Acetone will increase gas mileage?!?!?

Re: Acetone will increase MPG?!?!

OK, there's now about 4oz. added in to a full tank of Chevron 87-octane. Glad to see that gas prices went up again last night by 4c/gallon. Anyway, I've only driven the mile-and-three-quarters back from the gas station so far, so it's too early to say.

old_man said:
My local ACE hardware store sells toluene right next to the acetone.
Click to expand...

I had to show ID to get it - apparently, meth manufacturers will be foiled by this clever measure. No toluene, though. Someone might figure out how to add the TN part to the T and make something that blows them up. It feels good to know that the State is protecting me ;)

Anyway, on to the math:

- 1 quart of acetone: $6.81 - it was a *lot* more expensive than the last time I remembered having to do this.

- 1 quart = 32 fl. oz. At 4oz./tank, that's eight applications at about 85c each.

- 1 20-gallon tank of gas costs $48.20 at today's rate of $2.41/gallon for 87-octane.

- 85c represents 1.8% of the cost of the tank of gas.

- With an assumed minimum MPG improvement of 15% per the original link, This translates out to a 3-gallon-per-tank gross savings, or $7.23 per tank.

- $7.23 less the 85c acetone cost gives a net savings per tank of $6.38, or 2.65 gallons (roughly an eightfold return on the investment).

So it's possible that this may translate out to a somewhat noticeable gain based on the 15% minimum improvement figure. Mind you, I'm not exactly holding my breath on it being the be-all, end-all miracle cure :)
 
Re: Acetone will increase MPG?!?!

BG products are excellent. I use to get them through the dealer I worked at (Golden Ford to you CO guys) right from the salesman.....free samples :) 44k, MOA, gear lube additive (forget the name)......

Anyways, now that Im not wrenching in shops I dont get the stuff..... and I havent really looked for it stores. 18 bucks is alot, but every 10-15k miles is only about 4-6 bucks an oil change (when i usually like to run a bottle of cleaner through).
 
Re: Acetone will increase MPG?!?!

Okay... With 20 miles (all town) driven so far, it's too soon to say if there's any real fuel economy improvement yet. However, the idle is noticeably smoother and both off-the-line as well as midrange acceleration is noticeably improved. I wouldn't call the improvement humongous, but it is definitely there - and better than with any fuel additive I can remember trying. There's hope that this may turn out to be a worthwhile experiment.

Also: old_man: is there anything you can think of in the fuel system that acetone may harm? Any potential for catalytic converter or oxygen sensor damage? I'm guessing that in the concentrations we're dealing with here that's probably a 'no', but better safe than sorry. And I probably should've asked this before dumping it in my tank :)
 
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Re: Acetone will increase MPG?!?!

I don't want to get ahead of myself here, but: having just made a 45-mile round trip - mostly in 4FT, but with diversions to 4PT and 4LO, and the majority of it on the freeway...

This acetone thing may have some promise :)

Don't take it as being the final answer to all XJ fuel economy issues, but so far I am impressed with the difference.
 
Re: Acetone will increase MPG?!?!

casm said:
Also: old_man: is there anything you can think of in the fuel system that acetone may harm? Any potential for catalytic converter or oxygen sensor damage? I'm guessing that in the concentrations we're dealing with here that's probably a 'no', but better safe than sorry. And I probably should've asked this before dumping it in my tank :)
Click to expand...

Just don't get it on your paint! :lecture:

That's great you are seeing a noticeable difference. I work in a lab and have tons of acetone around. I'll give it a shot too.
 
Re: Acetone will increase MPG?!?!

sloppyjoe said:
Maybe this will help you guys out. I found this and after navigating the site for just a moment I found a store locater. All you have to do is just type in the area you are from, and there you have it. I found a company that has it only 30 minutes from my house. I 'll give this stuff a try. The site is http://www.bgprod.com/bgprofessional/bgproducts/autofuel.html
Click to expand...

Thanks for the link! $17.95 on Basse Rd. 4 blocks from the house! I'm getting some before my coast trip in two weeks.

-rO
 
Re: Acetone will increase MPG?!?!

Careful.. a lot of people make mods to their vehicle and THINK there is an improvement and there isn't. But since they want to experience a benefit, they "feel it".

I recently read a test on those stupid spiral finned air things you can put inline in the intake (not a TB spacer). The ads all claim to improve mileage and power.

According to this test, all the drivers (3 of them in 3 different vehicles) FELT an improvement, but in reality the gas mileage was exactly the same as before and as tested on a dyno the power of 2 vehicles was exactly the same the the 3rd lost power (only a half hp if I recall correctly).

So.. be wary!

On the other hand, if you think you get an improvement, I'll give it a whirl and report in. I drive almost 100 miles a day and I get the exact same mileage almost down to the tenth every time I fill up.

