- Joined
- Feb 18, 2006
How many Alky pump failures have you had
- Thread starter turbo89
- Start date
Pronto
Believe nothing you hear and half of what you see.
- Joined
- Dec 9, 2002
Of the 5 kits I know installed between 3 of us, 5 kits were about 10 years old. Each had leaks in the line or on the head. One (a very early first gen TTA pump kit) did fail. I believe at the time it was 11 years old. The owner was immediately got out of it and there was no damage. 1 kit had a wiring failure but again was caught before any damage. I believe 3 have been totally replaced with the newest kit or wiring. I know others that also send in the pump for inspection every other year.
- Joined
- Sep 24, 2010
No. If it lubricates, it's likely petroleum based, which was the mistake I made with a couple of drops of "grape smelly" stuff.
Don't do that, ever.
- Joined
- Jan 3, 2012
When not in use, especially for winter storage, the recommended procedure is to pump the meth out, fill with washer fluid then run the pump until washer fluid comes out. This prevents freezing, rust, or the meth eating the pump seals from sitting.
Good info.. so based on the responses if a ALKY user were to use a fresh pump every other season the chance of issues is small .. 10 years is a long time on that pump
SpeedRacerX
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jan 20, 2014
So my brand new kit is coming up on 2 years in March since it's been installed. It does sit all winter in my garage with the tank filled with M1. You guys have me all paranoid now.
Also, would be nice to know that in addition to your initial $650 purchase, please factor in an ongoing cost of $80-$100 every 2-3 years for "maintenance." This is normal?
Soon, I guess I'll pulling the motor after each 11 second run. Lol.
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Also, would be nice to know that in addition to your initial $650 purchase, please factor in an ongoing cost of $80-$100 every 2-3 years for "maintenance." This is normal?
Soon, I guess I'll pulling the motor after each 11 second run. Lol.
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Now your getting it.if it's meth dependent rebuild ahead of potential pressurre loss.the truth is most guys have more than enough meth and when the pump starts losing pressure it doesn't create the problems,but with your leaning on the kit hard you need all of it
The nozzle will still mist at 100psi just the flow will be lower,the nozzle rating is based off 100psi I believe.i went 2seasons and didn't see below 150psi on a twin nozzle running 100%m1.even on 100psi with a twin setup m10/m/15 your seeing 25gph.one of the advantages with the twin is more meth on lower pressure.Lets see here ... if you have a new pump putting out 220 psi .. and it drops down to 150 psi which I've seen them drop well below that .. you'd be below your 75% .. but then again you have no way of telling because you don't have a gauge to tell.... what if it dropped down to 100 psi ... your still getting ALKY in .. but with the reduced pressure is it really being sprayed like it should at the nozzle or is it dribbling . No different than a fuel injector .. run it at a lower pressure and tell me what the spray pattern does.
Just because you don't see much of a leak doesn't mean its not dramatically reducing the system pressure .. what if the leak is somewhat internal to the pump. The other problem is if you look at the residuals on the pump after a hit to gauge just how bad its leaking.. I'd bet most of the Methanol has evaporated off already and your checking it with the pump not activated.
How close are people's tunes ??? Depends on the owner .. SOME guys will run right on the edge and double and triple check everything to a fanatical level just to insure their cars are running 100% .. other guys not so much ... the more you turn it up .. the lower the margin for error is. damage happens the instant ALKY isn't doing its job fully.
As to your question how big of a leak would it have to be to notice .... IF you had a gauge you'd notice it right away
And I agree as was pointed out by all with failures .. maintenance is real real important .. pumps are cheap
just as a note .. I've seen 6 fail in 2 years ... 2 of the 6 resulted in popped HG.. when I pulled the pumps off I asked the owners if they ever looked at the pumps to check condition ... NOPE !
to be fair I think poor meth quality had a lot to do with the failures . Gotta run good quality Meth can't be a cheap ass and run windshield wiper fluid ( storage only!)
