Gas Saving Tip

Extend gas milage and save money, using acetone and xylene.

Step 1 Fill your car..

Fill your car up with gas. All the way you can fill it up.

Comments

[Outlander]

http://www.instructables.com/id/Automotive-fuel-hack/
Already posted what happened to my suv on another thread when I tried this trick.

It does work, the reason why it works you have to understand that almost nothing burns as a liquid, your economic rice burner, it is about 30% eff. at best. The reason is that we use "atomized" fuel instead of vaporized, so most of the fuel goes right out the tail pipe, or burns in the exhaust system creating excess heat.

What the Acetone does when mixed with gasoline is helps it vaporize faster. If I remember right it helps break the surface tension or something else, it's been awhile.

Acetone's enemy in this is alcohol, what is ethanol? it's a type of alcohol, and it's in almost all gasoline now. Acetone mixed with gasoline/ethanol has the opposite effect and will decrease mileage.

Another bad thing is it will damage certain types of seals and plastic after long term use of the chemical. Some cars may suffer damage, some may not. It's really a guessing game.

The real answer would be of course to move to vaporized fuel and have 100mpg cars out there, but it will never happen. I personally don't see why not though, the gas companies could charge $20 a gallon if they went to vaporized gasoline.

[edma194]

Your comments don't make sense. Modern car engines approach 90% efficiency. Atomized fuel burns more efficiently than vaporized. Virtually all fuel is combusted before entering the exhaust system. Excess heat in the exhaust system is due to continued chemical reactions that occur at low pressure and cannot contribute to the initial combustion process. Acetone and Xylene do not contain as much caloric energy as gasoline and can only reduce mileage. The only potential benefit is that these solvents may clean out the fuel system. You would be better off with commercial engine additives.

[earthwindwater]

I know this is an old post but... Outlander is correct and you are way off! Todays cars are not AS inefficient but, they are STILL very!

Here is just one example. All cars and trucks still require at least one and usually 2 catalytic converters. One of the jobs they perform is to "catalyze" the unused fuel that comes out of the exhaust manifold. That is why the converter is always hotter on the engine side.

Vapor is the ultimate goal. You should do some more research on this.

Please take this as constructive criticism only!

Take care.

[edma194]

You have no idea what you are talking about. Please don't attempt to contact me again.

[earthwindwater]

Right... Silly me. I guess the HHO generators and vapor carburetors that I have built and ran successfully on various engines over the past several years must have all been a figment of my imagination. I do apologize to you...

I can and will comment to any open posts that permit member comments.

Again, you should do your homework, research, and your own applications before commenting on peoples posts.

[dirac19]

I live in the year two thousand and eight,and to myself, and others in the engineering field, I never thought that in just a short hundred years that I would ever see a internal combustion engine match the holy grail if you will of 30% eff. and to this date they have not and if they did that is all that you could ever hope to achieve sad but true, However, that seems to be the best that we will ever do and you can not get that much out of anything else around, fuel cell? don't even ask, electric motors, solar, not even close. I have seen a modern power stroke achieve about 27 percent it was truly an awesome sight but I do not think that I will ever be able to afford it. 90% you say? and on a school night too-oh my

[Outlander]

Lol, Yes, every technology that is coming out is only to make money it seems, electric? HAH! Yeah, no more gas pump bill, but your electric bill at home goes up 200% because everyone is charging their cars. Hydrogen? HAHAHAH! The only reason they are trying to use it(either by combustion, or by way of fuel cell/electric motor) is because they can market and sell the hydrogen. Vaporized gasoline is a good answer for right now. We have the IC engines that can be easily converted, fuel can be sold as a liquid with no special requirements, and it can be vaporized on-board the car. Yes the most efficient car is "around" 30% from what I hear, but most are said to be around 9%, not 90, but 9%. only thing 90% is the amount of unburnt fuel going out the tail pipe as "HC" on your emission report. The rest of the energy from combustion(what I call waste heat) is sent into the cylinder walls, then into the coolant and out the radiator into the open air. As well as being lost as exhaust heat from the exhaust manifold all the way to the tail pipe, friction from all the add-ons, etc. I understand very well just how much energy is lost as unburnt fuel and waste heat(which could be recovered), but the sad thing is that you have all these people believing what the auto industry tells them and believing that 35(or whatever)mpg is the most they can get. There is a lot of energy stored in just one gallon of gas, hell even one gallon of water, but people don't want to hear this, they want to live in their own fantasy world without trying to learn on their own. Is that about right?

