goldmemberer

Check
http://pesn.com/2005/03/17/6900069_Acetone/ for details
and
http://peswiki.com/index.php/Directo..._Fuel_Additive for individual results

Here's a close-to-home example from the second link:

2004 Honda Pilot AWD 3.5 v-6. Preliminary report from just miles since adding acetone; reports mileage going from 20 to 25 mpg with mixture of 3 oz per 10 gallons of fuel; significant increase in horsepower.

Individual Reports
March 28, 2005
I just tried acetone in my 2004 honda pilot AWD 3.5 v-6. I have only put 50 miles on it since adding the acetone but I topped off again this morning and my mixed driving mpg has gone from 20 to 25 mpg! I am mixing 3 oz per every 10 gallons of fuel. I have already noticed a significant increase in horsepower as well. It takes very little throttle to climb the same steep hills that normally takes quite a bit of pedal. I am exited about acetone and report back when I get more measured miles under my belt. Ken



Mods: I thought this involved a little bit of science, politics, and plain ol' WTF to go in Car Talk, but move at your will.

goldmemberer

Interesting points from that first link:
for every gallon of acetone used, you save $54.00 (as of this writing [March 31, 2005]).

xtrampg.com (http://www.xtrampg.com/) - It's acetone! They advertise 30% increase in mileage with their additive, which they sell for $30/a case of 10, for 20 fill-ups.

Mizouse

interesting, anyone heard anything about that tornadofuelsaver thing, saw an ad for that on speed channel

nokio

does absolutely nothing

Mizouse

dang that hunk of metal is sure expensive for doing absolutely nothing (i think it was like $200?)

BC

Don't dribble that shmuz on your under the gas cap paint.

Raheel

We went over Tornado a Million times, we even had the inventors son on here who kept defending the product, but couldnt get us any stats to back him up, we all declared it is a POS

1998CL3.0

hhmmm... that aceone thing sounds interesting, whos gonna be the first to try and post results!!

phipark

Not I. I don't feel like throwing random alcohols in my engine just yet.

ccannizz11

Someone's got to have a beater they can test this on

SpeedyV6

I believe it's a ketone. And considering that it's partially oxidized [(CH3)2C=O] I can't see how more energy can be obtained by burning it. It may have some antiknock properties because theat ketone group may promote smoother oxidation, but that's it.

1998CL3.0

whatever you say Mr Scientist.
i'm more interested in the mpg gains, does that seem feasible?

JJ4Short

'90 dodge Pickup

ccannizz11

One guy tried it on his '92 Integra....
http://pesn.com/2005/03/25/6900071_Acura_Acetone/

IMO, this guy's experiment has a few flaws. But take it as you will. His results are statistically insignificant. And the short time period and small amounts of fuel means a bigger margin of error.

I might have to try this out myself.

CrockPot

i'll try this out, i've got a company car to test with.

LegendC

Works wonders on your paint too


I have heard about people using Toulene as an octane booster though....

Slimey

Read the article. It acts to decrease the suface tension of the fuel and thus improves vaporization and makes combustion more efficient. Interesting, but I'm not going to try it.

Ron Burgundy

^^^ I wonder if the octane rating would be a factor as well??

CrockPot

http://forums.thedieselstop.com/ubbt...fpart=all&vc=1

CrockPot

i've got 3.5oz in my ~17 gallon tank right now. i was getting an average of 18-19mpg, and my last fillup of 15.5 gallons and 290 miles on the odometer yielded 18.7mpg. let's see what this puppy will do. btw, i followed some of the advice about pre-mixing the acetone...i.e., i mixed the 3.5oz with 2 gallons of gas first before pouring it down the filler tube. don't want the pure acetone to potentially eat/burn away at the rubber.

Tom Blasing

I remember some people in the 70's putting 100% acetone in their tank. After about 5 or 6 locked up engines the idea kinda went away.

Doing that raised the cyl. temps unbelievably to where the rings welded themsleves to the cylinder wall.

CrockPot

yes, but how much were they putting in? this theory is based on at most 3 ounces per 10 gallons. this is at most 1 part per 3000.

