Improve Gas Mileage?

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This is an article about adding small amounts of Acetone to significantly improve gas mileage. They also claim other benefits such as longer engine life. Aside from the risk of damaging your paint if you spill it, it sounds like a pretty feasable thing. Anyone here try it?

-Scott

Reply to
Scott Hughes
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From the web page:

Most fuel molecules are sluggish with respect to their natural frequency.

Acetone has an inherent molecular vibration that "stirs up" the fuel molecules, to break the surface tension.

Sure sounds like pure BS to me. Did you check out the rest of the web site for the plans for various free-energy sources and perpetual-motion machines?

I couldn't anything about taping cow-magents to the fuel line...

Reply to
Grant Edwards

Grant Edwards wrote in news:11412f27sc6ord2 @corp.supernews.com:

I understand the skepitcism, and no, I didn't take the time to look at the rest of the site. But skepticism aside, it seems like a cheap & simple enough procedure that it might be worth trying out. Seems to be a "nothing to lose" type proposal to add a couple oz of acetone per fill up and see if mpg improves. I do appreciate opinions tho, those based on some experience/facts are of course most helpfull, but the merely skeptical are good too. :)

Sorry, I assume the last line of your post was a joke, but I seem to have lost something in translation....

-Scott

Reply to
Scott Hughes

A few years back, there were people selling magnets that you were supposed to attach to the outside of your fuel line. (I heard they were actually cow magnets[1], and based on the pictures I saw, I think they were.) The magnets supposedly "aligned" the fuel molecules resulting in increased horsepower and better mileage. It was, of course, utter BS, and the magnets had no effect.

[1] A cow magnet is a cylindrical magent about 1-1.5cm in diameter and about 3-4 cm long. They have rounded ends and the ones I've seen were ceramic coated. They're shoved down cows' thoats and then sit in the stomach collecting bits of metal (fence wire, nails, etc.) that get swallowed. I guess it prevents the metal bits from passing into the intestines where they can cause punctures.
Reply to
Grant Edwards

Scott Hughes wrote in news:d1q6j6$8u2$ snipped-for-privacy@newsreader.wustl.edu:

What if the stuff is harmful to the engine? I don't think it is but do you want to be the one to find out?

Reply to
XS11E

Another question: if it really worked (and was harmless and cost effective) why wouldn't the refineries already be adding acetone?

Reply to
Grant Edwards

Its not too late. You can still buy the magnet, and the tornado performance booster (eliminates lazy laminar air flow by putting a set of vanes somewhere along your intake air pipes) from Jcwhitney.com and other fine retailers.

As far as the acetone (ch3coch3), it is just antoher hydrocarbon thrown in the soup known as gasoline. Theoretically, the extra oxygen atom acts as an oxydizer, but you get the same effect by adding a bottle of Heet (alcohol) which has the added benefit of scavenging any water that may be sloshing about in your fuel tank.

Reply to
cantera_2

Excellent article! Makes many good points, such as " There is way too much misinformation out there." And you do not even have to buy the ScanGauge to get the information about the acetone. :)

But it would be quite ungrateful not to head the advice: "You might Email this article to your government representative. After sufficient data has been collected, and that data supports the conclusions presented here, ACETONE should be ordered by Federal Law to be present in all fuels. While you're at it, request that vehicles be equipped with a MPG read-out to make it easier for consumers to know what is and is not working to improve their mileage."

He, actually. As he says: "I have never seen a problem with acetone, and I have used ACETONE in gasoline and diesel fuel and in jet fuel (JP-4) for 50 years. I have rigorously tested fuels independently and am considered an authority on this important subject."

Too bad the oil industry has no regard for authorities: "Questions asked of someone in the petroleum industry regarding ACETONE will often automatically trigger a string of negative reactions and perhaps false assertions."

But obviously, he is famous enough that the FAA allows him to modify jet fuel. What injustice that the oil industry considers him a crank!

You bet. As the article explains, in a typical engine about

25% of the gas does not find the combustion chamber hot enough to its liking and refuses to evaporate and burn. This gas goes out past the rings and also out the tailpipe. Let's assume that out the 25%, 10% goes past the rings. That means that after one tank, you have added almost a gallon of fuel to your engine oil. You think that is good for your engine!?!

Having a Miata, I like global warming, so dumping the other

1.5 gallons of unburned fuel into the atmosphere through the tail pipe suits me just fine. The more pollution, the better.

Fortunately, the green fanatics in Europe have not yet figured out that adding a bit of acetone to the fuel will decrease global fuel consumption by 10% or whatever! Whew! They could give this stupid EPA and those stupid environmentalists stupid ideas! Not to mention this idiot Greenspan!

Leon

Reply to
Leon van Dommelen

But will it decrease my fuel consumption by 35% or more?

Leon

Reply to
Leon van Dommelen

Cow magnets sure are a popular topic lately. I had to zip back to the rc group just to make sure I wasn't losing my mind. :)

Reply to
Brian

I was the one that started it here, and it was probably fresh in my mind after the cow magnet thread in r.m.rc.air.

Reply to
Grant Edwards

No. Not enough extra oxygen to be measurable. For that, a big bottle on NO3 works real good.

Getting back to gasoline, a gasoline batch is blended to achieve set vapor pressures and vaporization levels at pre determined knock levels. For example, winter gasoline blends are blended with increase levels of butane to aid vaporiztion in sub freezing temperatures. In the summer, having that much gas in the blend may lead to vapor lock, so you get a less fizzy blend. Gas sold in the northern plains will be a different blend than Florida gas in January.

Some high pressure Multi port fuel injectors do a pretty good job of vaporinzing the fuel, but carburated engines and Throtle body injectors normally operare with wet intake manifold walls until the engine (and the intake manifold) warms up. This has the benefit of speeding up the light up of the catalitic converter. At operating temperature the vaporization is aided by the pressure drop and increased air velocity traveling throgh the trottle venturi and you end up with dry manifold walls.

The fact of the matter is that you can increase your gas mileage by running a lean fuel mix. However, a very lean mix (maximum fuel economy) burns at high temperatures and produces very high levels of Nitrous Oxides. There is no way to scrub NOx out of the exhaust, so auto makers used EGR to cool the combustion and run a rich mix. That combination produces low NOx and high levels of unburned hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide. The catalytic converter takes care of the HC and CO in the exaust. You get cleaner air and lower gas mileage.

You can always re-map your ECM and use smaller orifice >>

Reply to
cantera_2

I' never had heard of cow magnets until last week. also in the rc group. funny, first i dont know the stuff and then it seems to be allover the place.

Reply to
dingo

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