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

Fuel Mileage and all about the author of Virile Auto, Auto Bravado. . .

Well, Auto Bravado is the author behind Virile Auto. . .

Fuel Mileage has been Auto Bravado's hobby for 16 years.
You'll also find some great advice about fully synthetic motor oil, acetone,
and how these things help with fuel mileage.

My Time Waster in life has an actual purpose. I love feeling the results in my car or truck performing beyond what it did when I first bought it and eventually making it run better than what the manufacturer ever intended. It's like the article that started it all car's miles per gallon says, to get results is to have fun. You see, it isn't just about the fuel mileage for me. When I first got into this as a hobby on my first car 10 years ago I had a theory. The less fuel I use to get my car to go forward the longer it'll last. The reason I believed this, is that every moment an engine is having better fuel mileage is a moment that the explosions occurring in the engine couldn't be wearing out all the parts around it more slowly.

For an example a lot of older vehicles with large engines, fuel injected, or carburetted can work better with a little acetone added in. This works on some cars that are newer, but I wouldn't recommend it on anything smaller than a V6; see more specifics under the acetone heading below. When it comes to adding acetone add just an once or two per ten gallons until you've monitored the results carefully. This has helped Auto Bravado on a Toyota van, and some friend's larger engine vehicles. This really works to get better fuel mileage, but remember my advice to use it on a larger engine; on an experiment I did on a little motor I got 10 miles per gallon! The additional gas damaged my catalytic converter and it took months for the blockage to burn off so I get better than 27 miles per gallon. Ouch! I usually get at least mid 30's in town, let alone the 56 I can get on the freeway in September. (The year before was 55, and the year after was 46, the difference this year being that a needed repair was discovered after the trip - whew, that was lucky.)

A lot of people have been involved in making me who I am, to be able to create autobravado.com. Some of Auto Bravado's credit belongs to one of my good mentor's. My hat is off to the hands of a fuel mileage mentor and the many others who have guided my studies! Some of my fuel mileage tricks came from this Army trained mechanic, now turned almost retired in another industry altogether.

Fuel Mileage has been Auto Bravado's hobby for 10 years. I have always sought efficiency. In the early years I had to get 40 miles per gallon by driving slow and getting smaller engines like on my '89 Nissan Pulsar. This is where this hobby, sometimes obsession, all began. Now, I usually drive a 1.8 liter, designed for a Toyota Celica engine wonder and get more than 40 miles per gallon with 1 normal weighted person, two significantly over weight people, and too much luggage for just a weekend trip. I've discovered enough secrets to realize what professionals taught me years ago to be true. Both better efficiency and/or better fuel mileage creates more power and a better performing engine. That kind of performance engine still gets good, or can get even a better fuel mileage than the little non-optimized smaller engines that I used to drive. If you're after racing, you may spend a lot more gas to get power instead, but these methods are often much more expensive and can make the car last less time rather than more time. Auto Bravado's focus is on efficiency for and on power, but with an unavoidable hint on effiency at VirileAuto, which allows for longer lasting equipment, but even if you're after just pure power these methods have made my Chevy Prizm have incredible acceleration. I've just started to modify my truck and with a base line of 15 miles per gallon in the city (a year later, now 17 in the city! Another 3 months after this Jan '09, I'm up to regularly 18.9, unless I sit with it on idle to diagnose and treat it, which usually gets it back to 17. Watch that idling time, it's a waste of money! This additional 1.9 miles per gallon was based on placing an additional grounding wire, as indicated by my Jalopy article.), I look forward to having the Nissan Frontier 4X4 fully Auto Bravado'ed! Update from September 2009: I've fully applied that grounding wire article to that truck, and I've applied the next article link below, and the spark plug gap article, which can be found after going to the NGK Spark Plug page. This peaked the truck's fuel mileage at 25 and it has settled at an aveage of 21 - exciting!

I was doing research that produced the NGK Spark Plug page, which compares the advantages and disadvantages of this plug versus the Bosch spark plug. Results in the lab were not enough. I used my own truck to ensure the information was accurate. (A picture belonged next to this paragraph with my old hosting, but hopefully that picture can be resurrected from the cyber graveyard. Hey! Resurrected within 20 days of publishing!)

You see, the first time Auto Bravado put gas into the '89 Nissan Pulsar and I knew how far it'd gone, I got 23 miles per gallon. I wanted better fuel mileage. The very next tank I was at 40 miles per gallon; I just used a better oil, and different driving habits (mainly I figured out how to use a manual much better!) and my fuel mileage was much better. I've stuck to the same company since after leaving it a couple times and seeing poorer results every time I just put in fully synthetic for the best performance instead. Mobile 1 makes the best oil based on independent lab tests - or so how it's been told to me - so for an old engine I recommend their regular formula for oil by the Exxon label - same company - and for newer cars - I recommend for the best fuel mileage fully synthetic Mobile 1 for the life of the car. Old dilapidated or Jalopy vehicles tend to break down on synthetics. I'm not sure if it is a myth or it would have broken anyway, but if your engine is already ancient go for the Exxon or mobile regular oil, unless you've used synthetic for years since the engine was still young, like say 50 to 70 thousand miles. To read more about Synthetic Motor Oils click here.

This has been a little about Auto Bravado, if you have any questions or comments about this site please contact us. Forward those ideas to autobravado.com@gmail.com.
Return to home: Auto Bravado or Return to the start of VirileAuto or consider these words of wisdom about acetone and better fuel mileage below:

Put Acetone in your gasoline now to improve your car's or truck's miles per gallon:

Try adding one ounce of acetone per ten gallons of gasoline on V6 engines or larger. If that works try 2 and up to 4 ounces of acetone in gasoline until adding more reduces fuel mileage instead of increasing it. Typically a little more is required when driving at higher speeds. It is best to add it just before gassing up. I would use a glass beaker or measuring cup and a rubber tube to deliver it straight into your gas tank. Don't spill it on your paint, if you do wash it off immediately as it is a stripping agent.

Would you like to learn more from Auto Bravado's article on Acetone in Gasoline first? (Coming Soon! Hey! I finished it!) Click link above.

Remember the goal of Virile Auto? Well, just so you know, at lower RPM's having a bigger exhaust makes it easier to get poorer gas mileage but there is more power at all speeds. One of the ways to minimize the low RPM gas cost of upgrading your exhaust is to make use of Synthetic Motor Oil. After that you can get back to the first trick to understanding your Magnaflow muffler and exhaust tubing, which is to go larger to get more performance and better efficiency, but discover if you are going too far at Flowmaster Muffler.

by AutoBravado