Wiper fluid Meth/Water %s
 

Hey guys,

I've been researching about the content about the fluid i use and it wasn't as cut and dried as I thought. I previously thought all blue wiper fluid uses the same basic %s but this isn't true. I'm sure this is common knowledge to many of you.

Along with the % is the additive %. I'm not to clear on this yet but this may be due to the coloring use to make the wiper blue or other stuff.

Here is an interesting page I found...

http://www.enginerunup.com/

The most relevant stuff for what I was looking for is...

"There are many places to buy straight methanol, found here, but if you are going to use a water/methanol mixture, the easiest (and cheapest) is to buy the blue windshield washer fluid that is used during winter time to prevent the fluid from freezing. It may sound cheap ($1.29-$1.99 per gallon), but it is just as good as any methanol/water mixture you would make otherwise. The blue is just a dye, and an extremely insignificant amount (<1%). Some of the washer fluids, such as RainX, contain cleaning additives, but this is easily determined by shaking the bottle and seeing of it suds up like soapy water. If it does, don't buy it, but if it doesn't, then it is good to use. There are many different brands out there, but they all have common amounts of methanol for their respective temperature rating, regardless of the brand. We have many MSDS's (Material Safety Data Sheets) from different companies to support the following data, but only one per temperature rating is available for viewing, which is representative of all the brands (within a few percent) that produce that specific temperature rating. To view the MSDS, simply click on the item."

+20 F Washer Fluid - Contains approximately 7% methanol.
0 F Washer Fluid - Contains approximately 23% methanol.
-10 F Washer Fluid - Contains approximately 28% methanol.
-20 F Washer Fluid - Contains approximately 35% methanol.
-25 F Washer Fluid - Contains approximately 38% methanol.
-50 F Washer Fluid - Contains approximately 62% methanol.

While this is great, it seems like these are general guidelines. I bought a few just of blue wiper fluid and plan to look up the exact contents when I get home. In the end, I may just end up using boost juice from now on (I believe that is strictly 50/50).

If anyone has more info and maybe some brands with their contents that would be great.

Sorry if this is a dupe. Search for wiper fluid didn't yield much.

Maybe up north you can find those -0 fluids during the winter only. Down here in the south we have 30f most of the year with is a minute 1% meth. During winter we have the 0f with is 23% meth. I would suggest finding a place that sells methanol...if not you can buy wiper fluid and add in heet (yellow bottle) gas line antifreeze (99.9% meth) and add as much as you like.

I'll admit I'm quite new to this, but I recently have been reading up on Howard Coleman's FAQ on AI.

I'm in the process of gathering parts for my build and after reading about water injection... I want it. I'm not looking to make insane numbers, I just want less combustion heat.

My problem is that I live in the great white north and I don't want a container of water to freeze when the temperatures drop below 0* in the spring and fall at night.

From what I can gather, spraying washer fluid is a viable alternative, but I'm trying to make sure.

I'm only looking for cooling properties, not for making wild numbers.

Any pointers would be great.

-Geoff

I use it only to lower the EGT's, clean the engine, lower knock, and lower intake temps. I will not tune my car with the system on. Washer fluid works but i find it cheaper to buy 99.9% methanol from a performance shop for $3.50 a gallon. Mix it with distilled water and it goes down in cost to $1.75 for a 50/50 mix

You dont even have to use methanol at all. Lots of people use strait distilled water

I would love to use straight distilled water, but as I mentioned I live in a climate that during the driving season, the temperature may drop below 0* at night, this would cause freezing, and freezing is bad.

I wouldn't want a 50/50 mix of water/meth as I would be adding meth as fuel at that point (no?) I merely want lower combustion temperatures and as safe of a way as possible to do that.

-Geoff

Any shop that carries dangerous stuff is required to have MSDS sheets. Check out places and see what the content is. There is a long list of methanol concentrations on one of the AI forums. YOu might see if one of the auto parts stores could order you a case of winter goodness.

Make sure you read the specs on the fluid. At work we have saftey clean washer fluid and it cleary states it is nonflamable.

Ryan, fluid under 50% methanol is not considered flammable. That is why most companies can't say that their pumps are 100% methanol compatible. Because they are not explosion proof, they "can't" run more than 50% methanol.

Here is some more info I posted regarding using blue wiper fluid...

http://www.aquamist.co.uk/vbulletin/...read.php?t=465

Great info. I didn't think of reading the MSDS.