<VV> Combustion & emissions

[Mike Clark]

Keep in mind rubbing alcohol you buy in the store is 30% water.  Sounds 
silly, look at the label.

Once I was concerned that my "new to me" VW van wouldn't pass the emissions 
test, so I dumped in a quart of store isopropyl alcohol.  The motor barely 
ran.  What did I expect?  Gasoline engines won't run on water.  At least 
steam doesn't pollute the air.  I limped to the gas station, filled up with 
premium(the van never ran so good) and passed emissions with flying colors. 
No idea what did it, the alcohol, the premium, or if the motor would have 
passed anyway.  Never did that trick again, though.  It took a good two 
tanks before the van ran right.

Now, if I were so inclined, I could get some aviator's isopropyl, which 
doesn't have any water in it.


Mike Clark
Stockbridge, Georgia







> Wouldn't alcohol make the engine run cooler - rather than hotter?
>
> Not necessarily.  Ethanol burns slower, therefore longer than gasoline.
> This can make for hotter burns, at different places than gasoline.
>
>  Maybe
> there is something else it does to help with emissions?
>
> Yeah....oxygen!  It's an oxygenated fuel (that hydroxyl radical attached 
> to
> an organic chain is what defines an alcohol).
>
> "Better things for better living through chemistry!"
>
> "Unless an individual understands mathematics, physics, and chemistry, it
> really isn't human....just an animal that can be trained not to make 
> messes
> in the corner!"  R.A. Heinlein
>