Acetone as a fuel additive

[atomicradish]

Being a mechanically inept collegebound student, I'm all about FE without mechanic work.

So awhile back, I came across the topic of adding acetone to regular fuel for increased horespower as well as FE. I'm not sure about long term effects (if there are any), but I was curious whether or not others here are using it as a solution to rising gas prices. I didn't see it on the front page of this forum at least.

Here's the best numbers I have.

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee, 4WD, 6 cyl

EPA Mileage: 15/21/17

Regular mileage - 13 mpg (mountainous two lane roads - is that city or highway?)

Trip: 300 miles
225 miles interstate highway - speeds of 70 - 77 mph
25 miles city
50 miles mountainous/hilly 4 lane highway - speeds 60/65
FE - 22 mpg

I don't have the money for a ScanGauge, so I did it the old fashioned way. Not too bad on a long road trip though. Horrible vehicle to take across state, but I just didn't have confidence that the metro we saved from the crusher would make it. lol.

Any other data/comments/insight on this is highly welcomed.

[Hockey4mnhs]

slow down!!!! 70-77 is way to fast. that thing has horrible aero. try slowing to 55. About the asitone some people do use it and might see some fe

[GasSavers_Red]

Here are a few reports of a pair of ZJs that were using acetone. Seems like it could be worth a shot

http://peswiki.com/index.php/Directo...eps_and_Blazer

How steep are the mountains you are rolling around on and how fast are you taking them?

22 is the norm for a stockish ZJ on the highway, you guys are slightly more aerodynamic then us Wranglers.

When was the last time you did a full tune up and fluid change?

[GasSavers_Red]

Originally Posted by Hockey4mnhs

slow down!!!! 70-77 is way to fast. that thing has horrible aero. try slowing to 55. About the asitone some people do use it and might see some fe

Oddly enough, some of my best tanks have been doing 70-75 highway. Depending on the terrain, once you peak past 55 mph, at cruise FE doesn't change much. Its acceleration thats the killer

At the moment this is what I've been seeing with my 4.0
55 MPH - 22-24 MPG
65 MPH - 20-23 MPG
70 MPH - 19-21 MPG
85 MPH - 18 MPG

[atomicradish]

The oil was changed in it just a few hundred miles prior to the trip. For a full tune up, I can't say. It's not my car, it's my parents, and my dad usually keeps a check on everything and changes it when needed. My grandpa is a mechanic, and my dad is good with cars (not a trait that has been passed on to me unfortunately).

Actually, I just realized, a smaller portion of that is interstate that I put down. I'll edit that out, but actually 50 miles of that was 4 lane mountainous highway, so the FE is better than I initially thought.

On the rolling hills part of the interstate (the bulk of the drive), the hills were nothing too big. I had the car on cruise control for most of the drive, and the tach never changed much. The car didn't downshift for any of the hills either, so I assume it didn't take away much from the FE.

As for driving slower.. the trip was 340 miles (300 from where I fueled up and started tracking it). It took 5 hrs 15 minutes as it was. 55 mph on the interstate, and I'd be driven over (which is part of the reason I didnt want to take the Metro. The engine sounds overly taxed at just 60).

[GasSavers_Red]

Diffs, tranny and t-case could probably use a change, maybe plugs and the distributor as well.

Usually when climbing, the load ramps up, FE drops to around 12-15 or so, and the Jeep just chugs along fine.

[Peakster]

I might crack open my can of acetone again. May as well use it as it's just going to sit in the garage anyways. I wish there was a practical way to A-B-A experiment with it. Maybe I should get dual tanks in my Metro (jk).

I took my Geo to 84 mph a couple of days ago (hopefully nobody from team "Feast and Famine" is reading this) and my car was at a flat 30mpg at that speed. Of course I EOC'd back down to 45 mph to soften the blow to FE .

[atomicradish]

Originally Posted by Peakster

I took my Geo to 84 mph a couple of days ago

I can't get higher than 65 without flooring it. By that time, the engine sounds as though it's ready to blow, so I usually keep it at 55.

[trebuchet03]

Originally Posted by Peakster

I wish there was a practical way to A-B-A experiment with it.

I was just thinking about that today... It's actually funny - just the other day a friend of mine brought up acetone and how it really bothered him... Every time gas goes up 20-30 cents, a question about acetone comes up :P

But here's the rub... if the benefits are small enough that it's difficult to tell the difference between tanks - even multiple tanks - it would seem logical to say that acetone is not cost effective :/

I think a more proper test would include:

1. Baseline - FE before acetone
2. Add acetone to first tank
3. Acetone second tank - record change
4. Acetone third tank - is FE change still there?
5. Acetone 4th tank - FE change still there?
6. Acetone 5th tank - FE change still there?
7. No acetone next tank - FE must change to verify results
8. No acetone next tank - did FE stabilize?

The reason for so many tanks? If you're getting gains by cleaning out your fuel system - that's not because of chemical magic, that's just poor maintenance on your part. So those 5 tanks of acetone would hopefully give a trend and might possibly show that it was your internals being cleaned rather than chemistry :P

But - weather is an issue (this takes quite a bit of time), especially for those of us that use human powered transportation :P Now for someone that's on the road a lot

Personally -- that's a lot of testing to prove something that yields small results. I mean, if the results were significantly large, we'd all be doing it :P And an oil company would likely pick it up. Imagine if BP could claim their fuel gets you 20% better FE - imagine the lines at their stations :P

[ELF]

I have been using/testing acetone for about 3 years now. It does work in some cars and not in others. I don't know why, something to do with engine design and or ECU programing.

FYI, adding a couple of ounces of acetone to a tank of gas won't clean anything. Thats like adding one drop of soap in a big laundry tub.
You will need to add at least 1 ounce per gallon of whatever cleaner to do any good.