[soldave]

Aaaaaahhhhhhhh. But with WWF, doesn't the colouring in it mess up some part of the system? Also, on all the WWF bottles I've seen in car shops, it will say it contains methanol, but not what concentration it is.

And I'll be going for a 50/50 mix.

[Dust]

On almost all of the containers I have seen here have メタノール with a percent next to it. I have seen up to 52% methanol, but it was almost 400 yen for 2 liters. Next time you go to a store with WWF, look for one with a red cap or a -30 to -35C designation, and look for methanol% on it. Most of the winter stuff doesn’t have other stuff in it. Do you have Yellow Hat auto parts stores? I know that their bottles have 35%, and not much else. Give the bottle a good shake, and see if it has lingering bubbles. If it does, don’t buy it. You can also ask for it under these names. メチルアルコ－ル 、木精 、カルビノ－ル. I don’t know about the dye causing problems, but I would think that a cleaning with just pure methanol/water mix every now and then would clean the stuff out.

[soldave]

Originally Posted by Dust

On almost all of the containers I have seen here have メタノール with a percent next to it. I have seen up to 52% methanol, but it was almost 400 yen for 2 liters. Next time you go to a store with WWF, look for one with a red cap or a -30 to -35C designation, and look for methanol% on it. Most of the winter stuff doesn’t have other stuff in it. Do you have Yellow Hat auto parts stores? I know that their bottles have 35%, and not much else. Give the bottle a good shake, and see if it has lingering bubbles. If it does, don’t buy it. You can also ask for it under these names. メチルアルコ－ル 、木精 、カルビノ－ル. I don’t know about the dye causing problems, but I would think that a cleaning with just pure methanol/water mix every now and then would clean the stuff out.

Thanks for that advice man. Will go out and check a couple of stores today after work and see what I can find. We have Autobacs here (but not Super Autobacs) and maybe one Yellow Hat store on the island. And thanks for the kana and kanji links for other things to look for. I think the most I have seen before was 20% methanol in the windscreen washer fluid.

But I will go hunting later and hopefully report back with some better news.

[Dust]

i know that autobacs had stuff, but it was rather expensive. Can your read katakana? If not print off the katakana, or put in into your cell phone as a memo, and just look for the katakana. Some of the more expensive stuff may have ethanol, or エタノール.

The katakana reading for methanol is metano-ru, and ethanol is etano-ru.

[soldave]

Yeah, my kana is ok, although my kanji is sketchy. I seem to have a limited vocabulary of about 10 kanjil if I learn a new one I forget an old one!

[soldave]

OK, a little update after a 5-hour shopping excursion I've been on looking for methanol. Have visited every large car supplies store on the island, as well as most of the shops which sell hardware/camping equipment (except one which was closed when I got there) and about 10 different pharmacies.

WWF: Not great news. The cheapest stuff here in Okinawa is 5% methanol, and the most expensive ($10 for 2l) was still only 30%. Guess the fact that we don't get cold weather means there is no demand for anything higher.

Camping/hardware stores: No joy at all. All the lanterns use gasoline, butane, propane or similar. Not a single one used ethanol or methanol.

Pharmacies: Very limited success. At the last pharmacy I found they had a small supply of 95% methanol/5% ethanol. This stuff cost $8/l so to half fill my tank (the rest being water for a 50/50 mix) would cost me about $40. Ethanol and rubbing alcohol was the same price. Unfortunately, they only had 2l of it. So I've bought the methanol/alcohol mix but am no idea what I'm going to do in the long term. It's looking either very expensive or that I'll have to go for a very weak meth/water mix.

[Dust]

You MAY be able to order stuff. But, being June, I don't know how much winter stuff you will be able to find. Maybe you should just run water for now, and wait until october or november to get the good stuff. Can the base get you anything of the sorts?

[soldave]

Am going to speak to my base contacts, but the base just stopped selling HEET recently and said it's not going to be restocked.

Will have a look online, although the problem with that is that you don't know how much methanol is going to be in it until you buy it. Unfortunately Joyful Honda don't have a website store, and as you said, Yellow Hat only have the weaker stuff that I could get here anyway.

[Dust]

If you ever travel by car up this way, it seems like it would pay to buy stuff and bring it back. Have you checked Yahoo!¥ª¡¼¥¯¥·¥ç¥ó ? Might be a place to find something. Also may try looking for petroleum companies that might sell ethanol. But seriously. You might have to talk to a car place, or just stock up during winter. Buy a 20L kerosene container to hold the mix, and just pump from it. That's what I have right now.

[soldave]

Nothing on Yahoo Auctions for methanol, but for ethanol we could be in business somewhat. Have found a supplier that would ship 18L of 75% ethanol (Citric acid 0.01%
Glycerin: 0.01%, refined water: 24.98%) to Okinawa for $71, which would be $15 a gallon. Not ideal as compared to methanol but better than anything else I've found so far.