GM Owners: GM Warns DO NOT USE Acetone as a Fuel Additive

[mdocod]

quote:

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I'm just a product of my enviroment.

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-SyN


What a beautiful statement...

so few of us take the time to realize, what a human actually IS (besides flash/bones)... We are, the only perfect result of our humanly experience. We are the result.

The guys at the dealer, are convinced, that the dealers opinions about the addatives, may be true, and they are the only perfect result of cercumstance... just as we are.

I like being the result of a bitog experience.

 

[ekpolk]

quote:

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I feel comfort in the fact that my car is in the good hands of a factory authorized dealer and their staff.

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Respectfully, I feel like I'm going to fall out of my chair laughing. I've been using syns for two decades now, an array of different brands, into cars from each of the US Big-3, Toyota, Nissan/Infiniti, Honda, and VW too. Guess what -- no leaks yet. I'm waiting . . . when should I expect them to start??????

 

[ekpolk]

Back toward the topic: in fairness to GM (and I can hardly believe I just typed that...), what should they do? There is a huge array of products out there that fall into the broad category of "additives". A few are the real thing and perform well, some are OK but oversold, and some are pure non-sense. There is simply no reasonable way to expect GM to sift through all these offerings and decide which are OK for which vehicles. Even if they attempted to put out such a list, millions would screw up in interpreting it. No, the only safe thing for them to do with respect to additives is declare that none are necessary and leave it to the consumers to try to make a good choice if they desire to go down that road. Let the buyer beware.

 

[Crashbox]

Seems to me that acetone would only be a problem with Corvettes- something about fiberglass...

 

[LTVibe]

Bob Weber in today's edition of the Chicago Tribune addressed the use of acetone as a fuel additive:


Keep Acetone at Fingertips, Not in Tank


Published November 20, 2005


Q. My question is about an article on acetone in fuels. With today's high gas prices, I would like [the information] to be true, but I would not try it unless I had more proof.

R.L., Round Lake

A. You're smart to question such things. Whenever gas prices spike, we become awash in ways to extend fuel economy. We would like to debunk the theory that acetone helps fuel vaporize more readily, thereby helping it burn better. In the amounts suggested (approximately one-quarter of 1 percent by volume), we doubt that acetone would have much effect. If it did, gasoline additive makers would be selling it to oil marketing companies.

Beyond the argument for the benefits of acetone, we can cite some drawbacks. Acetone (also known as dimethyl ketone, methyl ketone, dimethylformaldehyde, ketone propane and 2-propanone) is an excellent solvent and widely used in fingernail polish remover. It readily dissolves polycarbonate plastics such as used on in-line translucent fuel filters. It also will attack nitrile rubbers such as those used for fuel lines. Dissolved rubber can clog fuel injectors and pickup filters in gas tanks. The dissolved rubber also may coat the fuel pump armature and the activated charcoal in the onboard emissions vapor control device. Additionally, weakened fuel hoses may rupture, creating a fire hazard. Acetone doesn't sound like such a good solution, does it?

Tribune Auto Q&A

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[BlazerLT]

lol, that link contained nothing but a bunch of urban legends.

What he claims might happen with 100% acetone, but 0.235% concentration in these applications?

lol....comon now..

 

[V1]

Suppose someone took a container full of gasoline, and mixed in some acetone. We'll say 1 to 2% for sake of the argument.

Now, why not try putting various fuel system parts into that container, seal it, and come back a year later? Wouldn't this be a valid experiment?

Any candidates?

We should ask the Mythbusters.

 

[ekpolk]

I think we've had some members try variations on that. I believe they tried shorter times in higher or pure concentration acetone, with, IIRC undramatic results. Look around a bit and you'll probably find the thread.

 

[speedygonzalez]

Yeah the tests have already been done. With only 3 Oz acetone per 10 gallons of gas, there doesn't seem to be anything to worry about.

 

[robbobster]

I hear that GM is buying-up all the acetone and is storing it in a secret storage facility, right next to the warehouse full of 100mpg carburetors.

 

[John K]

I thought they were 200 mpg carburetors!