Forgive me if this has been covered already for the life of me I can't find the forum search after the redesign.

http://pesn.com/2005/03/17/6900069_Acetone/

There are links to pages that document many people trying this on many different kinds of cars, and pretty much everyone reports decent gains in mileage. Are there any chemists in the house who can dazzle me with the science? Any guinea pigs?

 

wouldn't try it.... wouldn't want that stuff touching the paint or even be close to it.

 

Never heard of using acetone in fuel to help gas mileage.

But I have known for a while now about using Toulene and/or Zylene as an octane booster.

 

you mean toluene, with additional nitrogen in it's chemical structure becomes trinitrotoluene (T.N.T.)

I've also heard of adding naphtalene (active ingredient in mothballs) but i can't verify that.

 

Nah, dun try that stuff until ur car has like 50k or something, lol. It's like that something something Max product. It got sued big time for false advertising. Those things usually favor cars that are either old or used extensively which requires those addictives.

 

The difference between regular and premium gas is only like 4 dollars a tank. Are you really that strapped for cash that 4 dollars is going to help? I guarantee acetone will completely destroy your cats if used regularly. Its going to take an aweful lot of fillups to equal the cost of a new set of cats.

 

Hmmm...as a chemical reaction this somewhat makes sense to me (Been a while since organic chemistry class), but I would be extremely skeptical of this. First, pure Acetone is not as easy to get as this article says. What you buy in a drug store is not chemical grade acetone (not what you would use in a laboratory). Second, acetone has a very low evaporation point (for all you non science peeps out there it will evaporate readily at room temperature). So by adding just a small amount in my thinking wouldn't do anything worthwhile. Besides as the author says add 1-3 ounces per 10 gallons and that depends on the grade of gasoline, or about a teaspoon into a 4-cycle engine. There are too many variables to determine what would be a favorable outcome if any at all. In a way you're being the guinea pig for his experiment. DON'T DO IT.

 

+1

I'd be really hesitant to use acetone, it's very nasty stuff.

 

Simple answer, if you can use it to clean fiberglass resin off your hands, it probably doesn't belong in the tank.

 

True dat...I used to do fiberglass repairs on sailboats during the summer, and acetone was the cleaner of choice for brushes, hands, etc. No way I'd ever chance having that stuff hit my paint, let alone find its way into the gas tank.

 

Stick with the safe route, use over the counter if you want higher oct. value.
Take no chances if you don't know!

 

I bet I could use gasoline to clean fiberglass resin off my hands too

 

Hmm? The point of the acetone isn't to raise octane levels, its to lower the surface tension of the gas causing it to burn more completely. Anyway I'm not going to be the guinea pig, was just wondering what other people have heard.

 

Jeesh! OK. Gota get technical don't we?
Hey..if you know so much, why ask a dummy like me?