Acetone Increases Mileage in Engines, usually

If I was trying to sell something, I'd tell you that acetone in gasoline only helps and that it never hurts, but I honestly report that acetone increases mileage in engines usually. In this article I won't spend much time on when it doesn't work as you can find that information in the link in this paragraph.

You see, on a trip with my cousin I rented a van for me and his family. It was a long trip, so I did what I never tell the rental agency. I got under the hood and made a few modifications for the trip that surely wouldn't cause any harm and would only help. After a several thousand mile trip, when the new iridium spark plugs were doing great, I couldn't do the disservice to Checker, now O'Reilly, and take something back that worked so great. I paid it forward and left those nice iridium spark plugs in the engine for the next folks who could spend less on their gas. The iridium spark plugs had paid for themselves in 900 miles.

Now, that's an advantage that was going to stay with the vehicle, but I doubted anyone would keep adding acetone in the gasoline to increase mileage. Over the trip, I tried different ratios of acetone to the gasoline. When my cousin drove, he drove faster and more aggressively then I did, so 4 ounces of acetone to 10 gallons seemed like the perfect fit. The van did about 4 miles per gallon better, with a quite a bit more punch. This van was a Toyota Sienna, V6. When I drove the van with 4 ounces of acetone to 10 gallons of gas it only did 2 miles per gallon better, but with 2 to 3 ounces I'd get 4 to 6 miles per gallon better. My slower to accelerate and slower top speed driving style made for overall better mileage, but the right mix of acetone versus gasoline was still different depending on driving style. The van was doing anywhere from 23 to 27 miles per gallon when we started, but with the right speed, the right conditions, and the right driver, I could frequently get it above 30. I found it hilarious when I took over driving from my cousin that I'd have to drive faster to get as much results as him, but it just wasn't in my personality to drive like that with his whole family on board so it was less stressful for me to frequent the gas station and to the math to get the ratio right, for the right driver.

I don't know his name, and I really want to, but I have traced through the internet back to the man who first did the science on how acetone increases mileage. His research and his words are often copied, and I see traces of him everywhere, but he's done decades of research and his evidence has a foot hold in every copy cat I've ever seen. When some of his personality is missing from the writing I know someone copied it and edited a little. I personally learned of the technique from friends, but I wonder if they knew what they knew thanks to this revolutionary man that I pay tribute to. Those friends did like the internet and he's all over it. Now this monster of a trip that my cousin and I took matched his figures exactly. I'd never put more than 4 ounces of acetone to 10 gallons of gasoline. Regardless of driving style that wasn't good, and it didn't give engine the extra strength that my virileauto readers are after. Our mysterious man's research charts showed a slight decline at this level as well. I so want to share a link to his work to honor him, but for some reason, I can never find again the same websites by him.

I saw traces of this mysterious do-gooder on a website that was debunking Mythbusters and I think this time it was the man himself. Mythbusters claimed (*these are my own words, which are quite opinionated about them and their episode, not to be construed as quotes) that acetone increases mileage was a myth propagated by the internet and people who didn't know any better. He rebounded against their experiments with amazing information that I find entirely plausible. He said that if an engine wasn't tuned right, not that you have to tune your engine to acetone, but just whether it was tuned at all, that acetone would decrease mileage rather than increase it.

Mostly on Mythbusters I see them use old Ford Taurus's because they're a dime a dozen. I've tuned quite a bit of these cars because my family has owned all kinds of versions of them and I must say that they're very difficult to tune correctly. In fact, getting them tuned right taught me advance techniques to perfect the tuning of many easier cars, as it is on by AutoBravado website: Spark Plug Gap: The Controversial Side. I find it entirely plausible that these poorly running cars, from not being loved, not that they can't be great (it's obvious, you can hear it on the show), were poorly tuned and were therefore doing worse with acetone in gasoline.

* Please understand. I have no wish to bag on the Mythbuster's. I think they're great inventors and engineers and the science that they teach us is well thought out and a benefit to mankind. This is why science has to be proven in many labs under the same conditions, to prove that something is true. Under the hood, there are always different conditions everywhere, even in the same model, so it's not hard at all to believe that they're experiment showed acetone lacking, when under other conditions it helps.


P.S. The family I grew up in has had Ford Taurus's and Mercury Mercury Sables, and I haven't tested acetone on them because while I care for their cars too, some experiments can only be approved on my own cars. :)

by AutoBravado