What they don't tell you as when there is to much water for the methanol to hold it will seperate out. Test it you self. Get a quart jar and fill it half way with gas. Now pour in a table spoon of Heet. Now slowly add water. maybe a teaspoon at a time and shake it up to stir eeything up after each teaspoon. Keep adding water and when there is to much you will have you 3 layers. This was a demonstration done by both OMC (Johnson and Evinrude) and Mercury Marine in their Tech schools. If the fuel has ethanol in it skip the Heet and just add water. l

 

Obviously there is a saturation point where neither additive will absorb or suspend any more water.

 

Yes, except Isopropyl does not dump all the water it has absorbed out into the tank as water in a layer then the alcohol in seperate layer, seperate from the fuel. The isopropyl remains mixed with the gas and the water it is holding does to, so that the only water in your tank is the stuff added in addition to what was absorbed. Ethanol and methynol don't remain in solution with the gas, but dump all the water it was holding back out to be the bottom layer with an alcohol as the second layer and then the gas. That is a very bad situation and can screw up your carb and even make your engine not run. I have seen it and it isn't pretty and never cheap to fix permanently.

 

Well, with all this hard starting talk, I went out to the shed and tried to start my AC650. Last time it was started was Dec. 26. Outside temp was about 15 F. I put the choke on full and started cranking. It took maybe 4-5 seconds of cranking and it fired right up. I had to let it run for a while to warm up but it was ready to ride in 3-4 minutes.

A whole lot less time to warm up than my Ford Diesel so I am satisfied with it's cold weather starting. Maybe I got one with the carbs set right from the factory.

 

I have never complained about hard starting on either of my rigs. I keep fresh gas in them and do preventitive maintenance so they will start everytime I want to ride. Or need tostart, as a couple of times during the last snow had to make runs to the store to make the wife happy with dinner.

 

bear4570...Thanks for explaining about the rubbing alchol.

 

The only problem my cat gives me in the cold is that it takes FOREVER to warm up ! I know it's only a 250, but man, she takes her time! It'll usually start right up or sometimes it will take a few cranks if I haven't ran it in a while. But all in all, I'll have no probs.

 

one thing i have always found out with my vehicles and snowmobiles and atv's alike is always make sure that you keep above a half a tank of fuel in them when it is cold outside for you will have a larger volume of fuel to water and this doesn't allow as much condensation to collect on the inside of your gastank besides for a vehicle it is a safety in case you are stranded in the ditch for a while [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

Thw trouble with rubbing alcohol is it is leady 30% water bfore you put it in your tank


Not all rubbing alcohol is 70/30. As I stated you have to use the 90 % isopropyl (90/10) not the 70/10. I have used it for years and had good results although the best thing is to keep your gas tank full or near full and don't just keep throwing 10 bucks here and there in it . This will help keep condensation from forming in your tank. I have only had a couple problems ever that I can say were related to water in the fuel and to be honest I don't use any fuel additives anymore except injector cleaner and I have had no problems. I also buy my gas at stations that sell a lot of fuel because their bulk tanks get filled more often and don't sit half empty. As for as the heet goes I think Iso heat has been out for years using isopropyl alcohol, But I could be wrong.

 

So if I read this correctly, if I add no Heet or isopropyl of any sort; any moisture in my fuel will sink to the bottom of my fuel cell and the actual fuel will float on top? Is this an accurate statement?