Acetone in Your Fuel
Does Acetone actually increase your fuel milage?
Acetone is a very interesting substance, and has yet to be proven as a carcinogen. It has also yet to be proven as a miracle fuel mileage extender! This along with many other "add this or that to your gas" myths are nothing new, just the naive people that buy into them, but new fools are in endless supply.
I use Acetone frequently for various purposes, one of which is cleaning up tools and my own hands. It relatively safely removes RTV sealants, glues, and non-water based paints from a surface. Unlike denatured alcohol (paint thinner), Acetone "removes" rather than "dilutes," and common paint thinner has been proven to be a carcinogen. I'd rather use Acetone.
Acetone dissolves anything vinyl on contact, so you want to take care what you splash it onto by accident. Acetone is also used in women's nail polish remover. Nail polish remover is a diluted mixture of acetone, gelatin and often perfumes. Women could save money and just buy industrial acetone at the hardware store. It will not burn the skin on contact and should just as safely remove nail polish, if not much more efficiently.
Observing Acetone in an open container, one quickly notices it boils at room temperature. Acetone is unstable at room temperature under our atmospheric pressure. Consequently, your open container of Acetone will boil away by the end of the day.
Your automobile fuel system is not a sealed system. The fuel tank ventilates, so that it does not build up pressure and explode. When you add acetone to your fuel, it will simply evaporate within a few hours. It does not chemically bond with the fuel and detergents, and it remains unstable.
- The television program Myth Busters disproved the Acetone added to your fuel increases milage urban myth recently.
- Tom and Ray of NPR's Car Talk say that claims of acetone increasing gas mileage is completely bogus:
It's worse than useless -- it's also harmful. Acetone is the primary ingredient in nail-polish remover. And while it will burn and is a high-octane material, it's also a very powerful solvent. So while it's in your fuel system, it'll be eagerly dissolving all of your rubber components ... like gaskets and O-rings.
