pure acetone?

[BillionPa]

i have been running 0.23% acetone concentration for over a year. i measureed a 2mpg improvement, which was easily enough to cover the cost of the acetone. and that was with more agressive driving habits which should have actually lowered my mileage.

the majority of the improvement is due to low end torque increases under light load, which helps a lot. i get up to 6mpg better than the EPA rating for my car on the highway (tested accurately) using cruise control. doesnt help the fuel econ much in city driving (less than 1mpg) but the car does accelerate much nicer.

used 8 cans of fuel injector cleaners over 2000 miles before starting acetone treatment, so it didnt magically clean the fuel system and make it work.

FYI it takes about 3 full tanks before you can actually measure the increase in fuel econ.

also the slight swelling is VERY slight at less than a quarter of a percent by volume.

after acetone gave me real deal results, i got ahold of FP60 which further stabilized my engine idle (new motor mounts helped the most though!) but did not synergistically increase fuel mileage. in fact my mileage is lower than ever now because im getting VERY hard on the throttle now that my engine is running so nice!

 

[BrianWC]

But that makes no sense (3 tanks) If it's doing what people claim it is, it should not take 3 tanks to happen. Not trying to be harsh, just saying....

As for 8 cans of fuel injector cleaner before, that really doesn't say anything-just that fuel injector cleaner is c-rap.

I'm not trying to be a downer. I'd love for it to be true. We just havent seen widespread proof.

 

[surfstar]

I tried it to see for myself, various concentrations over a few tank fulls, and NADA. No increase, no change in running condition. FP60 and Lucas UCL have possibly given me slight increases in MPG, enough to pay for themselves. Acetone didn't for me.

 

[Kestas]

BillionPa, did you go back to regular gasoline to verify the mileage? This would account for any one-time cleaning effect acetone may have had.

 

[phillyFX4]

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phillyFX4: you've got too much time on your hands. Or the acetone fumes have had an ill effect on your cognitive processes.

Oh, by the way, you mis-typed "What's" as "Wahts" in your post.

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SH*T, today is WORSE, we're shoveling freekin' snow in Philly.....because we have to request vacations about 6 months in advance because of manpower I'm supposed to be on vacation at the NJ shore surf fishing, half blitzed right now....W-T-F!!??

 

[ekpolk]

I tried it in my previous car (G35) for several months, including with and without comparisions. I could discern no change at all in the car's mpg or other observable performance characteristics (other than the normal fluctuations that happened all the time).

Back a couple years ago when this was a hot topic, we had an automotive engineer (no, can't recall who) who described the notion that a small hit of acetone helps fuel evaporate better than it does already as "laughable". Think about it -- it's already very volatile, it's being injected at relatively high pressure, by an atomizing nozzle, into a stream of super-high velocity air into a turbulent hot enviroment (filling cylinder) in a process that takes no more than a few thousandths of a second. This one just does not make sense.

Beyond this, as the producer of the video did acknowledge, acetone is an incredibly active solvent. One drop on your paint for a few moments IS going to do substantial damage. Perhaps more alarmingly, the fuel system in most cars has become quite complex, and includes many plastic and rubber parts. Since no manufacturer that I know of has approved spiking gas with this stuff, you can be assured that these parts have not been tested and verified as compatible with acetone, even in low doses. In short, when the fun begins, you're going to be on your own.

Being a strong solvent, it's entirely believable that some users might see a benefit from quick cleaning. The prior use of other cleaners is also meaningless as none of them are going to be as active as acetone. This is why longer testing, and alternating from gas only to the mix (if one is experimenting) is necessary before one can draw any conclusions.

IMO, the benefits of this practice (if there are actually any) are far outweighed by the dangers.

 

[BillionPa]

a lot of people who experiment with acetone put way too much in and cancel out any effect it might have. you want a maximum of 400:1 ratio, higher concentrations have a negative effect on mileage.

the cars ECU takes about 1000 miles to "adjust" to the minor change in combustion characteristics. the adjustments to the lambda map occur at different rates at different throttle/load positions, and it needs to even out. switching back to gas to "See the difference" is immediately noticable in terms of driving characteristics, and screws the lambda map up. i dont recommend that.

i believe the primary method of fuel economy increases from acetone dosing are that acetone evaporates easily, and even more so when being injected into a cylinder at high pressure, and that evaporation occurs quickly and mixes with the air better than the atomized fuel, creating a more uniform fuel/air mix than gasoline alone. the effect is very slight, and occurs easier at low RPMS, however it is noticable not just to the oxygen sensor, but also to the driver as it helps with low end torque.

i AM getting better highway mileage than the EPA estimates for that year by quite a bit, that is a fact, so just a "cleaning effect" would not cause that, in fact it should make it closer to the estimate. there is chemistry and physics involved, and if someone really wanted to take the time and figure it out they could, but then the oil companies would probably murder them.

 

[oilyriser]

When I tried acetone + gas in my lawnmower, it kept stalling for some reason, but immediately ran normally whenver I let it run out of mix and put in straight gas. The dilution was about 500:1, so it couldn't be from a lean mixture, and I switched back and forth, and it happened whenever the mix was in there. The carburetor has all metal valves, and they were very clean. So far it's a mystery to me.

