Acetone Experiment

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Bill Ellis

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OK, I said I'd do this but wasn't able to start until now. So today, I will start the acetone-in-the-gas experiment to see if there is any effect on MPG. This will be somewhat scientific in that I will add 2.5 oz per 10 gal of gas for the next five refuels. Will buy 20 gals of gas at a time. That will reduce the error that I will get by not filling up full each time. If there is any effect, it will have to be dramatic before I make any claims. A difference of a few tenths mpg would not be statistically significant. I have the data for all the gas I'v put in my ST since it was new so I have reliable comparison data. I'll keep you all posted on the progress.
 
Bill,

If you just dump 20 gallons in your tank, you will never really get an accurate measurement of the amount of gas used vs the amount of gass remaining in your tank. That would be relying on your fuel gauge to measure your fuel mileage.



The only way to get a resonably accurate mileage for your Sport Trac is to know exactly how much gas was actually used. To do that you must know how much remains in the tank and you must know how much you pumped in to fill the tank to the same level.



I recommend that you fill the tank until you can see fuel at the fuel filler restrictor plate. When you refill your tank, go to the same pump and fill the tank to the exact same level. Now the meter on the pump will tell you exactly how much fuel you used. That will be very accurate for that single tank of gas.



I also recommend that you follow that procedure for one tank without adding the Acetone first, for an accurate baseline mileage figure. Then follow that with a tank including the Acetone additive. If you add the acetone first, your follow-up tanks will still have traces of acetone in them and may lead to some inaccuracies.



...Rich
 
Thanks for the advice Rich. I've recorded the amount of gas I've used and the mileage since my ST was new. See the chart in my library. I realize that a one tank test is not really valid. So, I will conduct this test for at least 100 gallons as I stated in my post. When my low fuel light comes on I can put in about 21 1/2 gallons. So just before that point, 20 gallons will nearly fill the tank and filler tube. Now if I see a gain of a few 10'ths in mpg then I will consider that to be random variation. However, if I go 2000 miles or more on 100 gallons, then I'll consider it a significant improvement since my normal mpg is in the 17 - 19 range. I'm well versed in statistical methods and will conduct a statistically valid study here. What I want to control is the acetone-gas ratio over the life of the test to about 2.5 oz per 10 gallons.
 
It's especially hard to get accurate readings on a Sport Trac due to the odd shaped fuel tank. Depending upon how long I wanted to stand at the pump and keep dribbling in fuel until it was up to the fuel filler restrictor plate, I could put 2.5 gals MORE fuel than when the pump automatically clicked off. No other vehicle I've owned had such a strange tank configuration. Usually I can only put another 25-50 cents more in my Toyota before it gurgles to the top of the filler.



My Sport Trac would vary wildly between fillups... I got 22 mpg on one tank, but only 14 on the next in one case.
 
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Here's the math. Let's say I put in 20 gallons five times and 21.8 the sixth fill. That's 121.8 gallons since I started the test. I'll know how far I've driven since the start of the test. So, mpg for the test period will be Miles/121.8 gallons. So I do not need to completely fill the tank each time as long as I know the total miles driven and total gas used during the test period. The mpg from tank-to-tank will vary as it does now. If my six tank average is about the same as my current experience then I'll conclude that there was no difference. If I see a change of 2 or 3 mpg [11% - 16%] then I might conclude that there was a difference. It will all be shown on my chart.
 
Don't forget that with that odd tank, if you're on level ground, you won't fill up as much as with the engine bay down on an incline.



Nose up = a lot less gas on fill up

Level = somewhere in-between

Nose down = more gas on fill up



watch your fuel gauge when going downhill as opposed to uphill, it will shift drastically. I've seen it vary as much as 1/8-1/4 tank.



I've never had it fill up nose down and overflow when leveling out though.



The recommendation is to always fill up on level ground.
 
Every gas station I've been to in St. Louis is on level ground. Also, over the course of using over 100 gallons, the error you are referring to will only be in the 1% - 2% range over the life of the test. Close enough for my purposes.
 
Bill,

My only concern is that if you do not fill the tank to the brim each time, you will not get an accurate measurment of the gas used. Small rounding errors make for big mileage mistakes. Just catching a few extra red light per tank of gas can effect your mileage from one tank to another.