Curious .. do you have any idea as to where the threshhold is on various ranges of tunes as to when pressure loss impacts knock suppression .. figure you probably have significant experience in various power ranges with ALKY...
Anyone else feel free to chime in on this ?
Kendall1214
Member
- Joined
- Sep 30, 2014
I had my alky pump start leaking in about a year running straight methanol. When ya have hard launches and only bout half full it will loose it sometimes! Julio, is definitely the guy to talk to about it! But If e85 is readily available to you, I’d switch to that, over meth injection.
- Joined
- Sep 24, 2010
Well, like stated I was going to do, I just bought the test kit for just shy of $100 with shipping.
I believe it will prove to be very wise investment.
NY Twin Turbo
All the good stuff.....Times 2.
- Joined
- Dec 10, 2014
Not sure what you are asking specifically. If you mean at what point your octane begins to drop and you begin to knock, this wouldn't really be different for cars at different power levels. It would be based on how much of your street gas is replaced with alcohol.
For example. Lets say that both a 350hp and 750hp Buick are using the same amount of fuel replacement with methanol injection and both are using a similar alky kit. And at full spray, they are replacing 25% of 93 octane pump gas with 110 octane methanol, then the resulting octane may be around 97 octane at the combustion chamber. Also there will be benefits associated with methanol's cooling properties as well. This should allow both cars to run similar additional timing.
Now let's say both cars experience an alky pressure loss. It is likely that in order for the higher powered car to replace 25% of its fuel it would have been running higher alky pressure. Because of this I guess this could amplify the problematic leak. So yes, I guess it could suffer the effects of the leak sooner. However, a higher powered car that runs a bigger nozzle or two nozzles doesn't necessarily run higher alky pressure. So, again the octane loss may effect them the same.
Now, let's say neither of the cars was running timing on the edge and both of the cars had allowances for positive correction in their engine management programs, then at least the fuel can be added back into the mix to make up for the loss of alky. Of course, this does nothing to help the octane reduction or additional heat. So, they should be okay up to a point. Hopefully the problem wasn't a pop and it will be observed on a data log before it gets any worse.
So in conclusion, I believe an alky leak or an unexpected reduction in pressure is equally as bad for both cars. And if the lower powered car rely on alky even more, then it could be at even a higher risk of damage. But all things being equal, neither one should be safer from damage. The only saving grace to this whole scenario is that never have I heard of an instant alky failure. And most of us are conscientious enough to keep a close eye on our systems and tune.
Anyone here would like to chime in? How'd I do?
Yes it will and it will also allow you to see your alky curve and set a curve for your specific combo
Yes sir I have played around quite a bit
The timing and octane requirements are very different between the 2 I have found.there is a big difference in 70hp per hole and 125+up horsespower per hole and the tuning window better be right on point for the later.
And that is exactly what I was driving at .. with my previous question of decay of flow
NY Twin Turbo
All the good stuff.....Times 2.
- Joined
- Dec 10, 2014
I here what your saying. Definately agree.
But even thought the actual timing itself may be different between the two, but shouldn't the increases that can be made for alky use be somewhat close?
What I'm asking is.....If both cars were using just 93 pump gas before, and now both are now using 100 octane meth/pump with similar cooling advantages as well, then shouldn't both cars be able to increase their timing by similar amounts? Of course, no two cars are exactly the same.
Isn't it quite common to make similar global timing changes to a timing map for race fuel as well?
Remember, this is all theoretical for me. But I am very curious. As my experience is based solely on just my personal car which has been running in only one configuration, tune and fuel for years now. Street or track.
No 2 cars are the same for sure.to make it easier on a 109 the volume and or octane of the meth needs to be addressed as the power goes up.in a nut shell that 100 octane doesn't cut it you pump more in to raise the overall octane of your delivery which will need a different timing approach.some do it on lower boost more timing some low timing more boost.
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