Acetone added to gasoline for better fuel efficiency?

Hi all,

I heard a rumor that you can add a couple ounces of acetone to 10 gallons of gas and achieve greater fuel efficiency.

Can anyone tell me if they've tried this and what improvement they have seen?

Also, what about doing this with a Toyota truck? Isn't acetone a risk factor as far as wearing out parts goes, similar to ethanol?

Thanks.

Reply to
Viator
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Reply to
badgolferman

Google is your friend. "Acetone in Gasoline"

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Reply to
Philip

You seem to be condoning this practice. If that is true I find it very odd considering your strict adherence to the manufacturer's maintenance schedules and recommended practices.

Reply to
badgolferman

don't spill any on your paint job. It will strip paint real good.

Reply to
The benevolent dbu

I am not condoning or agreeing with the practice. But SOMEBODY has to be the guinea pig ;^)

Reply to
Philip

Didn't we go through this last year and I offered to 'sacrifice' my van to check this out? Still haven't done it, Have I?

Reply to
Hachiroku

OK, say that the people who claim this works are right. If it did what they said don't you think at least one oil company would start selling "acetone enhanced" fuel and advertise the significant increase in mileage.

In my opinion it is at best a stupid idea and the people who are reporting significant mileage increases are either deliberately misstating the result, or they are not controlling all the variable and the measurements are worthless, or they are just bad at collecting data.

If it worked someone would sell the stuff for the purpose.

Ed

Reply to
C. E. White

Acetone was tested in the 1920s as an octane booster. Acetone performance is almost exactly the same as ethanol addition. It's not worth the cost.

Reply to
bw

A friend and I have both tried it.. In my car ('97 pontiac GTP-Supercharged 3.8L V6) it made a very slight difference,Maybe half a mile per gallon,according to the cars computer thingie. Perhaps it cleaned the fuel injectors out,because it seemed to have a bit more "pep" and ran a little smoother for a while.

I have yet to test it in my '67 chev,with a 327 smallblock,because the fuel gauge is bonkers (and I'm too lazy to do the extra math!)

In my friends car (an older Mazda 626,carbureted 4-cyl,2.3L I think?) he said he noticed a bit more pep,and also slightly smoother running engine. Nada damn difference in his gas mileage,infact in one tank of gas it actually went down a bit,but we think that was caused by leaving the car running while parked (we were doing some tune-up stuff,etc..so it was sitting,idling a fair bit that week.)

From what I've read acetone won't hurt any of the parts of the fuel system like ethanol will. I read a story of a guy who tested various rubber parts in straight acetone,left them in there for up to a year,so far no issues. So a few ounces in your gas tank certainly shouldn't hurt anything.

I've read that it can help clean out carbon buildup and "gunk" in the engine,which may have explained the tiny bit more power,and smoother idle. So far with our experiments,Acetone does jack-squat for the gas mileage.Maybe a *minor* improvement.

One other aspect to consider,is ethanol. In the winter they add "up to 10% ethanol" to the gas.. Alcohol sorta defeats the purpose of the Acetone,not to mention alcohol hygroscopic-it attracts and binds with water. The Alcohol,and Acetone are working against eachother.. We might give it another shot in the summertime,when they aren't adding ethanol to the gas. It might make more of a difference then?

Reply to
phatty mo

Reply to
Martin Riddle

Of course...it always amazes me how gullible people are...don't you suppose if a couple ounces of a common product added to a tankful of fuel could increase economy by 35% that oil companies would be cornering the market and selling it for big bux?...where's yer common sense fellers?...

Reply to
Gord Beaman

Anyone that tried it, the gasoline company would find and disappear. I would not speak of this again...it is taboo..

Reply to
Dan J.S.

Don't know about Acetone in fuel other than Acetone will attack several types of plastic, some of which are not attacked by petrol so may be used in the fuel line.

Xylene and Toluene are known Octane improvers (used by drag racers). An octane improver may improve fuel efficiency, or it may just boost the performance of the engine.

Reply to
NeedforSwede2

Octane improver only improve engine performance if spark is advanced (manually or by ECM) to take advantage of the increase octane otherwise higher octane fuel hax no more energy per gallon than regular gas. (actually a tiny bit less)

Reply to
TheSnoMan

Oh agreed. The octane of fuel actually effectively describes how hard it is to ignite the fuel.

But the benefit is, higher octane, higher advance available, more power from the engine. Modern engine management systems either do this on the fly, or after a reset and relearn.

Reply to
NeedforSwede2

Increase octane resist tendancy to preignite and it burns a bit slower but it will lite with a spark just as easily

Reply to
TheSnoMan

Yes...a tiny bit less as you say...one helluva job to convince some people of that 'fact' though...

Reply to
Gord Beaman

If you have a Coleman gasoline stove, yes. Except they use naphtha in Coleman fuel. Improves vapor pressure thru burner.... Gasoline in recent years seems to be lacking the pressure it has had in the past. Which leads to coking in the heater tube running to the burner. But then in years past ,lead was the problem ,when gas had severe vapor pressure. The reason folks bought "white gas" back then, for their Coleman. And added paint thinner for vapor pressure. Aviation gas with benzene had the most pressure....can't even get that high of octane , even for race tracks these days. That is not to say Stanley and other steamcars didn't use longer(2.5 to3 times roughly) heater tubes to vaporize fuel oil. With a "Coleman" gas burner for a pilot light.(Of course, Coleman didn't have gasoline stoves during that time.) But then internal combusion gasoline engines didn't make more than 60hp off the track.During that era. Ford T's and A's ran 15hp.And could run almost any liquid including kerosene. Shame to see folks spenting more time on adding lacquer thinner/fingernail polish remover. Than an engine that will burn any liquid.Given the politics of gasoline supply, at this time.

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Reply to
Arnold Walker

Indeed, I've found my Supra, should I disconnect the battery, takes about a day or two of driving before it regains 100% performance.

Reply to
dizzy

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