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Originally Posted by sequoiasoon
edmunds.com has athread about fuel and oil additives. This of course came up many times. One of the guys did his "scientific" testing and pretty much came up with that it didn't help any plus the added hassle, potential damage to fuel pumps and other $$ parts of the system made it a waste.
If anything for most of those trying it here is probably the scenario. Acetone is very strong solvent, as a result the fuel injectors and associated are getting cleaned resulting in better flow/vaporization etc.
I can say the same for BG44K and probably Seafoam. All the cars I put it in had more power, better mileage etc. Those results stay until it starts to get dirty again. I now use BG44K a couple times a year and when driven "easy" the cars do pretty good.
My 206k, 13 yr old Corolla, just got repeatable 38 mpg on a highway cruise nice and easy (no rush about 62 mph and cops EVERYWHERE). Not worth the cost and hassle of ticket etc. to speed. Normally I'm at about 30 mpg mix driving (with frequent 5500 rpm shifts) I haven't done BG in about 5 months.
Before the BG I was down to mid-upper 20's.
As part of your test, after a couple tanks, STOP using it and see how the following tanks are, calculated by total fill up gallons divided by miles driven. I mean total fill up! On my Corolla I can "top off" until filler neck is full and normally do. (The Sequoia holds almost 3 gallons more after the initial fuel shut off click at the pump). I ALWAYS fill up and write gallons and mileage in a book. I'm on my third book with details back to 1993. When I add the BG now it does not go up much as my injectors and other parts are clean and stay pretty good I'm presuming. I could probably add 3 oz everytank and won't see any increase (or decrease) consistently except for driving habits. 10 years ago I was able to repeat 41 mpg on a highway cruise with "stock" (read crappy traction, low rolling resistance) factory tires from NY to Carolina. The 38 was through hillier areas NY to MA and back a couple times with Q rated friction snow tires.
I'm not an engineer/chemist and don't believe that adding plain acetone to current fuel formulas would produce x% increase to everybody with out some nasty side effects.
I can tell you that "incompatible" caustic cleaners cause total CHAOS to the seals in our multi million dollar kettles. The basic high dollar lesson from the companies was "we didn't design the seals to work with that much of product X". We ARE however willing to send a rep from Germany to replace them for you at XXX cost. Lesson learned, "we" now use a different cleaner that is tested and approved.
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I do work with acetone on a regular basis in my chemisty lab and am well aware of it's corrosive properties.
My only incentive to adding this was that I knew that it most likely would clean out my injectors, and it seems as though it has. I did plan to stop using it to see if my millage would go back down, but I am still on my first tank, so it'll be awhile.
I would not spend over $20 for a gallon of this though and use it every time. I simply asked my chem prof. if I could use about 2oz. and she was cool with it. She said (in a very cool accent by the way!), "Of course you can; I don't blame you either considering gas prices. Let me know if it works; I think that it would" That's my chem prof. talking there, not me! She is an incredible lady and her knowledge of acetone and any other chemical is incredibly vast; so I had some added faith in trying this because of her.
I will let you all know of the outcome. I really do appreciate your input sequoiasoon, and I take those kind of helpful and knowledgable words to heart. So please anybody else reading this, it is not required for you to say anything "smart" or not helpful about this topic. I have heard it, and read it, all before in other posts.
Thanks agian.