Acetone A.K.A. Nail Polish Remover Increases MPG in Gas?

I came up a very interesting website article that says that Acetone about 3 Oz per 10 Gallons of Gas can increase gas mileage anywhere from 15% to 35% and in some cases even more.

Website URL:
http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:OUAUz1mxTCoJ:www.pureenergysystems. com/news/2005/03/17/6900069_Acetone/+Acetone+MPG&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=us

However, here in the Engineering forum I'm placing it for disection and careful examination if this is in fact true or not.

I'm sure many of you will say "Snake Oil" or be extremely skeptical.

I however am willing to give it a chance. Seeing as how the chemical itself is flameable and adding only a very small amount can't possibly do anything bad. I dont see any harm in adding 2-3 Tablespoons full into a gas tank and then monitor the results.

What do you all think about this?

Here is the direct link without the google search frame

http://www.pureenergysystems.com/news/2005/03/17/6900069_Acetone/

i tried it

i drove to norfolk from charlottesville at 60 mph without acetone and used 7 gallons of gas

on the way back i added acetone and filled up.
i drove back the same distance at 75 mph and used 7.1 gallons of gas

i'm not going to say that it works, but the results pretty much speak for themselves

one added note is that my car is an 84 caprice classic and is carburetted.
i have a firm belief that if it does work, it works mainly on carbed cars, and not of fuel injection.
the main reason for this is that acetone is a surficant of gas, and decreases the surface tension
with decreased surface tension, the gas will atomize better
carbs generally have poor atomization
efi is better
direct injection is best atomization

another note is that even after this test, i didnt continue to use it.

IMO it's just a cleaner.
The more crap you have in your fuel system, the bigger effect it'll have (until the crap is cleaned out).
If your fuel system isn't full of crap, then you won't get any benefit.

http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=385048&page=12

My results are in post 176 and 177 and I conclude it is a good way to waste time, money and risk spilling it on your paint. lol.

thats a big one to worry about

As a one-shot deal it could be worth a try. A pint of acetone is cheap, you can always use the rest to clean paint brushes.

A few ounces to 10 gallons of gas is a conservative ratio and the results could be interesting. The only thing is that you will be aware of it and may change your driving habits that will improve your gas mileage anyway. The best thing would to try it on another car in the household where the driver is not aware of the acetone added to the gas. You would have to tell them to monitor the gas mileage though.

Bob

what i noticed was increased "feel" when you are in traffic and squeeze the pedal, but not floor it.
it felt like it had more willingness to go on less throttle.
i doubt that it did anything for max power at wot tho.

Well I actually tried this out.

Not sure yet as to how big an effect it has on my car which is a 1996 2.2L Chevy Cavalier 4 Cyl.

What I can tell you is that I filled up on sunday brim full with NO acetone then I put acetone this wednesday. At the time that I filled up on Sunday I also filled up my tires to their max PSI and added a bottle of Chevron Techron Concentrate and filled up on 87 Unleaded Chevron Techron Gas.

It's now Thursday and just now my gas needle has moved 1 Millimeter to the left from Full AFTER adding Acetone.

Before my Performance uprades and weight reduction I usually would fill up every week and a half since I only commute to work about 20 miles roundtrip and that is all I use the car for.

I'll report my findings as to how long it will take to refill.

If I can go 2 Weeks+ without refilling I will reach my goal.

I think it is working though.

If I can go 2 Weeks+ without refilling I will reach my goal.

I think you need to be a little more scientific about it.

For a start, only make one change at a time (i.e. adding acetone). Try to keep everything else the same.
Secondly, benchmark your car first. Over several tanks calculate the mpg.
After you've been running acetone through it, calculate mpg again over several tanks and see what the difference is.

Changing your cars weight, fuel additives, fuel octane rating etc all at the same time makes it impossible to attribute a mpg change to any of the modifications.

I think you need to be a little more scientific about it.