[Outlander]

Obviously you don't seem understand how small chain hydro carbons work(or oxidization for that matter). The "ONLY" part of the fuel that burns is the oxidized vapor(hence oxidization). Liquid cannot burn. The part that burns with atomization is the vapor around the microsized droplets that has mixed with air. Not trying to be insulting, but you need to do a bit more studying. Try holding a torch at surface level of a barrel of gasoline, what do you think will happen? The answer is nothing, the vapor has not had a chance to mix with the surrounding air properly until about a few inches to a few feet. If you dropped a flare in that barrel of gasoline it would do nothing except fissle in the liquid Look up oxidation, vaporized fuel, and perhaps burning liquids if you need to go that far back. Also look up nitrous oxide, NO2. Why do you think it produced more HP when injected? when NO2 is heated, the nitrogen splits from the oxygen, hence more O2 to mix with more of the unburnt fuel that is still vaporizing and ignite. Also know that the BTU table for hydrocarbons is based on atomized fuel and not vaporized, it is also a very crude estimate, and not accurate at all. I honestly don't think I can make you understand, Im sure your set in your ways.

[edma194]

Obviously a small amount of knowledge is dangerous. When fuel is vaporized it does not have enough time to mix with air inside of a cylinder, leaving seperate high fuel and high air regions which only react where they meet. Droplets provide the greatest surface contact area between fuel and air, and as a result the fastest and most controlled deflagration. By the way, NO2 is used because it has more oxygen by weight than air. Please do not be foolish enough to try your torch and flare experiments.

[littleangels]

I am curious as to the cars created in India that run from compressed air. What is the feasibility of this?

[bombmaker2]

feasible but unpractical

[patthesoundguy]

why don't you just buy higher octane gas at the pump, and save all the pain

[jack the baptist]

I have used acetone by itself and it actually decreased my mileage. This was on a 3000 mileage trip and was monitored closely. Acetone in this highly diluted concentration should not harm any seals. I have found that those who complain the most and loudest about gas prices also pay much more per gallon for bottled water!!! Most bottled waters come from municipal sources, according to the labels! Check it out.

[littleangels]

For what this is worth - when I was in high school, us kids were drinking in the carport (Boones Farm wine), one pretty toasted guy pee'd in the gas tank of my moms old car (old carbuerator style Mercury). This car was a gas hog, and I will never forget my moms awe in that she didn't have to buy gas that week, "the car was just not using any gas". (She would usually get gas twice a week for her commute to work - this particular incident left her not having to get gas foe a week and a half).

[carpespasm]

Nah man. You guys just like don't get it man. This stuff works, it's just the man trying to hide that like, a cheap additive will make your car run wayyyy better man. I've got a buddy who tried this a few months ago and he's like totally not gone back to the gas station yet because it works so well for him man.

[Crash2108]

Not only bullshit, but I don't think 12 year olds can drive cars.

[theburn7]

i know

[HAL 9000]

Is there any reason to believe that acetone and xylene burn more than gasoline? I agree with the others that this simply makes no sense.

[alchemistzero]

I am currently enrolled at UTI (universal technical institute haha i know "un-trained idiots :-P) anyways my school did an article with popular mechanics about getting better gas mileage. They tested out the tornado and every other product you can think of to get better mpg out of a car and the only thing that improved the miles per gallon was actually keeping your tires inflated to the tire manufacturers specifications (not the auto makers specs, the makers of the automobile want you to have a smooth ride but the tire makers specs on the other hand help your car run efficiently). and thats my two cents.

