So, ive seen a couple things around the internet about adding a couple ounces of acetone per 10 gallons of gas to increase gas mileage. Aparently its supposed to break the surface tension of gasoline, aiding in fuel atomization. I was wondering if anybody has tried this and seen good or bad results, I was thinking of trying it since it sounds ok in theory and everyone knows gas prices are rediculous

 

Is running a corrosive substance through sensitive low-tolerance plastic and metal components really a good thing? A couple of ounces per 10 gallons wouldn't have an immediate effect, but after awhile I'd be concerned about some of the plastic parts of the fuel system.

 

I've seen it done with alright results. I'm skeptical, because the guys I know that do it aren't **** about keeping records of miles driven and are NEVER consistant in filling their tanks.

 

I've heard of the acetone thing too, but I wouldn't do it. Acetone can do some nasty things. I used to play around with at work. That stuff can dissolve plastic and what not in seconds.

 

That was my first thought also, but nowadays gasoline contains 10% alcohol which i would believe is harder on the rubbers and plastics. Could such a small percentage of nail polish remover hurt anything? Has anybody seen negative results?

 

Acetone is not corrosive, and not particularly harmful to fuel system components, at least in the short term. It CERTAINLY won't hurt metal. About the only likely vicitms are rubber parts, like O-rings and hoses and such.

It's the major component of most lacquer thinner, along with toluene and MEK.

This sort of crap surfaces every time the price of gasoline spikes. Been doing it for 40 years that I know of. Gets pretty redundant after a while.

Instead of posting about it on the Internet, go buy the requisite amount; use it; compute your fuel consumption, and the costs; and THEN come back and tell us how it worked.

I'm sure, just like all the other times this has come up before, it will die pretty quick, once reality sets in, in the form of hard data and $$$$.

 

That is some bad stuff. My brother used to work for acompany that painted steel. He would bring home all kinds of it in glass jugs. We used it to clean a garage floor once. Oh my.

 

On Z28.com, one of the guys did it in his daily driver Saturn just to see what would really happen. He computed his average mpg before adding the acetone and after. It didn't make a HUGE difference but he did gain like 3 or 4mpg. I'd have to pull up the thread.

 

Sure seems like Acetone sprayed by an injector would wash the oil right off a cylinder wall. No thanks.

 

I was hoping to learn from mistakes of others, and to see if it actually did anything. I read somewhere that acetone used to be an additive in gasoline in a different country a while back, but im not sure if i can put any merit in that article. I'm thinking about trying it in my truck to see what happens.

 

Dont worry about him, his response to you was typical. Apparently even though this is a forum, you're not suppose to ask questions.

 

Right:

So I can only assume that the OP performed a brief search and read the responses the last couple of times gas prices spiked and people posted about this. All it got was "discussion" (fancy politically correct word for "diarrhea of the mouth" from the uninformed, inexperienced, and uneducated) with basically zero information.

Kinf of like starting a new thread about the "Tornado"... not too much new "info" is going to come out. Lots of drivel, lots of nonsense, lots of ridicule, lots of arguing; but no information.

I would invite the OP to go gather useful information and post it (buy a can and pour it in his car and tell us what happens, making sure to total up the price of everything), since there seems to be so little on this matter. Everybody has an opinion, nobody has facts. Opinions without facts are mental ..... ummmmm ..... self-abuse.

 

So I'm trying this today, I bought "100% acetone" from acme. I know I could have gotten more for like $10 at home depot or walmart, but they were out of my way and I had to be somewhere. So it was $4.13 for 16 ounces from acme. I put in 6 ounces, since I have a 34 gallon fuel tank in my truck. Gas costs 2.999 basicaly $3 a gallon, and my truck took $73 of regular gasoline. I'll fill up about this time next week, should have gone about 200 miles by then. So a little extra, its a 91 1500 2wd pickup, long bed regular cab,4.3 v6, with 4 speed od automatic trans, and 3.42 gears with 29 inch tires. It used to get 19.1 mpg no matter how i drove it (i dont drive it hard though). Since then I have added more tools to my tool box in my truck. Also i usually have about 15 gallons in my tank since I dont usually fill. I'm not sure if the extra weight will make a difference with this truck. I dont think it will, but cant be too sure.