For a start, only make one change at a time (i.e. adding acetone). Try to keep everything else the same.
Secondly, benchmark your car first. Over several tanks calculate the mpg.
After you've been running acetone through it, calculate mpg again over several tanks and see what the difference is.

Changing your cars weight, fuel additives, fuel octane rating etc all at the same time makes it impossible to attribute a mpg change to any of the modifications.

I agree, you need to be more scientific about it and work on one variable at a time if you want to validate the acetone alone. I'm filling up tonight and will record my gas mileage for the week with just gasoline. I'll see what my current "control" MPG works out to be, then fill up and add the acetone.

Bob

long drives are best for this kind of thing
try to avoid city driving as it will easily skew your results

long drives are best for this kind of thing
try to avoid city driving as it will easily skew your results

I would second that. Bumper to bumber traffic can skew your FE. Ideally, you should take the car on a medium to long drive. Do a full-tank to full- tank method. However, keep in mind the time of day the fuel is getting filled as well. High density fuel will also give you a different mileage (sometimes the skew is as high as 10%)

I would second that. Bumper to bumber traffic can skew your FE. Ideally, you should take the car on a medium to long drive. Do a full-tank to full- tank method. However, keep in mind the time of day the fuel is getting filled as well. High density fuel will also give you a different mileage (sometimes the skew is as high as 10%)

You are talking about temperature here. I can see that working if you fill up when it's snowing in one city then traveling to somewhere hot. I dont think it would make much of a difference in temperatures if the difference in temperature is off by 20 Degrees Farenheit at night and day.

Also remember that gas is usually kept below ground in a reservoir in most gas stations and that temperature is usually constant with direct correlation to the climate in the area regardless of night or day.

Gas is gas. Read the sticky on the engineering forums. The difference is just detergents that gas stations use.

actually, even if you fill early morningsand mid afternoons, there is a difference in fuel density. this is from my exprience.

Long story short: acetone makes your MPG for fuel injection worse. I tried it, got 2 MPG lower than usual. Myth busters apparantly had tested it, they came to the same conclusion. Now this doesn't really prove anything about carburetters .

that is what is expected if you understand the method that acetone works by
i have a firm belief that if it does work, it works mainly on carbed cars, and not of fuel injection.
the main reason for this is that acetone is a surficant of gas, and decreases the surface tension
with decreased surface tension, the gas will atomize better
carbs generally have poor atomization
efi is better
direct injection is best atomization

acetone also has a very high "octane" compared to gas, and doesnt burn as well, so if you are injecting it, and not burning it, fuel economy will decrease.


oh, and by the way,
dont take mythbusters as fact.
i have seen many experiments done incorrectly
they try to do things as best as possible, but they are human and mess up sometimes
just my .02

LOL i completely agree. I'm a 4th year science student and I do see the error of their ways in conducting what they call "scientific experiments". I wouldn't call what they do "science", especially if they're going around saying that they "PROVE" things to be true or false. Scientific experiments don't offer proof, they offer support or simply refute a hypothesis. but what they do is the next best thing to science and it's entertaining to watch. Mind you, I did try acetone myself. At high temperatures, pressures, and uncontrolled environments (like inside the engine), all your basic scientific knowledge is useless. Things that are unaccounted for do happen and that's why you need experimentation as opposed to simply laying out the science.

that is what is expected if you understand the method that acetone works by


acetone also has a very high "octane" compared to gas, and doesnt burn as well, so if you are injecting it, and not burning it, fuel economy will decrease.


oh, and by the way,
dont take mythbusters as fact.
i have seen many experiments done incorrectly
they try to do things as best as possible, but they are human and mess up sometimes
just my .02

Speaking of experiments these people report their findings. Read more below here:

http://peswiki.com/index.php/Directory:Acetone_as_a_Fuel_Additive

I tried it, got 2 MPG lower than usual. Myth.

It could be that you are using too much have you tried using less? You know that 3 Oz is about half a cup right? Try using a little less.