Is the flame speed for a 500:1 gas:acetone mix in air any different than for straight gas? Does acetone create extra free radicals as it burns that might cause a difference in flame speed without lowering octane number?

If it does increase flame speed, it might improve fuel economy in engines that run at very high speeds, because they would not need as much ignition advance, and there would be less time for the hot flame to lose heat to the chamber walls.

 

[mechtech2]

Mythbusters is often wrong. Like when they 'proved' running in the rain got you wetter than walking the same distance!
They also are ignorant about recoil of firearms, incorrectly maintaining that the energy is dealt out at the same rate on both ends [the energy IS the same, but felt recoil is over a longer period and is absorbed in other ways].
oily - Try 1/350 before you give up. I'm not selling the stuff, but you may need a little more.

 

[BillionPa]

acetone doesnt play nice with carbs, the dosing practice benefits are fuel injector specific.

it is kind of wierd that it would stall, but acetone is 150 octane and adding it to gas will increase the octabe a bit.

also lawnmower gas tanks are VERY small, so how did you get the right amount of acetone in there? a 2 liter tank would take only 5ml (1/5th the capacity of a thimble!)

 

[oilyriser]

I used a 1 mL pipette.

I found a patent on the use of acetone to improve combustion efficiency, but it wasn't acetone that was being put out. The invention makes acetone vapor, and treats it with a short wave UV lamp, which supposedly creates a vapor full of free radicals.

 

[ekpolk]

BP:

I did the "research" too, and used the "correct" ratio (I used an empty Sta-bil bottle to mix, it's #2 plastic is not acetone soluble). I did the experiments in the months after Katrina when my HQ had been temporarily shifted from NOLA to NAS Atlanta (Marietta). This resulted in 1x or 2x trips from ATL to Pensacola per week, 4.5 hours, about 350 miles. In short, lots of stable and relatively repeatable trips, under similar conditions. Again, desipte shifting back and forth between runs with and without of acetone. All I ever saw were the small tank-to-tank variations one always sees. Certainly, given my result, it's still possible that acetone might make a small difference in mpg performance, but if so, I was not able to tease that out from the background "noise".

 

[2006_Charger_R/T]

oh #@$%!... not this again.

 

[Papa Bear]

And the beat goes on ... and the beat goes on.

There are more horses arses here than there are horses.

 

[oilyriser]

The horse is still dead. The only effect of acetone on my car was to make the gas cap really hard to remove, after using it. I bet if you used enough, it would glue the cap in place, and you would never need to buy gas again.

 

[mechtech2]

http://www.mpgresearch.com/
mpg Research :: Index
We can't dispute that many serious people DO get good results with acetone.
I also noticed that there was a big deal about Vietnam stopping the use of acetone treated gasoline [they were using 20%!!! Whoa!!]. The quesetion is, why did they decide to use it in the first place?

 

[ConfederateTyrant]

I'm going to give it a try at least once. 4 ounces in 19-20 gallons should be the right amount. If anything improves, I'll run two tanks without it and see if anything changes.

A lot of people continuously talk about how acetone is harmful to rubbers/polymers/etc. but no one ever tells if they have had any problems with those items while using acetone in their gas.

I know this isn't a good comparison, nor does it explain all about the chemistry in acetone, but since acetone can work in #2 HDPE plastic bottles, as can FP60/FP3000 and many other fuel additives, I won't be too hesitant to try.

 

[Max_Wander]

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A lot of people continuously talk about how acetone is harmful to rubbers/polymers/etc. but no one ever tells if they have had any problems with those items while using acetone in their gas.

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It's true! A lot of people even ignore the fact that gasoline blends already contain ketones such as acetone in it already.

 

[4esorselrahc]

It is quite risky to throw an additive into one's fuel that the system isn't "designed" to handle (knock yourself out if your system is designed to handle acetone). What ever you do it is at YOUR own risk. If you mess your fuel system/engine up, then it's your choice, but when a vehicle is under warranty it's a bad idea...Based on the evidence I've seen, it's not worth the potential risk. But then people do rediculous mods to vehicle drivetrains that make them very dangerous, so heck, why not blow the engine up while your at it...Advice is one thing. Sound advice is another.

 

[Max_Wander]

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It is quite risky to throw an additive into one's fuel that the system isn't "designed" to handle (knock yourself out if your system is designed to handle acetone). What ever you do it is at YOUR own risk. If you mess your fuel system/engine up, then it's your choice, but when a vehicle is under warranty it's a bad idea...Based on the evidence I've seen, it's not worth the potential risk. But then people do rediculous mods to vehicle drivetrains that make them very dangerous, so heck, why not blow the engine up while your at it...Advice is one thing. Sound advice is another.

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I'm not pro-acetone here, but if people are going ot be scared/enamoured with anytihng, I wanns see some objective reasons as to why. With regard to the 'engine blowing up' thing, fear mongering is not quite advice or sound advice.