Morgan


casm said:
I don't want to get ahead of myself here, but: having just made a 45-mile round trip - mostly in 4FT, but with diversions to 4PT and 4LO, and the majority of it on the freeway...

This acetone thing may have some promise :)

Don't take it as being the final answer to all XJ fuel economy issues, but so far I am impressed with the difference.
Click to expand...
 
Re: Acetone will increase MPG?!?!

Morgan- sounds like you're the control group in this experiment.. get to it ;)

I'd get in on this too, but my speedo isn't working since the SYE so I am not going to be any help. Will see if I can fix that today.
 
Re: Acetone will increase MPG?!?!

I had a friend with a BMW with a 4 cyl engine that dumped 2 gallons of xylonl or perhaps it was toulane (sp.??) and it gave a NOTICEABLE increase of aceleration at low speeds and he said his gas mileage was better for that tank. somehow i bet this seriously messed something up but the car still runs like a champ.
 
Re: Acetone will increase MPG?!?!

I had looked into this a while back as an alternative to race fuel. There is a lot of information out there. I think turboford.com or something like that where there are a bunch of turbo mustang SVO guys that use xylene or tulene sp? to up the octane. the advantage to doing this is that most of the high octane race fuels are leaded. This in very bad for O2 sensors, and will generally kill them in a short amount of time. With paint thinner and pump gas your O2 sensors can survive. I was racing a quad, and At the time it was cost effective. I mixxed one gallon of the thinner to 4 or 5 of premium pump gas and it was a good bit cheaper than turbo blue or the race 110. The thinner raised the octane enough for me to run the compression and timing i was with no detination, and it worked well. I eventually gave in to conveneince and began run race gas at a higher price. I would not put race gas in your cherokee if the O2 sensor is still working appropriately.
 
Re: Acetone will increase MPG?!?!

sweetjeep said:
Careful.. a lot of people make mods to their vehicle and THINK there is an improvement and there isn't. But since they want to experience a benefit, they "feel it".
Click to expand...

Good point. However:

1) It's too early to make any MPG claims.

2) The engine is noticeably smoother at idle, and throttle response is more progressive.

This suggests that it's at least de-gunking the fuel system at this point. Even if that doesn't equate to better economy, it's probably worth a shot anyway seeing as how I'm only responsible for 2000 of the 79000 miles currently on it and know nothing of its service history.
 
Re: Acetone will increase MPG?!?!

BurntKat: Yeah.. the problem is, I don't believe it'll help. Not that I won't be objective, but I am not going to be the first. ;)

On the other hand, if someons told me I could get a regular 25-26mpg out of my Jeep, I'm game.

jkkj: I did the same research as you in regards to the race gas alternative. Only I race dirt bikes. I also came to a similar conclusion, my only comment is that now with the annoying abundance of 4 strokes and the AMA banning leaded, small quantities of unleaded race gas is easy as pie to get. The unleaded stuff isn't nearly as good though. Quality is the same, but you have to tune the bike much more specifically to get the same power.

However, as I think I stated (briefly) in this topic, running 110 octane compared to 87 will lower your gas mileage.

My only guess as to why touline or acetone will increase mileage is due to a higher oxygen content or it's an O carrier. Like propane to a diesel motor. But I also didn't read the "study" either.
 
Re: Acetone will increase MPG?!?!

What will the touline (sp) do to the plastic gas tank? I've used putties with the stuff in it on plastic models and have had it soften the plastic into a rubbery material when applied in large quantaties to a small area.
 
Re: Acetone will increase MPG?!?!

asweetjeep- I haven't raced in atleast 2 yrs. I didn't even know that the AMA was banning leaded.

Somebody can correct me if I am wrong because I am under the impression that the newwer XJs have the ability in the computer to advance and retard timming due to knock. Keep in mind that when a sensor monitors knock it is looking for a certain frequency vibration that is producted by detination not the audible knock that you hear. A vehicle can still detinate or spark knock without you being able to hear it.

More octane=less knock=computer adjustment to more timing=more power=more gasmilage.

This is of couse is limited by the computers ability to adjust timing. I'm sure it has a maximum, and if you add octane that would alow the vehicle to add timing beyond that you are wasting money.

Is premium enough? Who knows.
If you get better gas milage on premium than on regular you may want to add more octane a little at a time until your gas milage doesn't improve. At that point you should be getting max effieciency(timing) out of your vehicle without wasting a bunch of money on race fuel.
 
Re: Acetone will increase MPG?!?!

I added about 3.2 oz of lab grade acetone to a full tank of gas last night.

Like casm, I noticed a change in power and acceleration but I'm fully aware it could all be in my head. It'll take me about 5-7 to know how it affected my mileage which will be the big kicker.
 
Re: Acetone will increase MPG?!?!

Actually the older Renix based system have the knock/ping sensor. That is one reason people like them for strokers.
 
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