Outline of costs so far
$73 for regular gasoline-I wont owe interest on it since i dont do that payment s**t with my credit card i just pay it off
$4.13 for acetone, I used $1.55 worth
the total contents of my gas tank costs $74.55

If anybody can think of additional costs, or anything else I should change please let me know. I'm doing this experiment so others can see if this works.

 

Good job... good record-keeping.... keep us posted.

 

I'm following this thread. This has always been one of those "I'm afraid I'll ruin my only car" things for me.

 

Subscribing.

 

mythbusters allready did a show on this and it was BUSTED!!!!!!!!

 

I didnt see that episode myself, but I'm trying to look at other discussions about the mythbusters test. I dont know exactly, but can someone fill me in as to the amount they used? I saw they used it on a fuel injected and a carburated car. From what ive seen around, using more than 2 ounces for 10 gallons will reduce fuel mileage, but its not solid information. I'm guessing mythbusters used too much. Anybody seen the episode and can fill me in?

 

The difference will be negligible when cost of the acetone is taken into account. Make sure your driving habit doesn't change either, that's how most people come up with the mythical increase.

 

So far, I've yeat to believe abut half of their fuel economy claims over at Mythbusters. They're not auto mechanics, and they didn't test to the best of their ability. If they retested with more than one mix, and used the same datalogging scheme they used in the "drafting" episode, then I'll look more closely.

 

I tried posting a couple days ago, but somehow when I pressed post reply I got logged out, so all my info was erased. I was kind of mad, so i left it alone for a while. So heres my results.
354.5 miles
18.756 gallons of fuel
$3.039/gallon
$57 of regular gasoline
I ended up with 18.9 mpg
Since the last time i checked before this, i was getting 19.1. This was when I had no tool box on the truck. Now i have a bunch of tools and other things in the truck. Now I will be keeping all the same things in the truck. I ran to about 1/2 tank this time, so I will run to about the same again to check my fuel mileage. I still should have roughly 15.244 gallons of the fuel with acetone in my tank, which would figure out to 44.8% of the fuel in the tank containing acetone from the original addition. Now, there should be approximately 2.69 ounces of acetone in the 34 gallons of gas, which figures out to $.69 worth. It looks to me like its not going to work out in this application, but I will be checking my fuel mileage again soon. Please let me know if theres anything I overlooked. Oh, btw, there hasn't been any driveability problems like others may have suspected. My engine has been running at the right temperature, oil pressure is fine, oil condition is fine. I have about 1500 miles on the oil now. I'm using quaker state 10w40, if it means anything.

 

Sorry I havent updated this for a while, I've been kindof busy training for a new job, and searching for a nice third gen to replace my 79 that I put this thread I started off to the side. So, I'm sure everyone is wondering, does Acetone increase gas mileage? Yes. When I checked my fuel mileage the second time I ended up with 18.7 mpg meaning I gained .2 mpg. It may have a greater impact on a diferent vehicle, but I dont know.

So heres the deal. I drove pretty much the same, and went to about 1/2 tank. I ended up checking my mileage and it was 18.7 mpg the second time. I dont have all my numbers since I did it a while ago.

Is it worth it in my opinion? Cost wise, probably not for my truck. Maybe in another vehicle (that means somebody else should try it too, maybe it'll work in a third gen). But honestly I really dont feel like getting out of my truck to put in whatever ounces of acetone to get MAYBE .2 mpg. Even that could just be because of the weather, driving habits, or whatever. So, i guess I'll use the rest of my acetone to clean my bowling ***** or clean parts or something.

 

I ran through a gallon once a couple years ago to test the theory. Suffice it to say that it had no effect except wasting money on acetone. The idea is to increase octane levels in the gas and to counter the effect of watery gasoline that results from the ethanol mixtures we get these days. The problem is that the octane in a couple ounces of acetone is not going to do crap to 14 gallons of gasoline. Even if you used what amounts to be one of those "fuel cleaners" you'd barely make a difference, and you'd end up losing that difference in the cost of the acetone.

You can affect your mileage magnituds more than any additive by just driving like miss daisy everywhere. Take 10 seconds to get up to 40mph. Coast for a quarter mile to a stop light. Dont drive over 65 anywhere. Keep the windows up and T-tops on, dont use the ac if you can help it. If you are serious about mileage savings without spending anything, that's the best and really only way to do it guaranteed.

Most people aren't willing to dedicate themselves that fully yet. I'm not. I'll convert to all electric before that time comes. (and dont laugh, there are all electric third gen camaros out there).