I don't think you will see 2 or 3 MPG improvements. I suspect that if the Acetone does work it will be only about 1 MPG improvement, perhaps even less. So if you do not meausre accurately, you may not even see any noticable improvement, or you may see an improvement that did not really occur, but was simply being off by a few tenths of a gallon on each tank of gas, wich can accumulate into a major error in your calculated results.



...Rich
 
Rich,



I am not going to look at each tank result, but the cumalative result of at least 100 gallons. This is very simple arithmatic being used on this; kind of like a 7th grade word problem. A man drove 2015 miles in six weeks and used 101.25 gallons of gas. He put gas in the tank five times and filled it full the last time. What was is average mpg for those six weeks?



For this test I do not have to completely fill the tank each time, only on the last tank. I want to control the acetone-gas ratio to be very close to 2.5 oz / 10 gallons. I might even go 200 gallons and then the mix ratio error due to the last tank will be less than 1%. You only have to fill it full if you are concerned about tank-to-tank variance.
 
Bill,

That method will work. I just find that gas mileage can be very seasonal and can vary from week to week based on changes in the local traffic.



As an example, During the summer months I could drive the 4 miles to work with hardly any traffic and be at work in about 10 minutes. However, when school starts at the end of August traffic increases ten-fold, and takes about 20 minutes to drive to work. While school is in session, I will catch 2 additional traffic lights and two school zones as well as 2 intersections with school-crossing guards.



If I attempt to use a different route, it's further and I encounter heavy traffic heading to Baylor University.



Those are things that have a profound effect on gas mileage that people often forget to consider in their mileage calculations. Since they always go the same way to work, they assume their mileage suddenly got worse or got better, when in reality the traffic conditions caused the change.



...Rich
 
All things considered. Are you not concerned about doing Engine damage by running a highly volatile liquid through it. I used to race road bikes and we tried all sorts of things as octane boosters. A few guys also burned holes in thier pistons. Thier are commercially produced Octane boosters on the market. Or just use high Octane fuel. I'm sure the cost of a quart of Acetone is not much cheaper than using 91 octane.

I don't know I'm just asking?
 
In this test I'm using 5 oz in 20 gallons of gas and it is not intended to be an octane booster. at thet concentration I have no concernes about engine damage. The cost of the acetone is less than $0.65 per 20 gal of gas which right now is about $50 for an added cost of 1.3%. As Rich has said above, an mpg increase of only 1.3% would be in the noise level...I would not be able to detect such a small change. I have all the data for every tank of gas I've bought since Feb 2004. So, if there is a significant improvement, I'll be able to see it. For those who are new to this topic, read the article in the link.
 
If this was a good idea, don't you think AutoZone and other retail outlets would be selling this stuff? I read the comments at the link you provided, and it seems most had a loss of fuel economy. One reported "acetone effect on fuel-line components". If this occurs in your ST, I wonder if Ford would figure out what you did and void your warranty? Too many risks in my opinion for questionable benefits.
 
Bill-





Looks like you've got it pretty well planned out. Let-R-Rip and let's all see what happens.



BTW, what part of St Louie are you in? My wife and I are origionally from there (Pacfic for her, Ferguson/Edwardsville, IL for me). There are a few places that are not "level", Gravois Bluffs has a few stations on a 5-4 degree incline, there are others around, but not necessarily a commonality.



Good luck!
 
R Shek'



Live in North County, north of Florissant.



Nelson,



Actually at least one company does bottle acetone and sells it as a mileage booster. Saw them on the net some weeks ago but I forgot who they are. Will probably look them up today. In modern vehicles like out Trac's, acetone has no effect on fuel system components.
 
Bill E,



If you read your link, it states that an ethanol blend negates the "positive" effects of acetone. When I drove through St Louis last week, there was a sticker on the pump that stated the gasoline was a 10% ethanol blend. I seem to recall that Missouri law requires an ethanol blend be sold to reduce emissions. If that is the case, then according to the web link you've posted, your experiment shouldn't work.
 
Can someone give the theory as to why acetone might actually increase mileage? Also how compatilbe is acetone with fuel injectors and other fuel components? Will it turn your fuel filter into paper mâché after it dissolves all the impurities? Inquiring minds want to know.
 

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