adding methylated spirits to petrol

It sounds like your vehicle has missed a lot of maintenance. Try the following in order:

Buy a "fuel-dryer" additives and put in your gas tank with a complete fill up. (use higher grade gasoline)

Go out in the country (it will make alot of smoke) and use the Carb-out as per instructions.

New Air filter

Engine flush, + add 'Duralube' with oil change

New spark plugs, and wires

Fuel filter change.

After all this (barring a major engine defect) your engine should run better then new.

Hi there Techno, I've only had this car for three years and considering it is 25 yrs old that is a short time, and being a rather cheap private sale I am unaware of what the previous owners were like to her (the car I mean). In the time I have owned the car I've had a lot of work and maintenance done on it. I recently changed the fuel and air filters and annually change the oil and filter. So maybe my old girl is wearing out. I will look out for the fuel dryer additive if the metho doesn't work and I will look into finding out what Carb-out is and use it, then change the air and fuel filters again. I will try the engine flush and Duralube too. I just need to keep the old girl going till I upgrade her, so thank-you for the advise and I'll let you know if it all goes well. Bec from the land down under (Aust.).

Open the hood (bonnet?) and idle the car in park in the dark. If the car is running rough, you might see some interesting fireworks about the engine where wires, distributor cap or the ignition coil are shorting out due to failed insulation. If that's the case the fix is cheap.

The Fuel dryer is a safe replacement for the metho. no need to do both

I am no help for the petrol.

"Now that it is winter."? hmm... I am suspecting different hemisphere.

So let me understand this, you posted a response to say that you have nothing to say? You must be pretty desperate for that "Power User" designation...

my employer will be proud. so let me get this straight. you commented to someone who had nothing to say to say it was silly to say nothing.......hmm this could get interesting. I see a sociology project in the making.

The manual for my 2006 Ford Focus says that methyl alcohol in the fuel will dissolve seals... I don't know about you car.

It was slightly funny when I found out. My son was reading the manual during a long boring car ride and I thought he said ethyl alcohol which scared me because that's a common additive here (Canada)

Gordie

Correct. And rubber hoses and connectors. That's why additives to remove water from gasoline, OTC, are 2-propanol based. Plus don't lose sight of the fact that methyl alcohol (methanol) is toxic in the body, and it attacks the optic nerve.

Guys (because, lets face it - it's probably mostly guys), Methylated Spirits or 'Metho' is only a name - it's not actually methanol as it once was. So they put in additives to make it taste revolting, and print POISON on the bottle, but its ethanol, and absolutely fine for you petrol tank.

Really, all adding it does is replace cleaners removed from standard fuel as a cost - saving technique by oil refining companies - saved costs = profit.

Lets not willingly be stupid.

Most modern vehicles are designed to run on a 95 octane. This is where their catalytic emissions control systems work optomally with the correct temperature of the vehicle. By optomisation I am referring to a stochiometrically balanced chemical equation (what a mouthful).

There will be no performance benefit from using higher than 95 octane rating because the ECU's in cars will compensate.

Gidday Bec, I have also heard of the metho in the petrol tank trick, try a small amount but i would probably try the advice of techno first.

Although i would probably get the carby cleaned first. It does sound like there is build up of gunk on the fuel jets, try using a jet cleaner or if fail replace them first. Very cheap and on the "82 corolla not to hard to replace. Always be aware of using additivives to your petrol as some injectors and jets are succeptible to advanced corrosion. Read packet of any additive before using or ask a shop owner where you brought it, they are usually very helpful. If they are not put the product down and try another shop that is more helpful.

Good Luck

Your problem may be any of the things mentioned or something different;eg mechanical condition of engine. It is easy enough to empty the petrol tank with a pump, then add a little metho. to my knowledge, there should be an inline fuel filter(see thru) & any water should be visible at the bottom- the best way to suss your problems is to find someone with the knowledge & equipment to make a definite diagnosis- it could be as simple as a split vacuum hose, points burnt, spark plugs fouled, burnt/cracked distributor cap, ignition/coil leads hi-res,coil/ballast res faulty- if carby is suss, easy to drain/ blow thru jets or as major as a leaky head/cyl/gasket interface, or burnt valves, or tappets needing adjustment- the point here is that we all tend to take for granted our wonderful movement machines, until something goes wrong, as here- but really, all that is needed is proper maintenance & moderate driving.

