Acetone

[JanGeo]

I didn't use acetone on my return trip from Maine and had head winds going up and averaged about 37.5mpg - haven't finished compiling the info yet but when I do you should see a dip in the gas log. My fillup after I returned I used both Torco and Acetone and was getting 41.9 from my 200 mile trip to the Cape and back on Thursday this week and did a 70mpg segment on the way back and got 45.6mpg round trip today with a school bus on one of my legs where I usually coast. This is a New Scion xB so as far as I am concerned it works HOWEVER if you want to go fast it will burn gas just like without it.

[Ted Hart]

Originally Posted by lane

also oil companies are in the buisness to make money, they would not make a more efficient fuel unless the government forced them too, they know that if they make a fuel that is 10-35% more efficient that they will lose that much in profit.

Absolutely! Anyone who has taken Econ 101 should have learned this!

[Ted Hart]

Originally Posted by SVOboy

I mean, car companies spend millions of dollars doing little crap to eek out better efficiency and test new ideas,

So is a 35% increase from acetone. It's just ridiculous.

I completely agree...35% is a whopping increase! Like putting a turbo on an air-breather! Even 3.5% is a bunch! I believe the 3.5% figure ( from a slipped decimal point?) is buried in the "noise" of these test procedures! Giving one number for a MPG is not smart....A range would be preferred...but wouldn't impress many people! MPG is a rubbery parameter, anyway! No two tests, especially on different days, will give the same number!

[badgett]

mix in some xylene with the acetone. Equal parts. Then you will see a noticable difference. I did. Xylene is useless by itself but if you put it with Acetone it really helps. It can be found in the same place as acetone in your hardware store. Also make sure your acetone is 100% pure. Paint stores seem to be the only ones who truly have 100%.

[bobc455]

Originally Posted by badgett

Xylene is useless by itself

Xylene (by itself) can be used as an octane boost, much like Toluene.

In fact, if I want to make some home-brew race fuel, I add one gallon of xylene and one gallon of toluene to my tank.

But from an MPG perspective, I do agree that you would probably see no benefit from adding Xylene.

-Bob C.

[JanGeo]

Originally Posted by lane

partly because ethanol has a lower energy content than gasoline but besides that i have no clue. But i know that this is true from my own expierience, from the very first time i filled up with Ethanol blend gas E10 my MPG dropped by 5 MPG

IT has to do with surface tension and the ability of fuel droplets to form - ethanol increases surface tension and thus makes the tiny droplets harder to form small sizes - big droplets of fuel do not burn or evaporate as well as small droplets of fuel. Acetone reduces the surface tension of the gas to allow smaller droplets to form thus letting it evaporate and burn more completely. At high fuel volume it doesn't amount to much of an increase in combustion because it all gets burned up pretty well HOWEVER spray just a little fuel in and have the timing try to ignite it well before top dead center at a reduced pressure and concentration and that is when a better vaporized fuel will burn a little better ALA Acetone enhansed !! Or your hydrogen added gas as well. This is why water beads up on surfaces and your hand and skin where as acetone wants to run down the side of the bottle or can when you pour it and spreads all over your hand when it touched one spot. Surface tension!!

[koinos]

Surface tensions for Acetone, Ethanol, or any gasoline blending component (i.e. iso-octane) are almost same 22 dyne/cm. The mixture of any of those components will have same surface tension, presumably. The big difference for Acetone is flash point. It has flash point of 10 deg F, while iso-octance has 90 deg F. Therefore, I can say Acetone is more volatile, it also has a heating value a little bit higher than ethanol but much lower than iso-octane. Acetone (C3H6O) is also a oxygenate component like ethanol or MTBE. It may have some effects but surface tension may not be the correct answer.

I have tried with my 96 Paseo manual that has already 40 MPG with Chevron gasoline with 5.7 vol % ethanol.(in Calif.) But I have very little or no improvement that's why I studied about their properties. I'm still studying and I'll post if I can make some experiment by myself.

[undrgnd]

I just came across this forum last week and spent a few days reading up. I own a 2007 Civic and have been slowly tweaking it to where I now get better mileage than the numbers on the sticker, which we all know will drop by 10-15% in 2008. I must say there are some interesting ideas here, although some I would not feel like trying, just yet.

What still amazes me is how many people are on opposite sides of this acetone thing. For all the doubters that have NOT tried it, you're simply expressing an opinion, and as we know, opinions are like arm pits, everyone has them, and they all stink. For those that HAVE tried it and claim they saw no benefit, I am amazed by how many said "but if I had some instrumentation, maybe I would see a difference"... WTF? Which brings us to those like myself who HAVE tried it, DID have instrumentation, maintained good records, and are absolutely convinced. I will take my results for something I saw with my own two eyes, any day of the week, over some BS on the internet that acetone will dissolve my fuel system and melt my pistons. Think about it: There is no effing way ALL of of us did this wrong, found a significant gain with acetone, and then a marked drop without. It must be a conspiracy, I suppose. Or we can just chalk it up to 'the human factor' because we were just trying to conserve fuel with acetone in the tank. Oh right, I purposely skewed my driving style w/o acetone to waste fuel so I could finance some Arab's life style.

What you should be doing is trying to figure out WHY it worked for some of us, and it didn't for others (assuming they even tried it, or have the correct results in the first place). I KNOW it works: Three years, over 100K miles, on 4 very different vehicles. The effect will vary based on the car, driving style, and gas brand. But, all else being equal, acetone improves FE significantly! As far as I'm concerned, I hope nobody uses acetone so its price can stay nice and low for me.

[LxMike]

undrgnd. thats a good first post. can you go to the introduce yourself forum and tell us some more about you and your car and the Tweaks your've made.

[ELF]

Originally Posted by undrgnd

What you should be doing is trying to figure out WHY it worked for some of us, and it didn't for others

I have to agree with you, I have been using acetone for more than 2 years. In my car its worth a solid 2 mpg, but in my old f150 it has no effect I have tried various amounts and different gas such as ethanol free gas, but acetone did nothing in the truck.