Does METHANOL kill wideband sensors?
 

Just installed my METHANOL kit and wanted to know if it has any effect on the life of the wideband O2 sensors?

Thanks {thumbup}

No. They say LEADED gas does, but I have run 30K consecutively 110 LEADED race gas thru my car, and it didn't ruin any O2 sensor. not even the UEGO.

Thanks for the feedback..

No problem. they say that the methanol "thins" out the oil, and makes it watery, which means you have to change it more often.

Sorry to threadjack, is there a way to 'clean' the wideband o2 sensor? I put in 110 leaded in my car once with the wideband, and now my wideband acts screwy. I was probably near 1000 miles before I put the race gas in.

I am sure there is "special" spray for that! Are you sure that is your problem? Again, I have 30,000 miles of leaded gas run thru my car, and the 2 stock O2's AND my AEM UEGO O2 with NO problems!!! make sure that is your problem first.

Methanol does makewide band readings inaccurate in respect to the true A:F. Thats why tuning can be done without spray to a calculated % leaner than target, then spray, boost, and timing is added

Great point!! I forgot about that!! You are correct!

I was told to use break cleaner to clean my wb, but it didn't help. BTW, running leaded killed my wb and my narrow band o2s.

A year worth of methanol never harmed the O2.

Using 3 gal of C16 ONE TIME killed my sensor.

13.1 was the richest it would read after the c16.

Methanol burns clean - it's pure and will not ruin sensor, but

methanol will make WB provide incorrect info because it thinks the stoichiometric reaction is 14.7 (gas) but methanol becomes stiochio at 6.8

I am not following you. Stoichiometric means the perfect ratio at which the fuel will burn most efficiently when combined with air. How does this make the 02 read incorrectly?

It wont :) It may adjust your fuel trims some but the AFR will still read right on... I am running E-85 and if I leave the settings as "gas" it will still read 14.7 @ 1.0 lamda.

Wideband is calibrated for fuel that is stioch at 14.whatever, so when you go richer for whatever reason, it will give an accurate ratio - say 10:1. If you were to add methanol (stoich at 6.8) to the mix in place of the extra fuel as above to achieve a actual ratio of 10:1, the wideband will instead read richer - like 9.8:1. Methanol just use more air to burn than gas

What does this have to do with O2 sensors? Absolutely nothing. Why did I even comment on that in the first place? Good question.

Bottom line, the fact that mthanol has a perfect burn with air at 6.8 units to 1 probably totally useless unless you decide to spray W/M in closed loop for a very strange reason. Nevertheless, I guess it is good to know that the true A:F is a little lower than whats registered on the meter while spraying the stuff:p

50+ gallons of methanol through my evo and all sensors are fine...