Has anyone considered or tried the acetone as a fuel additive? Awhile ago, I did a lot a research on it, and it seemed like a good argument. I tried it in the 535 and didn’t get a whole lot out of it, I calculated about an 11% improvement in my fuel efficiency. But maybe it’s the car, and it was in the dead of winter on one of the the nice cold windy Buffalo days. Has anyone else tried it? Thoughts?
Well I think that’s kind of what my wonder is and the question for debate. There’s not a whole lot of documentation on it’s effects on rubber and plastics when diluted with gasoline. But I know for sure, in its pure form, it’s not the greatest.
There was a thread about this on the Expedition forum. Most found an initial improvement (15% or so) that fell off considerably after a few tanks.
My opinion… If there was a miracle device/additive that would make a big difference in fuel economy without adverse side effects, car companies would all ready be using it.
I am not in the mood to write an essay, this info is freely available. But the right AF ratio for max hp may be richer, leaner, or exactly what your car currently runs at. Any of the three are possible and which is operative will also depend on conditions. However, when I said that simply dumping acetone in will make it leaner AND decrease hp, I didn’t mean to imply less hp 'cause it’s leaner (see above). If there are no other changes, you will be replacing equal volumes of a fuel with a higher energy density (gas) with a fuel with lower energy density (acetone). So, unless some very strange stuff is going on you can be pretty sure power will decrease. Now, if you retune for the acetone, it’s another matter. And then OTOH, adding acetone may decrease knock. If your ECU is pulling timing due to knock sensor activity that might help power.
So, while generalizations always have specific exceptions, in this case I stand by my original generalization as generally true. Add some acetone and make no other changes and the result will be less hp and a leaner running engine, generally speaking.