Acetone in your gas. Is this the new '100 mpg carb'

Richard Casto · **Posted:** Tue Sep 13, 2005 3:55 pm

Ok, it seems to be a slow week on the forum. Maybe this will kick things up a notch...

What is the deal with people putting Acetone in their gas. I hear it improves mileage, but what is the downside? Can it damage your car (i.e. eat up seals, etc.) I also hear that you must use gas that is not blended with ethanol.

If this is so great, why isn't everyone doing it? Or is it just the number of black helicopters that is keeping this under covers.

For those of you who don't know what I am talking about and don't know how to use Google, here are a few URLs to get you going.

http://pesn.com/2005/03/17/6900069_Acetone/

http://www.lubedev.com/smartgas/additive.htm

Wes Eargle · **Joined:** Mon Oct 27, 2003 9:47 am **Posts:** 3683

Tis the BS.

Vincent Keene · **Posted:** Tue Sep 13, 2005 4:13 pm

Quote:

Using the ScanGauge at 50MPH, my best mileage was 48-52 in my Neon a few weeks ago. Then I stopped the acetone to do some reverse testing. The next four tanks of the same Texaco gas showed 42-43, 37-38, 33-34, 30-31. No acetone when each tank was filled at half-full. The drop was about 20 MPG overall. Recent tests at a steady 50 MPH show 61-63 MPG in the Neon.

I may be a skeptic, but approx. 50MPG in a Neon is pretty damn good. Anyone want to test this idea in a rental?

Wes Eargle · **Joined:** Mon Oct 27, 2003 9:47 am **Posts:** 3683

The only person on the entire intarweb talking about this is one Louis LaPointe. If it really worked, especially considering the events of the past weeks concerning supply, you would have heard about it on every news program out there. I don't believe it for one minute.
o

Richard Casto · **Posted:** Tue Sep 13, 2005 4:26 pm

Wes Eargle wrote:

Tis the BS.

Very well might be BS. Can you enlighten us on why you think it is?

Someone here at work is giving it a try. I will try to keep in touch with him to see how it goes.

joedobner · **Joined:** Thu Apr 01, 2004 3:15 pm **Posts:** 85

A minor alteration of surface tension isn't particularly relevant when a liquid is being sprayed out a needle valve with 50 psi behind it. It probably does increase the vapor pressure when added to gasoline or diesel, but that's because the acetone has a higher vapor pressure and not because the gasoline is more prone to vaporize.

It's hogwash.

Wes Eargle · **Joined:** Mon Oct 27, 2003 9:47 am **Posts:** 3683

If he thinks that the C=O pi stretching frequency disrupts the surface tension of gasoline when it's only 0.2 ppt, he's a looney.

George Bright · **Posted:** Mon Sep 19, 2005 9:14 pm

I read through the guys paper. I was struck by the fact he saw a 20% difference in fuel economy by using different brands of gas. It is funny I have tracked the fuel economy of my 210 for over 100,000 miles and as I switched brands of gas for price or because of moving I have never seen any real change in mpg over time. I have seen a slow drop as the car has gotten older and the engine has become tired. It has 145,000 on it now and I bought it with 17,000 on it. I tracked it by recording the odometer reading and fuel required to fill the tank up to the restrictor. But I think there is some problem with the guy's mileage data if he sees such fluctuations between brands. I think the OBII data he is using is calculating fuel flow from injector pulse width data and does not take in the pressure differential across the nozzel. I suspect temperature of the fuel ai the injector would also have some effect.

From the 210 data I have I might infer that higher octane would give me better mileage. Since when the car was new to me regular gas was a higher octane and it gave better economy. Of course that is probably not the case.

Doug Jackson · **Posted:** Tue Sep 20, 2005 1:59 pm

There are lots of ways to affect milage for the sake of trying to prove a point. I wouldn't trust this with any vehicle I paid more than $500 for.

I think what Wes was saying is the surface tension of gasoline is already so low that adding acetone to it is going to have a negligable effect.

Chuck Frank · **Posted:** Tue Sep 20, 2005 3:12 pm

Acetone is a major ingredient in many of the "octane" boosters, but increasing octane will not produce more power (actually less) or increase fuel economy. Many cars will give fantastic fuel milege at a "steady 50 MPH" especially with an OD tranny it's getting up to 50 that eats up gas!
Our first Taurus wagon had the all electonic dashboard that could calculate the instantaneous or average fuel milege in real time and it was not unusual to see instantanious readings in the 50-60 mpg range.
Is this guy a major stocholder in an acetone distributorship? His claims are highly unscientifically derived and therefore meaningless.

Wes Eargle · **Joined:** Mon Oct 27, 2003 9:47 am **Posts:** 3683

http://peswiki.com/energy/Directory:Ace ... h_Shilling

Richard Casto · **Posted:** Wed Sep 28, 2005 4:25 pm

Wes Eargle wrote:

http://peswiki.com/energy/Directory:Acetone:Josh_Shilling

Wes, you lost me. I looked over this and was not sure what info I was supposed to find. Is it that this guy had lower mileage on his test? That Wiki has a bunch of people posting their results. Some are reporting better mileage and some worse. So it's just hard to say if it is real or Urban Legend.

http://peswiki.com/energy/Directory:Ace ... Automobile

We need a real scientific test.

Vincent mentioned to me off-line that this would be a good idea for "Myth Busters". I agree. Someone needs to go to their website and submit that idea (I am too lazy myself).

The guy at work who is trying it has only gone through a single tank with it. I think he went from 13-14 average to 15 MPG in his truck and while I am no statistician, I can't see that as being significant. He is going to keep trying to see if he can find the mystical "sweet spot" regarding the amount of acetone/gallon that works for your car.

David Teague · **Posted:** Fri Sep 30, 2005 12:12 am

This has already been Submitted to Myth Busters according to thier message board.

David Teague · **Posted:** Sat May 13, 2006 10:31 pm

Mythbusters test this myth recently... and it made your gas milage worse.

John Daley · **Posted:** Sun May 14, 2006 11:26 pm

Mythbusters is probably one of the greatest shows ever.

THSCC Forums

Acetone in your gas. Is this the new '100 mpg carb'

Who is online