Using the distributor to create ozone

[rh77]

Originally Posted by Capcom

As Ozone is very oxidizing and unstable: Wouldn't it prematurely ignite the fuel during compression stroke ?

Further research has proven that unfortunately Ozone (03) has a high oxidizing potential, which goes back to an idea I had of injecting oxygen into the intake -- basically it would eat away at any aluminum (heads, etc.) and destroy the engine. Darn. I hoped it was a lesser oxidizer, being more stable.

RH77

[SVOboy]

I wonder how people have been able to run it so successfully if it is so evil.

[Matt Timion]

Originally Posted by SVOboy

I wonder how people have been able to run it so successfully if it is so evil.

There are a couple of theories about this. One is that there is no real ozone being created and the fuel economy benefit is actually due to a vacuum leak. This is potentially damaging to the engine. Perhaps they are getting o3 in their intake and the observed fuel economy benefit is due to this. I'd still like to see long term effects of this experiment, none of which I have been able to find.

The acetone guy has been adding acetone for 50 years to his vehicle (according to him). At least with acetone we have a long term history of use.

[CosmicMC]

I don't think the ozone theory here is going to work. The amount of ozone generated under the distributor cap is so tiny in comparison to the volume of air needed to operate the engine that any difference caused by the ozone itself would probably be immeasurable. If there is a difference in fuel economy, as dax mentioned, it's probably because you've created a vacuum leak and are leaning out the fuel/air ratio. That by itself can cause problems, not to mention you're now moving air through the distributor which was not meant to have that volume of air (and who knows what else) moving through it. I can't imagine any way this could be made to be worth more than the potential problems it would cause.

[GasSavers_dean]

Wouldn't the computer sense the excess oxygen via the O2 sensor adjust the fuel mixture?

[CosmicMC]

Originally Posted by dean

Wouldn't the computer sense the excess oxygen via the O2 sensor adjust the fuel mixture?

To a degree, yes. A PCM can only adjust fuel trim rates so much before the fuel maps run out. To what extent they are able to enrich the mixture depends on the car. Other things to consider are that the IAT, MAF, and TPS don't know about this newfound vacuum leak and can't account for it, and the idle control may not be able to compensate for the entire thing. The unknowns this system places on the system puts a lot of faith on the O2 sensor to compensate, and for a very tiny amount of ozone which will have an unknown but almost certainly minuscule effect. Any time you introduce unknowns where previously there were none, you inherently also introduce inefficiencies, and you've opened up possibilities for damage that weren't there before. In the long run, I can't imagine this solution is worth the money. It takes fuel and money to create a new distributor cap. My contention is that the potential gains don't even come close to covering those costs.

[GasSavers_DaX]

Originally Posted by CosmicMC

Other things to consider are that the IAT, MAF, and TPS don't know about this newfound vacuum leak and can't account for it, and the idle control may not be able to compensate for the entire thing.

Just to add to this that that is the case for cars that run on MAF systems. Us Honda guys and other cars that run on speed-density systems will just see a hideous increase in RPM with the vacuum leak.