As some of you here already know for some time now i'm using the AEM water/methanol injection kit. I was pretty amazed how good the metyhanol is, actually it acts as if the car was running on racefuel.
To be honest i never liked the quality of the kit, it looked a little too cheap so i was checking for leaks every time i was driving the car.
Yesterday i noticed that the car was not pulling as always, so as soon as i came home i checked the system. I opened the front and the smell of methanol hit me in the face, the bottle was empty and methanol was everywere. I immediatelly cleand everything and checked for the problem. I found out that the pump was leaking from everywere when operated. (no leaks on tubes or connecting lines) Also the plastic check valve which comes with the kit was leaking and methanol was going on the exhaust and cats. After a little research i found out that plastic rusts when comes in contact with methanol.

I just want to make clear that if the kit was used as recommended from the manufacturer it would not fail.
The problem was caused ONLY because i did not used the kit as recommended, i used straight methanol in stead of using 50/50 water meth mixture. I believe this was the only reason that caused the system to fail.

I write this for those who might did the same as i did to be aware of possible leaks which might become very very dangerous.

In my case i was lucky enouph to see this early.

Now i need to find a straight Methanol kit Any thoughts?

 

AN interesting water injection bit from my friends site:

http://www.rbracing-rsr.com/waterinjection.html

 

Milou you don't want to run straight methanol for a variety of reasons:

1)you are losing the cooling effect of the water - the latent heat of evaporation (cooling of the intake charge and combustion chamber) is more potent using water since it can absorb and hold more heat than methanol

2)straight methanol is very caustic and can erode the components in your fuel system - fuel pump, sending units, injectors


most folks run somewhere between a 50:50 and 25:75 mixture of methanol:water

 

that's one of the best links on H2O injection I have ever seen. Thanks!

 

same fault happend with one of the members here
m running the same kit with straight meth every thing is running good so far waiting for an error and m sure it wont last for ever !
Milou if you find any thing keep me posted pls

 

No offense or anything; but everyone I've talked to has stated that AEM has the lowest quality meth kits.

 

I've read that the Aquamist kits are of higher quality - that said, props to the OP for mentioning that he was running straight meth, contrary to the kit instructions, and that likely caused the failure.

As mentioned above - water is both intended and beneficial. I'm open to learning their rationale, but currently I don't quite understand why some people run straight meth through these kits. There are synergistic effects of adding distilled water, up to about a 50:50 level (by weight, not volume, IIRC), plus it lowers the operating expenses. Seems like a no-brainer.

 

I'm surprised that they would make a kit comprising materials that are compatible for 50:50 methanol but not 100% methanol. The safety margin seems too thin here. It's good that you caught it in time, otherwise you could have had a fire on your hands. Does the kit specifically say DO NOT USE 100% METHANOL? As for 50:50 vs 100%, it depends how much cooling you need and the tradeoff between that and combustion energy. Next to water, methanol cools the best albeit significantly less (50%) but you still get a cooling effect.

 

QUIK 911 is running 100% meth (I think) with a custom setup. Maybe he can chime in here.

 

Aquamists HFS-3 and HFS-6 kits are straight meth compatible as far as i know.

I just checked the HFS user manual, even the kit is compatible with straight meth, they have written a warning for not being liable for prolonged use of %100 meth.

"Warning: Prolonged use of 100% methanol may cause premature pump failure and may not be covered under warranty."

Cheers,
Emre

 

Very very interesting page. Reading around that side was like reading all the things i went threw with the AEM kit. Bottle broblems,check valve leaks, pump noise/vibrasion, line's poor quality etc.

I will contact those guys and see if they can offer me a kit for my car.


thank you for the info

 

Milou m waiting my kit to fail and i'll buy HFS-6 kit

 

I have HFS 3 kit there is thread for it the install is much more complicated, you guys should refer question to Tony at EPL they run these systems for years with no problems

 

excellent news

 

The lesser-grade W/M kit pumps fail from straight methanol, and the cheaper connections will seep after prolonged contact.