Stumbled across this article in another thread. -- Acetone In Fuel Said to Increase Mileage

Has anyone tried this with their Acura? Just thought I would get some opinions here...

 

It takes paint off surfaces!

Besides that, I wonder if someone checked on what acetone will do to emissions and emissions equipment.

 

wtf? no, I pass.

 

it's supposed to improve emissions.

 

How I love the smell of bullshit in the morning!

Acetone isn't going to diddly for your mileage, if it did Exxon and friends would be adding it and selling "super duper mileage gas" for a high price. If it really dropped emissions by a large amount EPA would mandate it like they did ethanol.

All this guy is trying to do is convince you that you will get better mileage, but to prove it you need to buy his "scan gauge".

 

they tested this on mythbusters...

 

yes i agee with with the acetone statement.
however on the ethanol statement it burns cleaner yes but you have to use more fuel to get to your destination.
lets say with a TL type S you get 27 mpg for example while the Ethanol seems "cheap" like below 2 dollars a gallon. many people fail to realize your mileage will drop my as much as 30 percent. so the TL type S will at best do is 20 mpg driving it like a grandma. so yes we don't use foreign oil but we have to full up 30% more times.

 

Nope. Don't plan on it either.

I got really decent mileage out of my CL. And I get about 24-25 mpg with the I35 for mixed driving, and about 27+ all highway. Personally, I think that's good enough for a V6 and my lead foot.

 

yeah i hate filling up with ethanol enriched gas for this reason... i managed to find a station that does not mix their gas, but it is so far...

 

a lot of the independants gas stations (the smaller ones not the chains) are not taking Ethanol semi loads in due to the fact customers don't want the ethanol and want the old stuff. Personally i'm like you I like the "old stuff"

 

I actually think the acetone stuff would work, but it's just that it might damage your engine parts if not used propery, may be that's why government isn't recommending it. As for the scan gauge thing, does anyone really use it?? I mean, isn't it fairly easy to track your mpg on your own?

 

i'm using acetone and getting ~540-580kms on a full tank using 90 octane Mohawk gas (ethanol blend) for the past 10 fill ups.

i'm pretty much sold til the engine rots out or whatever hullaballoo people want to bring up

oh i watched this vid and it kinda pushed me to make the decision since the guy owns a TL too (in the test.. call me easily persuaded)
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/524517...as_mileage_2x/

 

in the vid he says he changed the spark plug wire. TLs dont have spark plug wires.

 

Case Study: Acetone as a fuel additive

 

Thanks for that article, F23A4

 

Yup, thanks for the interesting read F23A4. I found it a bit biased in parts, what irked me is the author approaches the theory with pretty decent scientific objectivity, and was humble enough to mention it as well. There were parts of their dissertation that leaned toward using broad terms such as: modern day engine in good condition.

If there was more explanation for examples such as: why 0.3 points of 1% is insignificant in terms of octane, I'd feel more inclined to accept the analysis of this author.

I'm not knocking it, but personally I don't think 'noise levels' of my driving habits/car condition before using acetone attributed to a gain of +50km/tank gain in fuel efficiency. On the note that the plastic exposed to the acetone, well I'm hoping for the best and if my funnel starts to peel, I'll question the resistance of those parts in my combusting engine.

cheers

 

No problem. Take it for whatever it is worth.

 

well, i gave this acetone shit for a run. i'm 19 and college aint cheap. sue me for trying to get an extra mpg lol. anyways i'm pretty convinced by it but i'll find out for you guys soon when i empty

 

pm cocoa, there was thread about this in the CL section, and he actually mixed it and used it

 

so your gain is so small is it worth the investment to buy the crap.

 

well, here's another update, i just drove from the prairies to the lower mainland BC ~1900kms and i've been getting ~540-700km/tank that's right, i gassed up at the no name stations with the lowest octane(on a fuel budget) and the lowest mileage i got from a tank before the light clicked on was 540kms and the last tank i had 669kms and still 1/8th tank or 20L left before the light - and this was for the last leg of the journey out of the Rockies holding a speed limit of 130km/h ~85mph up to 160 km/h on stretches

i gotta say as a side note, the TL is really suited for carving up mountain passes at speed, i've never had so much fun with the car before

 

I think I've reached round 550-600km per tank with 89 octane from my trip to Calgary from Vancouver with 4 people (including myself) in the car and a loaded trunk. But I wasn't going that fast, around 110-120km/h average only. How many people were in your car? Most of the time when trying to pass people, the car would down shift to 4th, (occasionally 3rd if I really stepped on it), so that might have a little impact on the mpg too.