Gilgamesh

Yeah...everyone tries to get turbulence OUT of their intake stream and this guy is gonna put it back in?

dallison

you'll spend more on the acetone, so your savings go down the tubes

nokio

acetone also eats the shit out of anything that is not metal or nonreactive plastic...itll make permanent marker dissolve like dry erase and eat glues pretty quickly too

its pretty caustic stuff and although it might help your economy, it will probably weaken everything that is reactive on its way to the engine. probably would take quite some time, but its still faster than if it wasnt there

Tom Blasing

Right! It's called Laminar Flow. The only time there should be vortex turbulance is when there is something in the engine that has to come out the same way the air is going in.

CrockPot

32 ounces is about $6. with my car, this will translate to roughly 9 fillups. for the simplicity's sake, say i gain exactly 10% fuel efficiency per tank w/acetone, i'll be gaining 1.5 gallons per tank. at a SoCal rate of ~$2.60 per gallon, that's basically $4 per fillup. 9 fillups X $4 > $6 bottle of acetone. there's obviously quite a bit of play here. assuming acetone works, and i only gain a miniscule 2% fuel increase, i'll still come out on top.

at any rate, i'm just testing right now...results to follow.

CrockPot

once again, we're talking 1 part per 3000. while i haven't done my own independent testing, others have...one test was conducted for a period of over a decade where rubber fuel lines were dipped and left enclosed/submerged in a solution that was roughly 2x the recommended acetone/gasoline ratio, 1 part per 1500. a parallel test was run with the same type fuel line in gasoline only. the tester noticed that there was some minor expansion with the fuel line dipped in the acetone solution, but no degradation.

at such minor levels, it's hard to fathom any real damage being caused. you have to remember that gasoline is pretty strong stuff also, and acetone is actually one of the weakest solvents. just do the pre-mix thing, where you mix the acetone with a couple gallons of gas first, so that when you pour it down the filler tube, it's not acetone only.

BoostedM3

at those levels, acetone shouldn't do much to your fuel lines. rubber seals are generally okay I believe, toluene eats those much faster. being that acetone is miscible in water and has a relatively high vapor pressure, it will absorb any water in the fuel and vaporize at a lower temp (b.p. = 56-57C) than with hydrocarbons/aromatics alone. as a vapor, acetone pulls oxygen out of the air and thus increasing the amount of oxygen in your fuel.

i put some methanol or acetone in my water injection system to use the solvent to cool the intake charge temps and bring back any displaced oxygen into the intake.

slikz

Just yesterday I filled up about 6.8 gallons, 91 Chevron. I poured in about 1.8OZ of acetone, took it for a spin and took a few hard turns to mix up the acetone with the gas in the gas tank. And later that night, took a long trip to Pomona, partied, and came back home. I was on Empty, came out that I got 23.7 miles per gallon. I was surprised. Usually my car, all highway, would only get me around 17-19 miles per gallon. That`s pretty freakin` horrible. In conclusion, I will be using Acetone as an MPG booster until I swap out my spark plugs to NGK, to see if there is a change in my MPG. If not, back to Acetone. Oh yeah, I don`t have to spend any money on Acetone, my family owns a nailshop and they use Acetone there to remove nail polish, I get them for free ^__^

BoostedM3

I work in a lab, so lots of access to acetone.

ccannizz11

Updates??

did you notice a difference? Let us know.

CrockPot

i've only filled up twice, and each time has been at or slightly above 19 mpg. so, it does appear initially to have helped a bit. BUT, there could be many factors involved...i could be inadvertantly driving less aggressively, less traffic (stop/go), etc.

without having a set driving test with many constants, i.e. point a to point b, straight line, no traffic, cruise control...it would be nearly impossible to give credit to the acetone for the added increase.

the good news...the car hasn't blown up yet.

ccannizz11

Not quite the 35% increase that the original article said was possible... meh, I'm getting 21mpg right now, I can't complain too much.

CrockPot

just based on theory, older cars/engines, or those that run rich are likely to benefit the most (if at all).

btw, the 19mpg is on a toyota highlander V6 AWD, not an acura.

iamhomin

I'll experiment this on a 96' Nissan Quest GXL and keep my TSX at bay over the summer..but I hope for more experimentors on this forum to help solidify the "theory".

iamhomin

Any updates??

Squealing3.2

The only boost you will get is a big boost in engine damage and shop time after all the seals are gone.