Iso Propyl Alcohol. (ipa)

[Pauly33GTS-t]

I've got the word from an engineer that if you fill up your car with BP Pulp (or any quality 98octane rating fuel) then add 1 litre of IPA to the mix, it boosts the octane rating and cleans out your fuel lines and systems with no adverse effects to your engine or rubber fuel-line parts.

the stuff costs ~3 dollars per litre for a 100litre drum.

Has any1 heard of any1 doing this. I trust him so I am purchasing 20 litres today to give it a shot and give the engine a clean.

For those of you who dont know, the stuff is used to clean Electronic parts and used in ultra-sonic baths to clean PCBs and engine parts in mechanic workshops i think.

[readyGO]

so its like adding octane booster?

[sinistaGTR]

yeh thats right its used to clean pcbs etc im an electronics technician, hmm be interesting to see if it works in your car.

[Bl4cK32]

of course it will work. but your likely to stuff something up.

Its the same as adding toluene to your car which is the same again, but its actually designed as a fuel system cleaner.

Make sure u get the mix right as u can bllow your motor, or even drop a valve.

It might not like it either as without a tune to suit u are wasting your time.

Remember the lines in your engine bay are 12+ years old now, so say bye bye that were on the way out

Edited December 20, 2006 by Bl4cK32

[Pauly33GTS-t]

um, i said an engineer of 20 years said to me

"It boosts the octane rating and cleans out your fuel lines and systems with no adverse effects to your engine or rubber fuel-line parts."

my cars a late 96 model Series 2, and the engine being in good nick apart from a small oil leak and a leak coming form the power steering reservoir.

I was simply asking if anyone has heard of people doing this shit. I am getting 60 litres of the stuff for nothing so If its beneficial I shall keep doing it... but I dont know a way to tell if the car liked it or not..... any ideas?

[Bl4cK32]

Can he guarantee that? Is he willing to replace anything on your car if it blows? Is he responsible if something goes wrong? Just because hes an engineer for 20 years doesnt mean he knows shit about you or your car.

Yes numerous people have put additives in their car before, and numerous people have burked their engines by it running too hot / out of tune / wrong mixtures.

People recommend it to clear carbon, and clean the fuel system, but not recommended for long runs on it. If u get your car tuned to suit then go on a long trip, are u gunna have a few litres of alcohol in the boot to top the tank off with?

No need for agro mate, ive seen the results of people doing it, and yes motors have died. Your valves dont like excessive heat and can melt and drop into the bore, which HAS happened to a board members here.

I guess i wont bother in the future...fyi go put some toluene (recommended fuel additive) in a plastic cup and tell me it wont have any effect on rubber hoses.

Edited December 21, 2006 by Bl4cK32

[pkblade]

How much of an increase in ocatane rating are you expecting?

Unless your experiencing det with 98RON fuels or going for a re-tune, I don't see any real benefit cos as far as Im aware all fuels like BP Ultimate already contain effective cleaning additives in them.

[Pauly33GTS-t]

black mate i didnt go agro, I was restating my question for someone who has used it before to answer. simple as that, i didnt put any exclamation marks or use caps or nothing in that post in order to emphasise that I was getting mad at you... that simply was not the case ...

fyi, i trust him cause hes my uncle and he has a 1976 kb centura running on LPG and it still goes strong after 30 years with the exact same engine. hes kept it in running order with the stuff and its been succesful.

I dont care about any increase over BPs fuel. I use 98 RON only. I wanted to use it 1ce to help clean out the engine system a bit. maybe 2ce in a row before going back to strait 98ron.

Edited December 21, 2006 by Pauly33GTS-t

[sinistaGTR]

I prob wouldnt, use just the fact that your car is a high performance high revving car, that is reliant on air/fuel mixtures being pretty spot on. you might not mean too or your uncle may not mean too, but hot weather etc a lot of factors could make your engine go bo bang.

[Pauly33GTS-t]

ill take ur advice sinista.

[chops]

-IPA has a RON of approx 118, so yes it will work as an octane booster.

-It is very good as a cleaning solvent, although I'm not sure about how well it will remove deposits from inside an engine, as I'm unsure of what they are primarily composed of. It is also a solvent for rubber, so I'm not sure I'd be that keen on using it in a cars fuel system.

-It is an oxygenated fuel, therefore it will make your car run leaner.

-It is miscible with WATER, which is what I see as the biggest disadvantage, if left in an open container it will absorb moisture from the air, and it will allow your fuel to hold more water which isn't always the best.

-If using it be careful with it, as it is toxic by inhalation and absorption.

Of course all this data is based on IPA by itself, goodness knows how it will react in low levels in a fuel mixture.

It is your car and you can rely on the advice of who you choose, although in this case I would advise against it's use.

Let us know how you get on if you decide to go with it.

chops

[Pauly33GTS-t]

Instead of going the full 1L in the car, I am going to go with 500ml. Of course with prolongued use it cant be good. ill only "treat" the car 1ce every 2 months with this stuff with 2 consecutive 500ml doses.

[666DAN]

Yes it will work, n-butanol is a bit better due to it not being so hydrophillic, but go easy on the stuff.

[Chris32]

Being a printer I have a drum of this stuff at work

Curiosity got the better of me a few years ago and I put 500ml into half a tank.

It went ok, I have used Toluene in the past and it was pretty similar.

No dyno's or nothing like that, but the exhaust sounded much crisper and it went a little better.

Pre-PFC, so no way to measure knock

Use sparingly though

[J_Red33]

A small amount like 500ml probably isn't going to have too much of an adverse affect. I'd say put it in when u know you're going to go through a tank of fuel in a fairly short time though. The longer it stays in your fuel system, the more time it has to do damage.

I'd actually be most worried about what it may do to your fuel injectors & pump. If it starts to etch through the copper insulation on these bits, they're gonna short out & cause all soughts of problems, could even zap the injector outputs from the ECU if your not carefull. Also if other bits of fuel line do start to dissolve, the liquid goo will get into the injectors & cause all soughts of problems, which means throwing them away.

I've seen a lot of this stuff happen as I used to do a lot of injector testing.

[chops]

Although IPA is mildly acidic, I'd think it would need prolonged exposure to result in any noticable copper deterioration.

Another caution to note however.

[J_Red33]

Yes it is possible it could take some time for it to happen, I couldn't actually say exactly how much it would take, but to me you're better off not doing it in the first place. The more you're fuel system gets exposed to the wrong chemicals the closer it is to failure.

Less concentration will not have much of an effect, but do it regularly for a couple years & it would probably be a different story.