Denatured alcohol) you will be running with a large proportion of ethanol in your fuel. this may give a short term improvement in performance, but most modern engines wont like that for very long.

Mudde1 wrote:

ice4x4 wrote:

Mudde1 wrote:it is an old wife's tale. it wont work. Try it on a small scale in a glass

No it will work!

Meths is Hygroscopic which means it attracts, absorbs and retains water . It is also pretty flammable so it can be burned with the fuel in the engine. Alcohol would do the same, you could always chuck in a bottle of Jack

I am not saying it wont absorb some water, the problem is that it wont absorb a massive amount, and because meths is mostly ethanol (Denatured alcohol) you will be running with a large proportion of ethanol in your fuel. this may give a short term improvement in performance, but most modern engines wont like that for very long.

Clive said he had drained his tank so any water left will be a trace. If its an 80ltr tank and he puts in say 200ml of Meths that will be 0.0025% Hardly a large proportion! Cant really see that giving any gains in performance or affecting the engine in the slightest. Probably wouldnt do it all the time though but in this case there would be no need to. Unless Clive plans on water blasting the inside of his fuel tank every week.

ice4x4 wrote:
Clive said he had drained his tank so any water left will be a trace. If its an 80ltr tank and he puts in say 200ml of Meths that will be 0.0025% Hardly a large proportion! Cant really see that giving any gains in performance or affecting the engine in the slightest. Probably wouldnt do it all the time though but in this case there would be no need to. Unless Clive plans on water blasting the inside of his fuel tank every week.

Its NOT the ratio of meths to Diesel that matters, but the ratio of meths to WATER.

As an experiment once when we had ethanol for our racing bikes, I managed to mix a 50/50 eth to water. BUT I had to shake the mix like crazy, and it took days to "soak" it all up and if I left it, it would seperate out again. I did manage to get a lessor ration, 15%water 85% Ethanol to mix and pass through reliably a PETROL engine. (My old PB Cresta Vauxhal!!! ) also a RD400 Yamaha .

I would NOT try it with a Diesel.

I've done it a few times on 'bikes before. wouldn't on a diesel. on a petrol I guess it jsut lets it all kinda mix in and hang in suspension instead of sitting on the bottom/top and all going through at once. with a diesel I'd be inclined to drain the tank, maybe remove it, slosh some petrol round in it, drain again, refit tank, and brim it.
bonus is that your tank will be 100% clean after that. no scabby bits at the bottom.

as A 10 year A grade Diesel mech and 8 year Marine engineer my advice is if you have drained the tank as Well as you can then you just need to fill it back up with clean diesel and off you go. your filters will take out what little is left in there.

do not put meths in your tank, ok for petrol not diesel!!!

well guys apreciate all the opinions and have decided to simply trust the water trap to do what it's suposed to do. drain it regularly. replace filter after 1 tank and hope for the best. campervan is cruising (hopefuly) in the new year so will let you know the out come
Thanks Clive