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The components of fuel supply system of a methanol fuelled spark ignition engine come in direct contact with the fuel. Corrosive nature of methanol affects the material properties. The present study deals with the compatibility of various materials of the fuel supply system including elastomers (nitrile, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) nitrile, chloroprene, natural rubber and ethylene-propylene-diene monomer (EPDM)), aluminium and fuel filter (outer tin coated circular plate and paper) with methanol. The specimens of the parts of the fuel supply system were immersed in methanol for a period of ninety days under atmospheric conditions. The properties of the specimens such as physical changes using scanning electron microscope (SEM) image of the surfaces and mechanical properties including tensile strength and strain at break were studied. It was observed from the images that the coating over the circular plate of fuel filter eroded while elastomers developed a whitish coat on their surface.

In India, there is a large population of heavy duty diesel engine powered vehicles such as trucks and buses. Buses are operated under normal speed & load conditions whereas trucks are generally overloaded with high severity on engine oil and lugging operation is common. Higher loading of soot in engine oil results in increase in viscosity of oil and also affects the friction properties and also wear in engine components. The engine oil keep the soot dispersed in order to meet the basic function of lubricating and also keep the engine components clean.