I advise anyone considering doing this to do a search of the forums at BobIsTheOilGuy.com as there has been a lot of discussion about this lately. It is a many-sided coin; personally I will not be using acetone but will continue to use Marvel Mystery Oil in my gas tank and Chevron Techron for FI cleaning...again, search those forums if you want more info.

I am a member of those forums and for any serious automotive enthusiast I highly recommend you check them out.

If you want a safer way to do something similar, add a small amount of aviation gasoline for propeller planes. If you are near an airport you can go to many flight schools, or find other places that will sell you a gas can full of fuel. I believe the ratio is 1-2 gallons per 10 of regular gas. Avgas is usually 100 octain, so it will mix with the regular gas and improve performance somewhat.

Originally posted by Zaphod58
Avgas is usually 100 octain, so it will mix with the regular gas and improve performance somewhat.

That depends. octane helps prevent preignition. But putting a high octane into a car that is not optimized for it does little for the horsepower of the vehicle. However a car that has a high compression engine and has a computer that can advance the timing or its done manualy. When we used to race my 1964 GTO we used to get this racing gas that was purple. Dialed my igntion timing way up and got a nice horsepower boost with that too.

There were several people that came into the flight school I worked at that bought it for exactly that purpose. But we had a few that used it regularly, and one of them told me that he got better gas mileage with it. I don't know if he had to tune the engine or not, but that's what he told me ayway.

You probably just have to tune the fuel to air ratio.

Rainmaker, I've used Techron in my 99 Taurus the last two tanks. 35 mile increase the last tank of fuel!

If you know any Amway salesmen, buy that gas additive they sell and you'll get even better mileage! Just don't agree to let them in your house for a business sales pitch!

Originally posted by Thomas Crowne
Rainmaker, I've used Techron in my 99 Taurus the last two tanks. 35 mile increase the last tank of fuel!

If you know any Amway salesmen, buy that gas additive they sell and you'll get even better mileage! Just don't agree to let them in your house for a business sales pitch!

Was the cost worth it though?

A change of power and who was in charge....the old authority was a real "eye for an eye, kill em all type" and didn't work well....got booted and the new energy put in charge was a "turn the other cheek, try peace and love instead"......tells you my view of "who" they were..... my not so humble opinion.

Sardion, the Amway stuff is definitely worth it, and I'm hoping that the Techron is cleaning the injectors, or whateve it does, and the next tank without it is just as good.

im looking forward to hearing your guys results. i have a newer expensive truck and am reluctant to run a test on it for the fear of damaging it.

our family does have a 93 pontiac bonneville that is on its last leg and am more willing to run a test on that car.

will post results if I do.....

-reason

There is a huge myth that's being propagated.

In modern fuel injected cars that are working properly, virtually ALL of the
fuel is fully combusted. There is not any significant amount of gasoline shooting
out the tail pipe in any amount which, if properly caught, would increase the fuel efficiency.

What remains would be unburnt hydrocarbons (smog) and they actively try to reduce
that for emissions and efficiency reason, and with modern controls systems, they
are very successful.

If there were any unburnt hydrocarbons in any significant amount, and there can be
when there are problems, you will quickly destroy your catalytic converters, as they
combust that.

For efficiency at best you can try to improve the thermodynamics, the conversion of heat released into work.

But really the best thing by far is to not drive more mass than necessary. Everything else is a microscopic tweak.

I worked at a national laboratory on control strategies in engine combustion---not really the applied stuff but at a theoretical nonlinear dynamics level relating to cycle-to-cycle variability (mostly at idle).

even in the best computer controlled engine there is always unburned hydrocarbons. the ideal set up would be the total conversion of hydrocarbon --> co2 + h20. that doesn't happen. the cat converter is there to not only reduce the unburned hydrocarbons, but to also reduce the co in the exhaust. this is why it runs so hot and why it causes so many grass fires when people drive in fields

as we do here in a refinery we preheat both the fuel ( if its not fuel gas ) and preheat the air, then we monitor exess o2 levels in the flue gas along with co2 an co.

the idea behind adding acetone ( or toulene ) is to raise the rvp of gas so as to make it vaporize better which will result in a better end conversion to co2 + h20

even a small amount of combustion increase will add up when you consider just how many times each minute when your engine rpm is at 3k.

as rockefeller said " a penny saved is a penny earned a million times over"

and so is even the slightest extra combustion brought from the cat converter to the combustion chamber adds up

the emission testing stations all show unburned hydrocarbons even on the very newest cars




[edit on 17-9-2005 by bigx01]

Originally posted by sardion2000
You probably just have to tune the fuel to air ratio.

cars do that prettty much for themselves nowadays, thats why there are things called O2 sensors, they read out the Af ratio and adjust fuel accordingly.

really the only you need to adjust things like AF/r is after modifications that move more air into the chamber, things like cams and forced induction.

however the times are going to change very soon, thanks again to honda.

just do a search for their new direct injection engine that can run air fuel ratios of over 65 to 1 and still be good enought to use in the type R

I drive a 98 integra ls sedan. EPA is 24 city 30 hwy. I use 92 octane (87 is recommended) and put 3 oz of acetone in the tank per 10 gallons of fuel. My average mileage used to be 29-30 mpg for mixed driving. With the acetone I get 33-34 mpg mixed city and hwy without changing my driving habits. The engine feels smoother, and there is an increase in horsepower. My girlfriend filled the tank without putting acetone in, and after driving, asked if there was anything wrong with the car. She said it felt sluggish, and that she thought that I needed to change the oil.
I have been using acetone for over 10000 miles with no problems. I get better mileage and slightly better performance. Also for whatever reason the exhaust doesn't smell as bad as it used to, with an odd sweet smell now.
I will never run the car without acetone.