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On 12 Jan 2006 at 23:32, Ginger & Peter wrote: > I ran out of gas leaving the parking lot at work earlier this week. > I had stayed late and was trying to get home before the kids went to > bed. I rushed back inside and considered an offer to syphon gas from a > swing shift worker or use what was on hand. I had been performing pump > testing with pure (histological grade) methanol, but also had 1:1 molar > methanol/water. Finaly there was reagent grade isopropol alcohol (95% > ethanol, 5% methanol). If these were my only options, which should I > have used to get the 2 miles to the gas station? I would think the 95/5 (denatured, not isopropal) would have been your best bet. I have no idea if it would work at all, but there's less energy in alcohol than in gasoline, so you're not going to blow anything up. There's more energy in ethanol than in methanol. I share your concern about the methanol/water mix, but only because of what the water in it might do to parts of your system, but it seems likely that noting is going to happen in the time it takes to drive to the gas station. Methanol is rather aggressive toward metals and elastomers, so fuel system manufacturers had to rethink what materials they could use in their systems once methanol started to be used as a gasoline additive. Finally, there's some chance that introducing a different solvent into your tank might loosen up some crud somewhere: crud which the gasoline hadn't bothered, but which could then float downstream and clog something up. It's would be a lot like a stroke in a person, easier to fix, but still a pain. I think what you did was your best option. -- Jim Adney jadney@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711-3054 USA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list | mailto:gregm@vwtype3.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~