 

I get more than that (your 669) with out using that stuff on all hwy trips

 

It was just me the whole trip down with the spare/jack in the trunk and maybe another 40lbs of luggage

On the tank i filled up at Fernie, I soon had transmission issues which led to me getting it replaced when i got to Langley, but i was driving ~80-90km/h until i reached Grand Forks (4-5hrs) and got excellent mileage +669km/tank.

I find even when downshifting to 3rd to pass on a grade I still get decent mileage with acetone in the tank.. I used to watch the fuel guage dip quickly whenever I used the V-Tec or even having the rpms above 3500K at 2nd-4th - now that's not so much an issue

 

If only I had the technical knowledge/tools/time to optimize my car to be as efficient, but alas I have little of the first two aside from what I learn here.

 

I mainly want to improve my mpg during city driving, since that's what I usually do and I find that the needle does go down pretty quickly. I am just afraid the stuff might cause internal damage as some people/article have suggested if used for a prolonged period......but the gain is too good to ignore....damn...

 

Me too we only have one interstate here in town and I rarely get the chance to use it, so most of my driving is stop and go, which the TL is notoriously bad in.

 

There really isnt any thing you need to do optimize it other than normal maintenance. If you have the time to add acetone you have the time to do the below.
Make sure tires are properly inflated (i like mine 38-40) Premium fuel, occasionally run seafoam thru the fuel lines and motor. and Cruise control. I typically get 450+ to the low fuel light at 75-80.

 

Try driving a Expedition.

 

I thought cruise control hurt the gas mileage b/c is had to use gas to keep the pedal pushed down, but when I was doing the spacer install today, I saw the cruise control cable linked to some box so maybe that wasn't right. Like I said I drive mostly city with a lot of stopping and going so I never get the chance to use cruise anyway.

 

Cruise control generally results in better economy because the ECU can modulate the throttle better than you or I can. The box you saw contained a rotary actuator that pulls the throttle open when commanded to. You can feel this in the pedal during driving. Newer cars with electronic throttle bodies simply command the TB actuator as they do when they're relaying inputs from your right foot.

 

May be I should take a closer look at my tire pressure, that's about the only thing I am not doing; I use premium gas, I maintain my car regularly at my local Acura Dealership. As for seafoam, we don't have that in Canada, and for a mechanically challenged person like me, it's too complicated.

 

Seafoam is available in Canada and it's not that hard at all to do

 

http://www.lubedev.com/smartgas/faq.htm

Hmm, I think I will give it a try....

 

Found something interesting in this forum:
http://www.chemicalforums.com/index....;threadid=2517

Near the bottom, I found this post, so here it is,

"The vapor/surface tension "thing" just doesn't hold up for about 12.5 reasons (basic, surfactant chemistry). :"They" had the same "discussion" back in the 80/90s when gas was expensive (supposedly) and catalytic converters and oxygen sensors were starting to come in to use.

FYI: The acetone is reacting with the catalyst used in the oxygen sensor making the mixture appear" too rich. As a result - the mixture is leaned out by the computer thus the mileage goes up.

The reason it does not work the same on all cars is that there are three different metals used as catalysts in O2 sensors: platinum palladium rhodium or in combination. Acetone in combination with NOx (and others) in the exhaust will react differently with each metal to either speed up or slow down the catalytic reaction of the oxygen senor. FYI, I am not talking about the catalytic converter - just to stop about 100 posts.

Question: am I the only one on the planet who remembers this? There seems to be a lot of people skiing behind the "vaporization" boat?

The reason I know this is that I used to work for Exxon; and fyi, the reason they don't put acetone in gas is that it is hard to get it to stay there and second over time it reacts with different kinds of additives in fuel. Which is also a reason why it does not work on some cars - it's the gas not the car.

They have had additives in the past with acetone - old news. It is good that it works though! It simply had gotten more news because of the historic price of gas.

Also, this is why ASME standards for elastomers used in cars requires (heavily suggests) that all elastomers be tested with acetone - along with other (i.e . MTBE, M85 ...) Once again, very old (but good) news (remembrances)"