Well, I haven't visited this thread for a couple of weeks, and I got a nice chuckle when I read the newer posts.

This is exactly why I said the O2 sensor didn't care one bit whether there was a little acetone in the gas or not...

If that curve was linear, 1% acetone would increase mileage by 40%, 10% acetone would increase mileage by 400%, and 100% acetone would increase mileage by 4000%! But thanks for a nice chuckle!

Seriously, as has already been pointed out, there is an optimal amount of acetone to add (somewhere between 2 oz to 4 oz per 10 gallons of gas) and going either above or below the optimal concentration will decrease the effect.

And as has also been pointed out, if the gasoline includes 10% ethanol (like most of it does nowadays) then the effect is muted to the point of being almost unnoticable.

 

Well, I've been using acetone for about a week now, and the truck idles a little bit smoother than it use to and instead of getting almost 13, I now get 13.5.

 

The reason that you get less mpg with ethanol is because ethanol has less energy content than gasoline per gallon, so even if the traditional ICE burned ethanol as efficiently as gasoline you would still get less miles per gallon. It is however also true that most engines are designed to burn ethanol less efficiently than gasoline due to the fact that ethanol burns better at a higher compression ratio. This is also why it is used as an additive to increase the octane rating of fuel, which has nothing to do with the energy content of the fuel, just the effective compression at which the fuel does not autodetonate.

 

Well, when I read first about this I was a little sceptical but after some research (the only thing acetone does is to break the surface tension of gasoline and thus helping it vaporize better at the inyectors) I decided to give it a try. I have run about 3 tanks in my 2000 Expedition and noticed an increase of 10% in mileage in the city and a lot more on the highway. Even with the POS gasoline we have here in Mexico. I even noticed a smoother running engine. I'm sure about this because I just ran a tank without acetone this week under similar conditions and got a lower mileage. (about 13 mi./galon) mixed driving. I think I'll stick to acetone in the tank.

 

I ran a test with acetone over the course of a year in a carburated vehicle. In order to make sure I averaged out any driving variation, I ran the test for 9000 miles (3000 with, 3000 without, 3000 with). I used 2oz per 10 gallons. When all was said and done, the data showed a .5 mpg (3%) decrease when acetone was used. I was disappointed, because I really wanted this to work.

As for the claims of the engine running better / better performance, I ran another blind test. I would fill the tank, then asked my wife to secretly track whether she added acetone or not. I would then track how I felt the truck was performing. The data showed out of 10 tanks, she only added acetone to 2 tankfuls. One acetone tank I had noted a little better performance, and the other was actually noted as not so good. So that data was inconclusive.

None of the gas purchased had ethanol added. 90% of the gas purchased was from the same station. I would always run the tank to empty or near empty (I have 2 tanks), so the ratio was always constant. I could have changed the ratio of acetone during the test, but I thought it would be better to stick with one formulation in order to get accurate data. I may try it again with a different ratio, but some of the reading I've done indicates that the ratio may be dependant on the molecular size of the gasoline used. Try to figure that one out.

I like the concept and I think it has potential merit and some people are having positive results. Unfortunately my data showed a negative result. I do question some of the results people claim on the list, because it appears some did one or two tankfuls and claimed great success. The psychological effect of knowing you are trying an improvement can really skew the results!

I've really enjoyed reading this thread.

 

Christcorp is as passionate about acetone as I am about E85!!! Great forum!! Tell ya what I'm do... I will run acetone with E85 and if I gain 10% in milage, my net loss running ethanol will only be 10% then I'll be extremely happy!!! I'll keep ya posted.

 

Running acetone with your E85 is useless. I won't explain why, because it's been said a hundred times. You obviously aren't reading. Also, as far as adding 2oz of acetone to 10 gallons of gasoline and seeing no improvement, that too is not conclusive. That too has been discussed a hundred times. You may need 3 or 4oz per 10 gallons. Each car's chemistry is different. There is usually a bell curve that has been noticed. No difference with too little. Most efficient mix. Then the efficiency goes back down again with too much. Sometimes to the point of less efficiency compared to none at all.

I am in no way passionate about acetone. Especially compared to someone who is passionate about ethanol which I find to be a total waste of resources, just as bad for the environment, just as expensive, etc... What I am passionate about are facts and truth. I personally don't care in the very least whether anyone uses acetone or not. I really don't care. I care if people mislead others by saying it will rot out your fuel system. I care if people use difinitive terms like CAN'T, WON'T, and other narrow minded responses. I am that way about a lot of things. It has absolutely nothing to do with acetone. Same with ethanol. I know what ethanol can do. I know what it can't do. I know what it takes to produce it and the subsidies and politics behind it. It's a shell game that they've been trying to push for 30 years. Only now that the cost of gasoline is much higher they can get away with it with people's ignorance.

If you really want something to think about, try this; Putting aside the supply and demand factor; a year ago, crude oil was at approximately $50 a barrel. Gasoline was at approximately $2.30-$2.50 a gallon. Currently, crude is pushing the $100 a barrel mark. Yet, gasoline is between $2.80-$3.00. Now, even with the supply and demand factor, how do you raise the cost of crude 100%, yet, gasoline, diesel, kerosene, plastics, rubber, and most other crude byproducts have not increased by more than 20-25%. If the price of crude reflects the actual cost of drilling and production, then the only reason for this is that refining costs have come down or the oil companies doing the refining have elected to take a cut in profit. Normally done by laying off workers. The only other option is that the government is subsidizing the cost of gas, diesel, kerosene, plastics, rubber, etc... OR, all this crude IS being purchased anticipating consumer usage, yet the consumer has cut back on their gasoline consumption. Very unlikely. The numbers don't add up. Worry about those types of things and not my passion. You'll be using your time much more wisely.