acetone as a fuel additive?

[skymath]

hi guys,

I've been reading online about adding acetone (2-3oz per 10gallons of gasoline) to your fuel to boost mpg.  I've read of people having significant mpg gains using this technique

is there any danger to the engine by adding this small amount of acetone?  I'm curious to try it myself... I drive 80 miles each day, and at 20mpg it adds up quick.  a 2mpg increase would save me over $30 a month...  since I drive so much, I should be able to see quickly whether there's any improvement (I log all my gas / miles so I have a history since I started driving the bus regularly)

there are an awful lot of reports online of people doing this so it seems reasonably safe.. any thoughts?

thanks fellas!  ...sky

[Bugaru "JAY"]

Acetone is some strong stuff, commonly used in many applications, such as printing industry, and cleaning metals. After using it for metal prep and seeing what it does to rust etc, i'm not sure that I would want to attempt to let it get to the inters of my car or engine componets. The key here is the measured amounts that you know for sure that your using. Example, how much gas is in the tank and how much actone your adding? Maybe someone else can chime, or I can check with one of our chemist at work.  :surrender:

[skymath]

the general consensus online is between 2 and 3 oz per 10 gallons of gas.  you have to experiment a bit to find the ideal amount for your car.  I usually put about 10 gallons in my tank at a time.  I would have to get a container which I could reliably fill to the right amount and which would be suitable for pouring into the tank or whatever... 2oz for 10 gallons is a ratio of about 1:600, or less than .2% (3oz would be less than .3%) ..it seems like it should be safe but I want to double check with you guys before I put it in the tank :)

[Bugaru "JAY"]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't most Vdubs built thinking that they would be burning leaded fuels, I know my old harleys, and Indians were if so then something like Acetone might no be so good for a older VDub ? Might want to try adding some old lead paint to the fuel for better engine lube? It's not just better gas milage that your trying to gain, but also engine life.

[Daverted]

Remember newer cars have plastic fuel lines and stuff, Old buggies have rubber. If I remember rubber and acetone do not have a love affair....  I would check carefully 888

[lovebus (jack)]

All I vcan say is, your on your own if your car stops running and you need help because you used this.

Origins:   As fuel prices go up, so does interest in various products and additives said to improve gas mileage. One of these is acetone, a widely-available solvent better known to most of us as nail polish remover. According to some, adding a few ounces of this chemical compound to a tank of gasoline will dramatically increase mileage, supposedly by assisting in the vaporization of fuel.

Although various claims have been made about acetone improving gas mileage by 25% or 30%, those 

avowals never seem to hold up to independent scrutiny: properly controlled experiments  designed to measure the ballyhooed improvement fail to recognize any significant change.

Curious motorists working in less controlled settings do at times seem to note an acetone-assisted improvement, yet their results are likely better chalked up to careless measurement or miscalculation, as their findings can't be reproduced in the lab. Confusing matters further is the issue that determining the effect of anything upon gasoline mileage is a bit more difficult to work out than it would seem, beause so many different factors can affect the results. The same amount of fuel will produce different gas mileages on different days, depending upon variables such as the type of automobile, the weather conditions, whether the car's air conditioning was running, how fast the vehicle was driven, etc. Eliminating the effects of each of these factors from the computation is generally beyond the abilities of the average car owner with a passing interest in knowing how many miles to the gallon his pride and joy is getting.

Were the decision of adding or not adding acetone to one's fuel tank merely a question of whether the practice boosted gasoline performance, that would be one thing, but unfortunately there are other issues to consider, such as the harm that the solvent can work on vehicles. Acetone is corrosive, which means it can eat away at rubber components such as gaskets and O-rings — a particularly bad result for cars with rubber hoses in their fuel lines.

Acetone will also eat the paint off a car. As Tom of Car Talk noted in January 2006:
Here's our final reason not to use [acetone]: It dissolves paint. So if you slip and spill a little bit outside your fuel filler door, you'll have a nice, unpainted line running down to the bottom edge of your rear quarter panel. When we see you drive by, we'll know you didn't take our advice!

[njgt-1]

Acetone is some strong stuff, commonly used in many applications, such as printing industry,

You guys mention printing which I'm a bit familiar. Acetone is just one ingredient in some of the conditioners used on rubber printing blankets. One property of the stuff is that it can cause rubber to swell. It is also ( don't know if this is the correct term ) hydroscopic
that is it attracts moisture. I wouldn't add anything to my gas in search of better mileage and knowing what acetone can do if left on a rubber surface too long I'd think twice about it. I've also seen the internet post about adding it to fuel, this was a hot topic on some of the Corvair boards about 5 months ago. The consensus at that time was it would eat up the fuel pump diaphragms and any other rubber or neoprene surfaces.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't most Vdubs built thinking that they would be burning leaded fuels,

VWs have iron valve seats which never needed lead. Cars such as some of the flat head Fords and Chrysler flat head six cylinder engines used the block as a seating surface for the valves hence the lead helped lubricate & protect those surfaces. A few years ago the big joke around VW land was suppliers advertising "un leaded heads". VWs always had them!

[lovebus (jack)]

This seams better  http://www.affiliatesden.com/sites/24173.htm

[6T5 square]

Better gas milage? properly inflated tires, a fully tuned engine and loose some of the weight in your vehicle=$$$

[perdecas]

yeah , what jack said!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[bugs2much]

Naaaaah, I'm not going to try it. There is enough stuff added to the gas already. Who knows how acetone will react to the existing additives. And what happens when the additives change. $30/20 working days=$1.50/day  Saving $1.50per day wouldn't be worth the risk for me. The cost of parts and repairs may outweigh any savings.

[njgt-1]

This seams better  http://www.affiliatesden.com/sites/24173.htm

Yea, I know Sky is big on the hydrogen idea but I can't see how a small bit of the gas would matter. Mythbusters tried to run a hose to a carb and inject pure hydrogen out of a tank. It worked until they got a big bang and a backfire, didn't look too safe and the amount of hydrogen in the tank was way more than produced by a small 1 qt generator.

Now water injection isn't something new and has been used for years to control detonation or "pinging". The idea is the water converts to steam and cools the charge and cylinder so pre ignition doesn't happen. For years this has been a big thing with the Corvair crowd. Clarks Corvair parts still sells a setup for those engines. I suppose the only danger is too much water and hydro locking a cylinder, fast way to bend a rod!

[skymath]

hmm I'll have to watch the mythbusters show on hydrogen.  In my experience those guys are more about making an entertaining show than about getting real results.  their experiments often show their obvious bias

supposedly hydrogen by itself will ignite at 4% density in the atmosphere (by volume).. if it's atomic hydrogen (not molecular--the atoms are free rather than bonded together) you only need 1% concentration.  so supposedly at about 1 L/min you get an improved burn.  once I get the bus squared away for daily driving, and get the engine out of my parts-westy, I'll be able to experiment with the hydrogen

hey joe's westy came with the bentley manual--the generator in my car produces 38 amps.... the hydroxy booster needs at least 10, better with 20.  how hard is it to swap an alternator for a generator?

[kiko]

Just remember you cant compress water.  And you probably would want to invest in a capacitor of sorts to drive the booster

[Baha (Shawn)]

A well tuned engine, properly inflated tires, well maintained wheel bearings AND a very well regulated RIGHT FOOT are some of the best ways to maximize fuel economy in your vehicle. Although adding fuel injection might help but.....

If there truly was a way to increase mileage by 20% EVERYBODY would be doing it.




or Big Oil would steal the formula and kill everybody except 1 kookie witness  itstrue that nobody will believe like they did with that 80 MPG carburetor shocked