In
Post 301629
(Antoncho: "Two tried-and-true ways to make MeI !", Chemistry Discourse) Antoncho describes two methods for making MeI, and the excellent rating it received was surely well deserved. Regarding Vitus' method for the generation of MeI from aluminum triiodide, methanol and sulfuric acid, he writes:
"Sidenote: should bee much better with usage of H3PO4, don't you think so? It would react w/AlI3 quantitatively w/out any oxidation!"
This is a nice thought, and I thought so as well. Unfortunately, when SWIM tried it, he got methanol in the receiving flask and nothing else. I believe that the temperatures required to make HI in this fashion are higher than the boiling point of methanol, and so you would have to make the HI first, then add the methanol.
All is not lost in SWIM's experiment, though. He added some H2SO4, and is currently distilling MeI, which will of course be used for fumigation, not anything illegal.