Also if your acetone mix has water in it you are losing gas mileage. The Acetone has to be 100% PURE. The stuff you buy at Home Depot is 100% PURE.

CONFIRMED - NEW VIDEO SHOWS INCREASE IN GAS MILEAGE WITH SCANGAUGE USING ACETONE!

View the video below:

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/524517/double_your_gas_mileage_2x/

Now this doesn't really prove anything about carburetters .

The Acura TL in the video above is FUEL INJECTED.

Meaning it does not use a carburator and it got more than 10 MPG more WITH Fuel Injection.

I think results are more towards the type of engine you have.

Notice how he says in the video 2 Oz per 10 gallons? Maybe we are all using the wrong Acetone to Gas ratio?

Myth busters apparantly had tested it, they came to the same conclusion.

How much money do you think they got paid by oil companies to brainwash the viewers? How much money do you think they got paid to rig the test?

there was no rigging necessary.
they used acetone in a fuel injected car.
it hurt the economy.
that is what i would think would happen.
it makes perfect sense.

I figure, WTF, I'm going for it. I filled up on Saturday ($63!!!) and wrote down my mileage. I should be getting 280-300 miles worth so my next fillup might be around 6/19. This should give me a nice baseline of my "control group" miles per gallon.

I'm going to add 5 ounces of acetone to my next fillup and try to drive normally and see what the difference is.

Bob

LOL hahahaha

I love how the guy going around saying that Myth Busters is flawed because gas companies did this and that and the results were faked. Then they post a video as "proof", but the video has been edited so heavily and shows no significant proof.

Man I couldn't care less what myth busters says. The point is, my engine performed poorly with Acetone, period. Maybe I put too much, maybe I didn't put enough, but I'm not gonna bother trying it again. Besides, who knows what the long term effects are on the parts and emissions.

Acetone, as an additive to gasoline cannot and will not improve fuel mileage.

Acetone contains about 27% oxygen (by weight) which is just slightly less than ethanol (34%). Acetone has a stoichiometric ratio of 9.51 while ethanol has a stoic value of 8.99. What this means is that there is less carbon and hydrogen fuel per pound in acetone than there is in gasoline.

In order to achieve the same air/fuel ratio with acetone, you would have to run a much richer mixture. Adding more fuel will naturally reduce your fuel mileage. If you are willing to run a considerable leaner fuel mixture, then it is possible to obtain better fuel economy than with pure gasoline. But the same or better results could be accomplished by merely leaning out the engine using gasoline. The fuel economy will improve but power will go down.

In order to see any improvement in fuel economy, a considerably larger amount of acetone must be used; somewhere in the region of 30oz per gallon, not 3 tablespoons per 10 gallons. The very small amounts of acetone would have such a small effect on economy it would not be possible to measure it. There are simply too many other operational variable that would obscure measurement results.

Another factor to consider is that acetone is a very good solvent. It will remove all sorts of gums and deposits. It will also remove plastic components from your fuel system such as fuel pump diaphrams, seals, screens, carb floats, needle valves, and of course, fuel hoses.

A point to remember is that there is no such thing as pump gasoline. There are many different pump gasolines. In fact, the EPA has mandated that pump gasoline must change its properties and performance, state by state, month by month, in order to meet pollution targets. The gas you bought last month, is not the same gas you bought this month, even if you bought the same brand and from the same station. Typical pump gasolines can contain over 350 different compounds which make it virtually impossible to produce the same product consistently. Fuels are blended to meet EPA regulations at the lowest possible cost.

One of our local news did a story about acetone in fuel since a lot of viewers were asking. Here is the link to the story:http://www.9wsyr.com/content/news/your_stories/story.aspx?content_id=fdfd499a-e923-49f8-920f-86edd6b6cf41
In the story they mention the damage acetone does to rubber components in your fuel system such as rubber hose and gaskets. There are better ways to increase gas mileage without damaging your car in the process.

would using acetone have any known negative effects on a supercharger