There are numerous sites that explain that if you place a certain acetone to gas ratio, it's suppose to increase fuel efficiency by 15 to 35%. What is your take on this? Any negatives on the long run?

 

Being an oxygenated solvent, it has strong solvency that may damage valve seals, fuel level indicator assembly iside the fuel tank which is made of plastic in the long run.
The acetone will improve combustion and cools down the burn inside the chamber a bit that will decrease detonation. Detonation is countered by the engine management ECU by retarding ignition and dumping extra fuel to cool it down.

 

"Edited due to language by Moderators."

hmmmm well then

*coughbullexcrementcough*

better?

 

Other than an empty wallet, and a damaged engine, I can see no downside.

 

If it were such a great idea, we'd already be consuming an acetone-gas formulation in all of our cars.

 

A note of extreme caution: Acetone is a very powerful solvent, and extremely corrosive to rubber. In fact, when the acetone hits a rubber fuel line, or o-rings, or any other rubber part coming into contact with the acetone, it will slowly be dissolved away. With continual corrosion of the rubber, it will eventually disintegrate, leading to extensive repairs of the fuel line, and a possibly worse if it happened while driving.

 

Not this one again. Please do a search for acetone and spare us all from having post the same information over and over again...

It can damage the engine, pollutes like crazy, and it costs more than gasoline, even now.

And if you don't believe the members, try checking with snopes.com - http://www.snopes.com/autos/techno/acetone.asp

Anything else?

 

But hey if I get better gas mileage before I ruin the engine, damage rubber parts, it will be worth it. Does anyone have any snake oil I can use instead of synthetic, I heard I can get 10 more HP by using it.

 

Stop spending money on food/utilities and buy more gasoline.

 

Thanks to the person who posted me a nice link.

I was only asking a simple question no need to be a arrogant.

 

Try not to take it too personally, itsminidrmer... I'm sure none of these guys meant it that way.

When gas prices go up, lots of these rumors start popping up. I haven't yet heard the "miracle gas tank pills" this time around, but I'm sure it's coming!

The biggest things you can do to improve your mileage:

-Proper driving, including smooth accelerations, less unnecessary braking, proper shifting habits.
-Proper tire pressures.
-Gasoline with no ethanol (I can't find any near where I live anymore ).

 

There's a lot of "how dare you post that question, comment, etc..." as responses in this forum. I think a gentle reminder to do a search, or a quick reply, beats an indignant rebuke every time. We're here to help each other, not bemoan the ignorance of others.

 

Magnets on the fuel line rule.

 

It's time like these I miss that NAM doesn't have the whacking one over the head with a chair smiley.

 

A buddy of mine experimented with it in his high mileage Lexus GS 400 over the summer. 3 tanks with 5 oz of 100% acetone mixed in, and 3 tanks without, keeping driving habits mostly the same. The acetone concoction added about $1.00 per tank. Here are his results:

Summary: Not worth the hassle, cost, or risk to fuel system...

 

The test would only be reasonably valid if he didn't know what was in the tank.

 

Actually, the search function came up automatically as I begin to type the Title for this thread. I've looked at the more popular ones on the previous threads, but they don't really answer my question as it seems not a lot of people understood it. I was hoping for more updated information, not to hear random remarks.

 

+1

I have, in the past, posted a question that had already been overly discussed and was called to task for not searching. Often searching previous threads is a painful exercise in futility. In any given thread there is usually about 80% that is not related at all. Trying to dig through the irrelevant banter is frustrating. When I ask a question on such a topic my hope is that someone who participated in the previous threads may have formulated a synopsis or come to some conclusion. Furthermore, the people who complain about old topics being dredged up, why do you click on the thread in the first place. The subject of thread was clearly identified. If you are sick of the subject why on earth would you start reading the thread? If I see a subject I am not interested in I simply move on.....easy.

