Post by SpyderLady on Jun 23, 2007 12:08:51 GMT -6
This is someone that is braver than I would be. No way I would try that in my car!
Does Acetone Increase Fuel Mileage?
While surfing the Net a few weeks ago, I ran across a video where a guy claimed a 70% increase in his fuel mileage after he added pure acetone to his gas tank. After doing some further research and finding more claims of increases in mileage, I decided to conduct my own experiment. I am now ready to present my findings to the world.
In case you’re wondering why adding acetone to gas will increase fuel mileage, apparently, the acetone causes the gasoline (or diesel) to vaporize better, resulting in more efficient burning of the fuel and less waste.
From my research, I knew it was important to use 100% acetone with no additives and since I didn’t want to buy a gallon, I picked up a 16 ounce bottle of 100% acetone at Walgreens. Everything I’d read indicated that anywhere from one to three ounces of acetone per 10 gallons of gas seemed to work the best and since I have a 15 gallon gas tank (approximate), I decided to go with one ounce per five gallons. For the math challenged among you, that means I added three ounces of acetone to the the tank.
As most of you probably know, acetone is sold at hardware stores as a paint thinner and since my car is — you guessed it — painted, I purchased an automotive funnel with a long stem and a very wide cone so I’d be sure not to drip any acetone on the car. I measured exactly three ounces of acetone and poured it into the funnel. To make sure that the acetone would mix thoroughly with the gas in the tank, I grabbed ahold of the car and gave it a good shake. I’m not sure if this is necessary, but I needed the exercise. Next, I got in the car and reset the trip odometer to zero. So far, so good.
I realized it would take some time for the fuel that was already in the system to work through before my new acetone-enriched gas began to work it’s magic, but after driving 20 miles or so, I reset the computer trip odometer so I could marvel at the amazing increase in mileage I was surely going to see, in realtime. As I mentioned in my first post, my overall fuel mileage with this car had been 18.4 mpg with mostly city driving. After putting about 50 miles more on the car and still not seeing any significant (no) change in what the computer was telling me, I concluded that because of the acetone, the car’s sensors were being fooled and I would have to wait until I refilled the tank and could do the math to see the real results.
Yesterday, after about two weeks, I finally needed to refuel. It took exactly 12.984 gallons to top off the tank. I had driven exactly 239.7 miles using the new super gas/acetone mixture. I excitedly sat down with my calculator, anxiously waiting to see the amazing fuel mileage increase I’d achieved. WTF? 18.4 mpg? That can’t be right, I must have pressed a wrong number. I calculated again… twice. Nope, still 18.4 mpg.
So, can I conclusively say that adding acetone to your fuel — I say fuel because it supposedly works for diesel too — will definitely not increase your mileage? No, because perhaps I would be able to achieve better results by adjusting the percentage of acetone I added to the tank. Do I plan on doing that? ummm…. no.
Does Acetone Increase Fuel Mileage?
While surfing the Net a few weeks ago, I ran across a video where a guy claimed a 70% increase in his fuel mileage after he added pure acetone to his gas tank. After doing some further research and finding more claims of increases in mileage, I decided to conduct my own experiment. I am now ready to present my findings to the world.
In case you’re wondering why adding acetone to gas will increase fuel mileage, apparently, the acetone causes the gasoline (or diesel) to vaporize better, resulting in more efficient burning of the fuel and less waste.
From my research, I knew it was important to use 100% acetone with no additives and since I didn’t want to buy a gallon, I picked up a 16 ounce bottle of 100% acetone at Walgreens. Everything I’d read indicated that anywhere from one to three ounces of acetone per 10 gallons of gas seemed to work the best and since I have a 15 gallon gas tank (approximate), I decided to go with one ounce per five gallons. For the math challenged among you, that means I added three ounces of acetone to the the tank.
As most of you probably know, acetone is sold at hardware stores as a paint thinner and since my car is — you guessed it — painted, I purchased an automotive funnel with a long stem and a very wide cone so I’d be sure not to drip any acetone on the car. I measured exactly three ounces of acetone and poured it into the funnel. To make sure that the acetone would mix thoroughly with the gas in the tank, I grabbed ahold of the car and gave it a good shake. I’m not sure if this is necessary, but I needed the exercise. Next, I got in the car and reset the trip odometer to zero. So far, so good.
I realized it would take some time for the fuel that was already in the system to work through before my new acetone-enriched gas began to work it’s magic, but after driving 20 miles or so, I reset the computer trip odometer so I could marvel at the amazing increase in mileage I was surely going to see, in realtime. As I mentioned in my first post, my overall fuel mileage with this car had been 18.4 mpg with mostly city driving. After putting about 50 miles more on the car and still not seeing any significant (no) change in what the computer was telling me, I concluded that because of the acetone, the car’s sensors were being fooled and I would have to wait until I refilled the tank and could do the math to see the real results.
Yesterday, after about two weeks, I finally needed to refuel. It took exactly 12.984 gallons to top off the tank. I had driven exactly 239.7 miles using the new super gas/acetone mixture. I excitedly sat down with my calculator, anxiously waiting to see the amazing fuel mileage increase I’d achieved. WTF? 18.4 mpg? That can’t be right, I must have pressed a wrong number. I calculated again… twice. Nope, still 18.4 mpg.
So, can I conclusively say that adding acetone to your fuel — I say fuel because it supposedly works for diesel too — will definitely not increase your mileage? No, because perhaps I would be able to achieve better results by adjusting the percentage of acetone I added to the tank. Do I plan on doing that? ummm…. no.
