Acetone as a fuel additive

Rick78EFI460 · 05-01-2005, 01:41 AM

http://pesn.com/2005/03/17/6900069_Acetone/
This was posted on another group I'm on, I thought I'd pass it on although I don't give it any of my blessings. I do wonder it it would help at all in a WVO conversion to help in atomization ? they claim its good in both Diesel and Gasoline engines. Anyone had any experience with this ?

busone · 05-01-2005, 10:17 PM

How strange you happened to post this. A few days ago I was thinking if it was possible to run an engine off acetone. I started to search on the net about it and found lots of people talking about it as a fuel additive. I won't try it on my car though.

Dan-O · 07-19-2005, 01:53 PM

wow... 20mpg increase... i'd say that's worth looking into. Seems a bit dodgy tho, always gotta be worried about what you put in your engine, the negative side-effects could take years to show up... but still 20mpg!! Quite curious indeed.
Anyone tried this yet??
comments?

Eric von Kleist · 07-20-2005, 12:37 PM

Looks very interesting. You try it and let me know how you like it!

Actually, I might give it a try in the Jeep. Maybe. I'll have to think about it.

Eric von Kleist · 07-21-2005, 06:12 PM

Okay, I bit. Added 1.5 ounces of acetone to the 5 gallons of fuel I bought last night. My tank indicated a little over 1/4 full -- roughly 6 gallons. I have gone 56 miles and it looks like I've used about 2 gallons. That's 28 MPG (if it's accurate, which it probably isn't), which is about an 8 MPG increase over the 20 MPG I get in town. Of course, if I've used 3 gallons, it's no improvement. I can't really tell accurately by the gas gauge, especially after so few miles. If I get over 120 MPG out of the 6 gallons or so in the tank when I added the acetone, it will be some improvement.

busone · 07-21-2005, 07:59 PM

I put some in the lawn mower, I did not measure how much. I just poured a very small amount. It seems like it did not use as much gas as normal. I know this is not at all even close to being a scientific test.

Dan-O · 07-21-2005, 09:48 PM

I think the science kicks in when something explodes, or just stops working all together. I think this is the Scientific Conclusion/Fact that we are all looking for... and hey, if you blow the 2stroke on your lawn mower, well hey, it's better than an engine.

Although... I don't belive that there will be a Large Pyrotechnics display (that is just the worst case). So I am still curious. If I had another car, I would try it for sure... hmmmm maybe I can sneak some into my friends car and just keep the results a secret

Kidding!!!

Eric von Kleist · 07-22-2005, 03:50 PM

Science...is when something stops working because you let the magic smoke out!

I'm not sure if there's truly any improvement in my mileage or not. I think there may be. Judging by my gas gauge (which I know pretty well), I started with 1.5 ounces in about 6 gallons of gas. 6 gallons of gas would normally carry me about 120 miles of around town driving (20 MPG). I've used about 4 gallons of gas, and I've covered 98 miles. That's nearly 25 MPG, or a 25% increase. That sounds promising, but I could be off on my fuel consumption estimates. I'm going to put 5 gallons of gas in my car today, and I'll add another 1.5 ounces of acetone to it. I have no way to quantitatively measure this, but it seemed as if the vehicle was climbing hills better. I usually have to shift down from 5th to 4th at around 42MPH climbing a hill, but today I made it up one particular hill without downshifting.

We'll see!

Eric von Kleist · 08-16-2005, 07:42 PM

Okay, it's been a while...

Still seem to be getting 25mpg around town. Did some highway driving and appear to be getting about 30mpg - but I drive a bit under 60MPH most of the time, so I was getting about 26mpg or a little better at that speed before. I'm definitely seeing some increase...I think.

Will keep up the testing. Haven't noticed that the engine runs any differently, except that it anymore never seems to knock when I'm lugging it, and I don't seem to lug it as much on hills. That is probably from the octane increase.-

OH, btw, the manufacturer's mileage rating for the car when it was new was 17 city 21 highway... Most of my improvement comes from not driving like a bat out of hell.

Dan-O · 08-16-2005, 11:46 PM

Glad to see that you are still doing research on this project, pretty cool the fact that your engine seems to be running a little bit better.

Eric von Kleist · 08-17-2005, 01:05 PM

It could all be in my head.

Steve · 08-17-2005, 01:15 PM

This is the jeep you are running the acetone in?

Roasting8 · 02-22-2006, 01:56 PM

Hi Everyone,

I was just wondering about the acetone. Has anyone tried it? Does it improve performance?

Whats going on with this?

Eric von Kleist · 02-22-2006, 05:02 PM

I have abandoned the acetone experiment recently. I just couldn't tell whether I was really getting better mileage or not. At times, it seemed as if I were, and at other times not. I need to change the plugs and wires on my engine. They are old, and I think I damaged one wire. Not sure if changing them will make any difference or not.

Tom and Ray Magliozzi say that acetone doesn't work and that it will eat your rubber fuel system components. I'm not sure that they are correct about the fuel system components. I have a great deal of respect for them, but we are talking about concentrations of 1:400, which is pretty doggone dilute.

I wish I had a better way of measuring mileage than by eyeballing the gauge. I just can't tell how much my desire to have better mileage is influencing my perception of whether I am getting better mileage.

Roasting8 · 02-22-2006, 08:29 PM

Thanks Eric,

I was thinking of trying the acetone to see if it would improve performance. I have a 671 DD and I would like to get a little more horsepower. I also would be happy with just better gas mileage, even though I'm getting about 10 mpg.

busone · 02-23-2006, 12:08 AM

I don't think acetone will work in a diesel and would not want to try it. If a little too much ether will mess one up I would hate to think what acetone would do. A lot of guys water down the diesel with used motor oil and kerosene mixes. You can probably find some forumlas on the net. You have to be careful doing that though. You don't want to be smoking real bad.

Roasting8 · 02-23-2006, 01:48 AM

Thanks BusOne,

I thought I read that acetone worked with diesel but, I'm probably wrong (I've got to quit thinking....Oops, I did about 30 years ago

).

I'll just have to research it further on the subject and see if it would help.

Thanks again for the heads up, I won't do it unless I'm sure.

Robert

lapeer20m · 02-23-2006, 11:35 AM

i was reading about acetone as a fuel additive last nite, there were reports of acutal vehicles...some got better fuel economy, some got worse....but there was a guy with a VW diesel that claimed he got significantly better fuel economy.....there was also a truck driver who used it in his truck for thousands of miles with good results.

Roasting8 · 02-23-2006, 08:20 PM

Thanks, I've been checking and, like you said, some people got better mileage and some didn't. As far as diesels are concerned; all reports have been positive.

Before I start using for my bus, I"m going to have to read more reports (I don't really want to mess up my engine).

Eric von Kleist · 02-24-2006, 07:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roasting8

(I don't really want to mess up my engine).

No kidding! I could buy a whole lot of diesel for the cost of rebuilding my engine!

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