Cleaning with Methyl Hydrate

[slammers]

I recently rebuilt a YS 91 and soaked the bare crank case in Methyl Hydrate as I have done many times in the past. When I went to take the case out I was stunned to find that it had been eaten away. It looked like the case was dipped in an acid bath. However, only parts of it were corroded. 80% of the case was fine but 20% was attacked badly. On the surfaces that had been attacked was a clear gel like substance. I have no idea what it is.

Has anyone seen this before? I have used Methyl Hydrate to clean engines for years and I have never seen this before. Does Methyl Hydrate eat aluminum?

Shawn

[jwooten]

I will stick my neck out.
According to a friend of mine:

Methyl Hydrate AKA methanol can cause rapid corrosion of aluminum in the presence of chlorides (salts). It could a chemical contamination on the engine or in the methanol. I would worry about the quality of the methyl hydrate you were using. As to the clear stuff, I don’t know.

Jimmy

[mevigavant]

Could it be it only corroded only were you touched the engine? I like TCE personally. The only thing is that it causes cancer. xylene is fine bt smells REALLY bad and leaves an oily feeling which goes away after sometime.