[Flea]

Already Mythbusted on episode 53.
Baseline: 19mpg at 35mph and 27mpg at 55mph
Acetone: 18mpg at 35mph and 26mpg at 55mph busted

[jessyratfink]

Jamie and Adam to the rescue! :D

[rimar2000]

Thank you for the information. I was almost believing this instructable (pardon my English)

[bleachworthy]

all this does is speed up the process of combustion in the cylinder, it does not make the car burn any more, or any less gas, it simply makes a more efficient burn, and decreases the amount of still burning air/fuel mixture, lowering the emissions, and exhaust temperature. now let's say your vehicle is turbo charged. the reduced heat in the turbo could lower the intake air temp, but, colder air, takes more fuel to burn, and with that richer, more dense mixture, you would actually be lowering your gas mileage. now let's say that since the mixture is more dense, it takes longer to burn. longer burn means hotter exhaust, and renders the cooler turbo factor in-effective. therefore, this trick will not work for turbo charged vehicles.

[iairj84]

I have actually tested this with a number of different vehicles and they all proved this to be false. It was on a long road trip to Los Angeles where we tested it and we tested it with three different vehicles. A 2004 Nissan Maxima I believe it was a 2.4 liter 4banger but I'm not 100% sure, also a 1997 Chevy Blazer 4.3liter V6 and a 1992 Chevy Suburban which was a 350 chevy V8. In each of these test a dipstick was used to make sure the gas was filled to the exact same heights and the same speed was used. We set the cruise at 72 (speed limit between 65 and 70 through most of I5) and we stopped twice both at rest stops (one on each tank of gas) the only vehicle that was any better on the gas mileage was the Suburban and it was only about 1.5 MPG higher with the acetone mixture. The other two vehicles didn't change at all. I think our testing was as good as any real world testing could be without doing it in a climate controlled test room. I the majority of people that have noticed a difference probable had gummed up fuel injectors and the acetone probably helped clean that off. I would assume that using a bottle of fuel injector cleaner would do just as well and I would guess it would be just as cheap as the acetone. Luckily we didn't see any decrease in mileage with using the acetone but it certainly didn't help. I first heard about it on one of the forums I frequent and they did a number of tests on different types of rubber and seals without finding any problems and break downs of the materials. They also tested these in pure acetone without the dilution.

[wargoth]

Proven as patently false by the Mythbusters. It actually decreases mileage, and can cause severe engine damage.

[yourtvlies]

I'm more optimistic about this. Doing preliminary research shows mixed results. Considering I'm not expert on hydrocarbons, and the cost of acetone, I'm thinking I'll give it a go, for kicks.

[kimbo_gt]

Acetone will damage the paint on your car if you spill it, not to mention it doesn't work very well, if at all, as a mileage extender . Cost per gallon for acetone is probably more than gas. High concentrations of Acetone, Alcohol, etc. will damage rubber seals and hoses, so go right ahead if you like giving money to your mechanic.

[killerjackalope]

It's got to be a way higher concentration to damage anything and any newer car will have synthetic hoses and seals, which alcohol will damage but acetone has to be over 50% to do any damage.

[BlindTreeFrog]

My post didn't take, so to repeast It doesn't work. At best it will do nothing. At worst it will damage your engine. And if it did do anything, don't you think that every pumping station, if not the major companies, would be adding it to their mix and then advertising about how their improved mixture gives you better mileage?

[zorif]

may be it work well. but before trying it i would like to know any risk of corrosion and damage of the system.this can be know only be knowing the chemical reaction of those 2 with the gas and AL(aluminum which is the common base material of engine)

[trebuchet03]

A Professional Engineer's View - on Acetone

In any case, I didn't see any measurement equipment... The claimed increase in miles/tank could have easily come from driving technique, pump error, environment conditions, etc.

[shooby]

I don't know much about this, but would this damage occur even when diluted by the gasoline? This instructable is seriously lacking the explanatory chemistry to support it.