Existential Angst wrote:
Awl --

I recently became aware that fuel injector cleaner is basically
kerosene..... !! It's also clear that alcohol is freely mixible in
gasoline.
In fact, http://monographs.iarc.fr/ENG/Monogr...5/mono45-8.pdf
indicates a wide variety of stuff in gasoline, including aromatics (like
benzene). The tables don't seem entirely consistent, but the point is, gas
is a bit of a heterogeneous mix.

So the Q is: what can one "dump" into one's gastank, and how much, without
gumming up the works? Including all these catalytic converters. Mebbe it's
better to dump stuff in, say, the lawnmower??

And what do I mean by "stuff"?
Unknown mixes of 2-stroke gas, kerosene, paint thinner, small amounts of old
oil, any combustible really.
You can put quite a bit of fuel injector cleaner (kerosene) in a gasoline
car, on the order of a pint to just a few gallons of gas, and the car runs
fine.
But I'm not talking about a deluge of stuff, just a cup here, a cup there in
a full-ish tank?

Most cleaners are NOT kerosene. They do contain some light oils to keep
the stuff freely flowing and lubricate the injectors but most of them
are simple high detergent items. As far as alcohols, YEP they will mix
with fuels, however it will separate out if left alone for a while.
This is especially true of mixed fuels like used in 2 strokes. That is
also why you should shake the can well before using stored fuels.

If you want to find out how to ruin O2 sensors and converters go for it.
It doesn't take much oil or other chemicals to screw them up.

Since you are in the salvage business and probably will have some
quantities of used oils, mixes and such. Why not at least get some
benefit from it. Install a waste oil furnace and use the stuff to heat
part of your building. The one I have will burn pretty much any
oil/kerosene/diesel/gear oil that you can pump into it. You have to
watch out for water/antifreeze or other non-combustibles. The easy way
is to make a separator unit, the one I built is nothing more than two
plastic drums with 4 different taps. You dump the unknown oil in it and
let everything settle. Once the stuff has settled into layers it's easy
to draw off the ones you can use.


--
Steve W.