So it's a pain in the butt, destroys my engine (almost certainly with a voided warranty for doing this) and can kill the paint if I'm not careful? I'm gonna pass.

 

I wouldn't try it. I always fall back to if it was that simple, the car manufacturers would already have an acetone injection system.

 

I wouldn't try it. I always fall back to if it was that simple, the car manufacturers would already have an acetone injection system.

I usually follow that logic too but I thought about it since one of the admins on the contour site (who is an automotive engineer) and usually doesn't believe in 'snake oils' and other useless add-ons, has been using it and is pretty happy with the results. No side effects after many years of use and mpg has remained high.

Results vary by engine and so I may try it with my Contour since it has already been tried.
The link that I posted earlier also doesn't seem like it's promoting or selling acetone. Maybe the scangauge though

 

So if he strapped a JATO rocket to the roof you'd consider it too?

 

So if he strapped a JATO rocket to the roof you'd consider it too?

He's been really helpful for the past 7 years and so if he said that he tried it and it worked for him, I would consider it. He probably knows Contours and transmissions better than anyone else I know.
He usually provides good reasoning for what he does and I have the intelligence to do my own research too.

 

So it's a pain in the butt, destroys my engine (almost certainly with a voided warranty for doing this) and can kill the paint if I'm not careful? I'm gonna pass.

I agree.

I wouldn't try it. I always fall back to if it was that simple, the car manufacturers would already have an acetone injection system.

... or the oil companies would put it in the gas as a premium feature. Like all easy answers, this is one is not valid.

From the linked site:

Acetone said to improve the fuel's ability to vaporize completely by eliminating the surface tension that causes an increase in particulate vaporization temperature. (PESN; March 18, 2005)
A growing number of people are reporting their results, as tabulated here. Most have noted modest increased mileage (e.g. 2-15%)...

If 2% to 15% of the fuel were not vapourizing and thus not burning the engine's emissions would be horrendous. If the stuff works, a different mechanism is at work.

Again from the linked site:

Acetone is a solvent that can be used as an additive for boosting octane levels in gasoline.

There you go; a plausible explanation. If a vehicle with a modern engine management system is fed fuel which is inadequate in octane level, it will adjust (such as by retarding ignition timing) to prevent preignition and suffer in both power and economy. Correcting the octane deficit thus improves power and fuel economy. Octane requirements - and thus the potential for improvement - obviously will vary by make and model, and even by individual vehicle. Is acetone the best way to boost octane, or even a rational option?

I did not read all (or really any) of the anecdotal evidence (since I have no intention of adding acetone), but if I were to look for useful experimental results I would want a comparison in rigourously controlled conditions of regular gasoline, premium (higher octane) gasoline, regular with a commercially available octane-boosting additive, and regular with acetone at multiple concentrations. Anything less is playing, not research. Two consecutive runs of 100 miles on real roads (for example) are unlikely to produce consistent results within 2% even with identical fuel; they cannot distinguish the effect of a fuel change to that precision.

This is all, of course, just my opinion. In case it is not evident here, I'm not a fan of snake oil.

 

I am not a chemist. I wonder if it eats plastic/rubber or has a residue.

*old story* OK I worked for Pioneer petroleums back in 1986-1987. They came out with a new fuel (MX) It had an additive to it.(forget what is was and do not care @ this time). Guys loved the fuel and said it made a difference. (remember guy's were running mussle cars/carbs point ignition ETC) I guess this fuel passed some sort of *testing* and was good to go for the market. Well it seemed to have a very bad effect on the old carb's with plastic floats and the needle/seat. The additive will eat away at the plastic/or foam floats and the rubber on the needle seat area.*old story over* ;D

I used to race and have tryed may things in my days. I would like to see where this thread goes over the time.

Any info on emmisions? We have "drive-clean" in my area. We have to get our emmisions tested every 2 years. Standard set by the "MAN"(government)