Hi Rebecca. Toyota's were notorious to become bad starters when not driven frequently. You probably need to overhaul the carburator. Good spark plugs make a difference and please change the oil every 5000 kilometers and not once a year. THis is the most important maintainace on a car (unlike you like buying new engines) If you know a good mechanic have him set the timing properly and check if it still has points and have them replaced (I forgot in what year they gor rid of those) I hope this helps and if you have any question feel free to ask because I work in the car business

I had what sounds like the identical problem on my old Toyota, and my mechanic told me was something called the "vacuum advance". The little rubber hose had come off. At that point I had already gone through the gas additives, the carburator cleaning, and a whole bunch of other things. My old "Tempest" once had a problem with moisture building up inside the distributor cap...also causing rough starting and missing. I would take it off, wipe it down inside, and re-install...a five minute job which would last for a week or so. Eventually I tracked the root problem down to a plugged vent..when the gasses in the crankcase could not get out any other way, they went out through the distributor cap, and those gasses carry moisture and atomized oil.

I'm not a mechanic (as is obvious) but here are two quick fixes to common problems.

I am no mechanic. Have the fuel pump checked, running a car on near an empty tank frequently damages the fuel pump.

Also consider a new distributor cap and plugs.

"Have the fuel pump checked, running a car on near an empty tank frequently damages the fuel pump." and replace the fuel filter, this will often cause poor running if it has been blocked by running out of fuel & dragging up all of the crap in the bottom of the tank.

Water that condenses in your tank can be gotten rid of rather cheaply by pouring ordinary rubbing alcohol in the tank. When water comes in contact with alcohol it readily mixes with the alcohol by making a more diluted, weaker alcohol mix. Alcohol will burn. Try adding a couple of bottles of ordinary rubbing alcohol every couple of tanks. I have used this technique without harm for years. Good luck.

Eddie-Nel

You may have been luckier than you know. Some rubbing alcohol has additives in it...emollients to make the skin smooth and silky, these are designed to reduce the drying effect of methalated spirits on the skin. Also makes it more expensive. These additivbes are very bad for the fuel system. Gas Line Antifreeze is the right stuff. Don't need much...a small bottle every second fill up should be okay. Not enough to damage seals and hoses. Once a month a bottle of injector cleaner is a very good plan.

It's 3 years later now but this ranked quite high on a google search of the subject so... time for an update.

E10 Unleaded fuel is now popular in many places and this, as you know, contains 10% ethanol. If you add methylated spirits to this you end up with too much ethanol to unleaded ratio than any non-'ethanol hybrid' car should take. So since fuel costs less than methylated spirits it's silly to add any more.

<...methylated spirits...> is predominantly ethanol, with a little bit of methanol, pyridine, and a blue-purple dye. The dye is there to distinguish it from other fluids. The pyridine is there to make anyone who drinks it vomit, thereby lowering the amount of ingested methanol remaining in the body, which is poisonous and causes eyesight problems in humans if ingested.

Water is barely miscible with the dino components of <...petrol...>/gasoline. Being more dense than these, if there in abundance of it then it will settle-out at the bottom of a fuel tank.

Modern <...petrol...>/gasoline is blended with ethanol produced from agricultural sources. The E-number in the UK indicates the percentage ethanol that has been added; 10% is the figure for "E10" fuel, for example. Ethanol is readily miscible with both water and the dino-fuel part of modern fuels. Therefore a vehicle filled with a fuel containing ethanol will readily mix with any <...moisture...> in the tank as a matter of course, the water passing into the engine as a vapour and being expelled from the exhaust pipe after the fuel has done its job.

Adding <...methylated spirit...> in attempt to dewater petrol/gasoline, once worthwhile, will have no effect nowadays. The practice has become pointless as a result of ethanol blending in modern fuels.

A rough-running vehicle using modern fuels will therefore have other issues apart from water in the fuel and it is into these that investigation will yield worthwhile results.

It sounds as though the vehicle in question would benefit from the attentions of a trained Vehicle Technician at a trusted local (work)shop/service centre. The value of such an investment in one that is currently 31 years old needs to be questioned as other solutions may be more economically attractive.