So I've been doing some research on how to get better MPG in my wife's Montero Sport. Most of it was all the crap everyone knows, tire inflation, clean air filter, yada yada. I came across one that said by adding acetone (mixture of 1-3 oz of acetone to every 10 gallons of gasoline) to your tank, you'll get better MPG. After doing some research on it, I'm still very skeptical. A few sites said it will eat up your gaskets, etc. Which I can most definitely see happening, if they were cork. I've taken my wifes engine halfway apart and physically seen and held the gaskets, they seem to be thin metal. I highly doubt acetone, in that small of a dose, would be able to eat any of it. If it were to work, on her higher mileage engine, I would assume it's only from cleaning the gunk out of the inside, which would still be beneficial.

Has anyone tried this? I'm going to experiment with it and see what happens (in my wifes SUV of course). I'll post the results and comments.

 

Gasoline Additives
It has been suggested that adding a small amount of acetone to your gas tank can add 10% - 35% to your fuel mileage. This works because acetone is a surfactant for gasoline - acetone reduces the surface tension of gasoline rather dramatically, allowing the droplets to evaporate more quickly and burn more completely. This means better fuel mileage and less pollution. In fact many mechanics for years have used acetone to improve an old engine's pollution performance and get the engine to pass a smog test.

Acetone is a rather strong solvent, so there is some concern that it can damage the fuel lines over time, This is usually not a problem in cars with OEM fuel lines, as the OEM fuel lines are made to handle solvents like this. Gasoline in the US is about 25% aromatics, meaning Benzene, Toluene, and Xylene. These are pretty strong solvents too.

Acetone binds strongly to water, so if you get water in your fuel tank this can be a big problem. Although acetone dissolves nicely in gasoline, acetone and water do not. The little acetone-water droplets can clog your fuel injectors and cause problems.

These days, most gasoline in the US contains 5% to 10% ethanol. Alcohol also tends to bind to acetone, and although this does not cause problems, it does reduce the ability of acetone to lower the surface tension. So it's not at all clear that adding acetone to a gasohol mix will improve your gas mileage by much.

 

It's fun to huff too. Just kidding, don't do that.

 

HAHA! Too late...i'm feeling dizzy..

 

I tried it last year on both vehicles and lost .2 miles per gallon, lol.

 

its useless, i tried it last year did not gain anything at all, dont waste your money (not that acetone is all that expensive)

 

I too tried it for a coulple months last year. In my truck, no gain, but had a smoother idle. My car gained 2 mpg. Just wasn't worth the trouble to me.

I spoke to someone else that tried it and ended up clogging his cats....maybe coincidence, or maybe it knocked enough trash loose clog them. He had an Acura with 140k mi.

 

Don't know about that man...

 

If you're looking for the cleaning effect just use Mopar Combustion Chamber Cleaner or Seafoam.

 

I heard seafoam = new O2 sensors.