Acetone as a fuel mileage enhancer??

A co-worker of mine said that adding acetone to the tank at a ratio of 3 oz. : 10.0 gal can have a significant effect on fuel mileage. He is currently experimenting with his cage. I think he's out of his mind, but who am I to judge? Does anyone have any info on this?

I don't know the ratio but it is true.

Google should bring something up.

EDIT: Let him do the experimenting. I would not risk it in my car/motorcycle.

Uh . . . good luck with that.

you can probably do the same thing with any alcohol derivitive and get rid of the water in the fuel at the same time. Problem is the ratio. anything that would increase gas mileage has to increase the energy output of the fuel. Not really critical at 6-1 compression, but as you go up the volitility of the fuel starts to have interesting side effects like pre-igintion. That's why they put additives in Gas, to make it burn more evenly iwthout the little explosions that do damage..

I wouldn't do it

http://www.snopes.com/autos/techno/acetone.asp

Snopes says no, Car Talk reminds us acetone is a paint thinner and nail polish remover.

Your ride is supposed to burn gas, so....

I say NO. Acetone is a solvent and will melt plastics, particularly Lexan (acrylics). So to guard your fuel pump, fittings, gaskets and seals, do without it.

Thanks everybody. I figured this was an ill-advised thing to do.

Don't feel bad. A friend told me about a $15 device that would mix some water vapor in my engine and improve my mileage a bunch.

I asked him "If true, why wouldn't all of the auto makers install them as standard equipment, now that mileage is such a sales tool?"

Hmmmm ...... he said.

Direct water injection was used in fighter aircraft during WWII to briefly increase horsepower during extreme dogfight situations.

Of course once an engine was subjected to water injection it was good for only about another 40 engine hours before it had to be scrapped or totally rebuilt.

As far as acetone is concerned, you don't even want to breath the vapors, much less pour it into your plastic fuel tank.

If there was a product that would really enhance your mileage, it is likely that BP or Exxon or the like would put it in their formulation and advertise the heck out of it.

In the WW2 fighters they used water injection with higher than normal boost levels for a short period of time. The water had nothing to do with the engine life. The increased power level did. I believe it was called emergency power.

I've read the acetone reports before. The ratio I heard was 1.5 oz to ten gallons. I never tried but the only way I can figure you could get increased mileage>>acetone is a solvent and it could clean a dirty carb thereby increasing mileage but that would olny work in an extremely dirty carb. Even if it does increase mileage what are the long term effects?? You could be OK with an older motor with out any plastic parts and if all rubber ones are easily replaceable, or better yet made of brass like in the 20s (but we are already having problems in this area with just ethanol, I can imagine problems galore with acetone)

Bob1100RTC said:

In the WW2 fighters they used water injection with higher than normal boost levels for a short period of time. The water had nothing to do with the engine life. The increased power level did. I believe it was called emergency power.

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I believe the purpose of the water injection was to cool down the turbocharged/supercharged (and therefore heated) intake charge in the cylinder to prevent detonation.

We use Acetone as a paint thinner in CA products as it is one of the few compliant solvents allowed by the AQMD. Tastes like chicken though....just kidding.

We use acetone, im my business, to destroy tissue. One should be VERY careful in both the handling and the inhaling of acetone to prevent irreparable tissue destruction. It is very tightly controlled by OSHA. One would, IMHO, be very foolish to use it in an auto. If ethanol destroys hoses, imagine what acetone would do.

hlothery said:

We use acetone, im my business, to destroy tissue. One should be VERY careful in both the handling and the inhaling of acetone to prevent irreparable tissue destruction. It is very tightly controlled by OSHA.

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Yeah; it is now. 30 years ago, I was virtually bathing in it. One of the reasons I got out of labs and went to law school. But I am very familiar with acetone.

One would, IMHO, be very foolish to use it in an auto. If ethanol destroys hoses, imagine what acetone would do.

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The answer is the one I learned in law school: It depends.

Acetone is very volatile (meaning it has a high vapor pressure and it evaporates very quickly) but that really has nothing to do with flammability. Chlorinated solvents are very volatile, too, but they won't burn. [Glass globes of carbon tetrachloride were once carried on firefighting carriages and thrown onto fires to extinguish them - before we knew it would kill you more slowly, but nearly as surely.] Acteone will burn - like a sum'bitch, in fact. DAMHIK. So it isn't like it will gunk up your engine. You could probably run the engine on acetone alone - for a few minutes.

It may or may not degrade your fuel lines and carburetor/FI parts. It all really depends on exactly what they're made of. Some stuff it will dissolve; some stuff it won't. The same goes for ethanol and methanol. Some stuff (but different stuff than with acetone) they will dissolve and some they won't. Personally, I wouldn't mess with it. I do not want to be the one to find out, at the expense of an engine or carb rebuild, that acetone dissolves something that I don't want dissolved.

screwtop said:

A co-worker of mine said that adding acetone to the tank at a ratio of 3 oz. : 10.0 gal can have a significant effect on fuel mileage. He is currently experimenting with his cage. I think he's out of his mind, but who am I to judge? Does anyone have any info on this?

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Acetone does indeed improve MPG and can be used without harm if simple ratios are followed. The 3oz to 10 gallons is fine; actually the maximum efficiency in my test vehicle a fuel injected / O2 sensor feedback controlled 2000 Toyota Tacoma was 4oz of Acetone to 10.0 gallons of 87 octane gasoline. My tests started with 1oz and went to 8oz of Acetone to 10.0 gallons of gasoline.
I ran this study over the course of 3 months, spanning exterior temperatures from 60 to 90 degrees. The test loop was 45 miles one way in varying terrain, 75% of the distance was at 65 MPH using cruise control on mostly flat paved highway..
A 3.0 MPG increase was achieved. I don’t remember off hand the cost of the Acetone, but the final outcome of the test showed no adverse affects to the vehicle, increase in MPG…but the cost of the Acetone verses the fuel saved was a wash and therefore not worth the effort of measuring out Acetone and making sure you can put exactly 10.0 gallons in the tank each time.
Myth Busters of the Discovery Channel did a MPG episode, where they busted Acetone. They were not very scientific about the methods used to determine the results.
Acetone loosens the surface tension of the gas vapor molecules and provides a finer atomization of the fuel charge and therefore combines easier with the available O2 producing a more efficient combustion, not necessarily changing stoichiometry.
This was done 3 years ago, if Acetone prices haven’t gone up it would be worth looking into. But in reality if you stay below 65MPH you will save more. If you are willing to go green, you can really push the MPG envelope beyond what the manufactures are willing to do. Big oil lobbies control the NA market, so you will only see from them what is necessary to satisfy the general public. If you are concerned about the environment, you are not the general public. Ok, this is now a rant….Sorry

acetone

acetone is very hard on elastomers
like those o-rings inside those quick dis-connects
fyi fwiw imho etc etc etc

Cost of Acetone

Question - What does 1 gallon of acetone cost? More or less than $4.00? I haven't been down to Lowe's or Home Depot to check (I have a gallon in the garage, but it is for painting and clean-up), but I think that cost would have some relevance to the current discussion.

Supplement - I just checked. One gallon of acetone costs $15.48 at Lowe's. It better really improve the mileage from that $4.00 gasoline before adding it would be justified . . . even leaving aside the adverse solvent characteristics.

Try this: Saturate a rag with acetone, then hold it tightly to your face, covering your nose and mouth. Breathe deeply for a few minutes. You'll go far far away and burn no gasoline at all. Incredible mileage.

Of course, there may not be a return trip, so....