Acetone will increase gas mileage?!?!?

HotChiliRam said:
I use acetone every now and then and I see improvements. Actually I was getting 9.6 MPG and Now I'm Getting 13.84 MPG. So, For me it's working. I don't use acetone every tank refill. But every now and then.
As I said, you get your injectors cleaned this way and corrects any drop off in mileage due to the slow build up on them.
 
Well I figure that I will give this a whirl since we have barrels of acetone at work(Gun wash). My '88 sure could use a fuel system cleaning anway.
 
OK I have been reading this thread for 3 days now and I'm finally done.......Yaaaaaaaaaaaa:roll:

I now that there are a lot of people that may not want this thread back on top again but......it is:D

After all the reading of this post, I truly believe that the acetone is a good cleaning agent and i have added the 4 ounce to my first tank full.
The fuel system must be cleaned(Because the first initial mileage increase, is due to cleaning, causing more efficient burning of the fuel)before the theory of the "tension" can be figured. And sense my 89 XJ has just over 300,000 miles on it, it may take a fue tank full to get it cleaned up.(driving a hole 14 miles a day to work and back......a......its going to take some time.) I was planing on pulling the throttle body off, and carb spraying the hole thing.....if puring in 4 ounce, several time, or tanks full, will eliminate me have to do this.....all the more better for me!:thumbup:

Then the true test can begin.!??! I will guess here that the starting mileage, will increased 3 mpg to begin with.(Getting only 13 to 14.2 mpg presently and would be ecstatic if it actually when to 20) and 1 mpg+ or - depending on whether the acetone is in the tank there after.
how know, it may not do a single thing for me, but one thing is "for sure",.... I WILL REPORT BACK EATHER WAY:D

By the way, i didn't us the 100% pure but did a lot of label reading before i decided, on witch finger nail remover to us.

This is vary imported for those that are going to go this route!!!!!!

Read the ingredients!!!! The $1.99-$2.99 bottles 4 to 8 ounce bottle had acetone as the first ingredient and WATER as it's 2nt ingredient. I don't know about you, but i don't want to put any amount of WATER in my gas tank........especial when it below freezing!!!!!!!
The one that I chose had 2 ingredients(instead of the 7 ingredients, including water) and was only 4 ounces for $5 and some change...wasn't price shopping, just percentage of purity pricing this time!

I will spend the money for pure, the 2nt tank, if i See any.......any at all improvement! don't need a gal or so of something that i my not use.

Just for reference the jeep runs ruff at idle and tend to surge a little bit when i lug it. Stock Jeep (look at my avatar) 27" tires 3.08 gears and a 5 speed that never gos in to 5th(unless I'm doing 75+ on the flat)

Well i thing that covers every thing.........latter ;)
 
Be interesting that once you have consistant mpg reading after the use of it for a few tanks at least, then to stop and see if it still is the same so long as you can keep other factors as driving style, traffic and weather close as possible too. If so it would prove that it was just a good cleaner.
I was luckly when I tested that it was when I was doing over a tank of fuel a day with the cruise control on with the same weather and a flat road with few little towns to drive through.
 
Gojeep said:
Be interesting that once you have consistant mpg reading after the use of it for a few tanks at least, then to stop and see if it still is the same so long as you can keep other factors as driving style, traffic and weather close as possible too. If so it would prove that it was just a good cleaner.
I was luckly when I tested that it was when I was doing over a tank of fuel a day with the cruise control on with the same weather and a flat road with few little towns to drive through.



Yup, that's my plan but it will probably be summer before i burn enough fuel to stabilise the fuel system cleaning affect!:passgas: Having 300,000+ mile of crud, and carbon to remove. And only 70 miles a week or so. it takes awhile to burn a tank of fuel!:D
 
Flash said:
I was planing on pulling the throttle body off, and carb spraying the hole thing.....if puring in 4 ounce, several time, or tanks full, will eliminate me have to do this.....

Adding a cleaner to the tank is not going to clean your throttle body since the injectors are in the head. I tried the acetone thing for two tanks since I had a few gallons in the shop and noticed zero difference in mileage.
 
This was on mythbusters and they saw slight loss of milage...
 
The Mythbusters recently tested acetone and found that acetone combined well with gasoline. So well, that the gasoline burned more effectively. And quickly. Net effect... lower fuel mileage.
 
Andy Steiner said:
The Mythbusters recently tested acetone and found that acetone combined well with gasoline. So well, that the gasoline burned more effectively. And quickly. Net effect... lower fuel mileage.

This whole enormous thread should be a case study for "placebo effect".

Not only will a little sugar pill make you think you're getting better mileage (or whatever else you want to think you're getting) but it will make you vehemently DEFEND it at the same time.
:anon:
"I can't believe I read the whole thing!"
 
Simon 88YJ94XJ said:
This whole enormous thread should be a case study for "placebo effect".

Not only will a little sugar pill make you think you're getting better mileage (or whatever else you want to think you're getting) but it will make you vehemently DEFEND it at the same time.
:anon:
"I can't believe I read the whole thing!"