 

I've been reading about Star Tron fuel additive. It is supposed to help with the adverse affects of E10 gas in boats and older bikes and cars. I'm going to try it in my 82 KZ1000 which is running terribly since I let it sit with E10 in the tank. It should be better than acetone. There are claims of better mileage but I just want my bike to run with this cr@p gas.
Here is a link for anyone interested.
http://mystarbrite.com/startron/

 

Do you have the idea that there is anything in these overpriced additives that the oil companies wouldn't be using in their gas if they were worth the trouble?

ALL of the gas additives are designed solely to separate you from your money, and unless you are an analytical chemist with a multi-million-dollar lab, there is no way that "trying" them will tell you anything.

Gas additives don't work. Get over it. Note my sig...

 

I don't know that the oil companies have a vested interest in increasing your fuel economy, because as soon as all of the oil companies begin using the additives, it wouldn't provide any competitive advantage.

But I do agree with you - if these additives were safe and effective, the automakers would implement some kind of an injection system to add it to the fuel automatically, just to boost their CAFE fuel economy ratings. Then they could also continue to sell you the additives for as long as you owned the car.

 

I think you're giving the manufacturers and oil companies too much credit.

For the most part though the current state of the fuel supply which uses ethanol in place of MTBE to reduce emissions is a non-issue to the modern car that gets regular frequent use. The problem comes from putting this new fuel mixture in a vintage or little used vehicles and boats that could possibly sit idle for months on end. It is a known fact that the ethanol on its own causes decreased fuel economy across the board. Add to that the fact that it (ethanol) absorbs water then you have a recipie for disaster. There are a LOT of instances reported on-line. Does this stuff (Star Tron) work? I don't know. I'll let you know later. All I can say is that I have 2 year old MTBE gas in my little used Corvette and it still runs fine. My bike won't idle anymore since it sat with E10 so I decided to search for a solution. For a few bucks I might get more use out of my toys without them being destroyed by the fuel the government is mandating.
As far as the oil companies using these overpriced additives. What makes anyone think that they give a rats *** about going above and beyond what the general public will tolerate or federal regulations mandate. I did see in one of the reports that some enzyme technology was being investigated to assist in emissions reduction.
Also, the car companies are not going to add some useless gizmo to dispense an unnecessary fuel additive in a new car. Why would they bother to develop one for a 1967 Chevelle, or a 69 Mini? That's what the aftermarket is for. It is up to us as consumers to differentiate the Intake Turbolator's and Slick 50's from something that "might" actually work and be useful.

Back to the point of the original post, the poor performance of E10 has people looking to acetone as a band aide, misguided as many feel that may be.

 

I said that the automakers would look at such a system *if* the fuel-economy benefits were really as good as some people are claiming. Imagine it - 35% better fuel economy, and it wouldn't be any more complicated for the consumer than refilling a windshield-washer reservoir.

That being said, I *don't* think the economy benefits are anywhere near that high (if there are economy benefits to be had at all), so I don't think we'll be seeing factory additive-injection systems any time soon.

 

Years ago I read of a story in which told of a guy ho attempted to collect on Henry Ford's offer of a huge reward for an additive that would allow a car to run on water. The guy filled an empty Model T tank with a gallon of water and added the "additive" to it and then started and ran the car.

The additive was acetone and because of that fact that it is miscible with water and has an octane rating of 150, the resultant mixture was volitile enough to run that simple engine.

Unfortunately after running for a few minutes the engine died as the seals deteriorated.

As has been pointed out there are numerous sites that discuss the use of acetone as a fule additive. Supposedly it will not permanently harm the modern engine's seals (although it is recognized that it does cause seals to swell), but results as a mileage extender are mixed at best. Even Mythbusters did a show in '06 that debunked it as effective.

It is my supposition that because acetone is a solvent some of the initial improivement by some users is actually because it dissolves residue in older engines and cleans the engine to some extent.

 

And if it did increase mileage, would it increase it enough to offset the cost of the Acetone? Just does not seem worth the hassle of possible problems.