I'll take 5 sugar pills - 2 for my XJ, 2 for my '64 Chevy Truck, and 1 for my motorcycle..

!!!1 !!!1 !!!1 !!!1

Elias
 
lawsoncl said:
Adding a cleaner to the tank is not going to clean your throttle body since the injectors are in the head. I tried the acetone thing for two tanks since I had a few gallons in the shop and noticed zero difference in mileage.


wasn't thinging about that, good point!;)

as far as a suger pill go's..............well i have read it all (the hole post:paper::eyes: ) and now i'm going to prove it right or wrong, for my self.:wave1:

Ps Jeeps not liking it so fare.
 
My friend graduated from Rutgers with a degree in Chem E and a 3.99999 GPA. I asked him about the Acetone and Toluene. He told me that the acetone will act as a solvent and clean stuff out, but that the MPG improvment is most likely due to the fact that the engine has been cleaned out and can therefore run more efficiently. He said that they never used acetone or toluene as addatives in gas and that it doesn't make sense that they would raise octane.

Just passing this along.
 
I'll throw this out there. 3 variables in the equation. You tell me what had the greatest affect.

Drove from RI to MI. I had the spare on the roof. Got 14.5 MPG average for the 750 mile trip.

Drove from MI to RI. Took the spare off the roof. Put the spare on the trailer with the 2 Motorcycles, bin with stuff in them and a D300. Used roughly 3.5 oz of Acetone per tank on the trip back. Mileage went like this: 14.5, 15 15.5, 16.5, 16.5 MPGs

That's towing a trailer back through the mountains.

I don't know if the acetone helped, but come on, even my mom noticed we weren't stopping as often.

I don't know!
 
I think the established benifit is that Acetone cleans your injectors. If those mythbuster dudes found slightly worse mileage I'm inclinded to believe it I haven't seen that episode but every time I've watched them they've gone to through crazy extremes to give the 'myth' a chance to succeed.

The reason for the slightly worse mileage also seems to make sense. Making gas burn faster basically means you've lowered the octane which is not a good way to make power in a high compression modern engine with lots of timing advance and a LEAN fuel curve programed in from the factory. Not that octane equals energy content, just that lower than 87 oct. means your engines timing and fuel are going to be less than ideal.

A small amount like 4 ounces (considerably less than most bottles of fuel injection cleaner) is probably enough to melt away the hard laquer like varnish gasoline impurities can leave behind, improving your injector's spray pattern.

A small change like suddenly cleaner nozzles can handily explain the increase. Now try the experiment all over again now that your injectors are clean without the acetone :)
 
Trailbst said:
Drove from RI to MI. I had the spare on the roof. Got 14.5 MPG average for the 750 mile trip.

One other thought, you drove "up" (I know it's not high altitude but it's higher than RI) to MI from nearly sea level RI generally uphill, then "down" (I know it's not steep but it doesn't need to be) back generally down hill to nearly sea level with extra weight AND less aerodynamic resistance. On average you were probably getting help from the extra weight

I once managed an average speed of 68 Miles per hour in a vehicle that was Engine SPEED GOVERNED AT 65mph (meaning it rev limited when the speedo hit 65) from Los Angles CA to saint Luis MO (that's average speed of the entire trip counting two pit stops and one driver change).

Impossible? No I was in an 70,000 pound Semi, Once it got on top of Donner's Pass and started down hill towards Reno it was damn near all down hill from there. BTW the speed governor was a known entity (C.R. England company policy 65mph) checked against GPS. While average trip MPH was checked via departure time versus arrival time accounting for time zones.
 
Well it certainly has helped me before in moderately high compression vw engines. 10:1, Keeps ping away, so the mixture ignition point is definately effected. Couldn't run regular without it without sounding like a box of junk if ya stepped on it. Perhaps it's just a little more efficient combustion? Seem to remember these hydrocarbons having a higher ignition pressure and temp, delaying the flame front formation...
From my chemistry book, after tetraethyllead phased out in 75, toluene<2-methyl-2propanpol> also called t-butyl alchohol, MTBE methyl-t-butyl ether, and another ether ETBE ethyl t-butyl ether, as well as methanol and ethanol. Tolulene is a CH3 bonded onto a benzene aromatic.. benzene is a ring type bond with six carbons and six hydrogens, double bonds b/t the carbon/carbon bonds making the bond a bit stronger, therfore less prone to ignition... there is also 1,4 dimethylbenzene 1,3 and 1,2 dimethylbenzenes having two CH3's attached to the benzene ring at positions 1,4 1,3 1,2 respectively...
Mothballs are Napthalene mostly, this is basically two benzenes bonded together in a figure 8....
I WOULDN"T run any of the trichlorobenzenes
Also mentioned in this chapter is Cyclohexene used as a stabilizer in high ocane gas.
Unlike alcohol, these solvents don't carry their own oxygen... just H's and C's
 
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