Acetone and reprogramming...
 

I'm not looking to initiate a huge debacle on the addition of acetone to fuel in a vehicle, because I feel that everyone is generally intelligent enough to devise their own conclusions based on the wealth of info on the topic.:sigh:

Simple question... would adding acetone to the fuel require tuning to a higher octane program? IE. would adding 6oz of acetone to 25 gallons of 87 octane require a bump to a 91 perf. tune or somehow require a different alteration in the gryphon programming?

I think "debacle' is probably the correct word here, but I suspect you may have meant "debate". :)

I honestly don't think acetone is going to do anything one way or another. I've certainly read the "add acetone" articles that say it will boost your mileage and I even tried it (since I know acetone is flammable and didn't see how such a small amount could really hurt anything). In my case, it did not change my fuel economy at all, so I stopped using it.

I doubt you'd be able to use a higher octane program with acetone. I'm pretty sure it is more volatile than gasoline so if anything, I'd think it might LOWER the octane rating of the mixture. But, even if I'm wrong on this, the percentage cannot significantly change the octane rating anyway. Your 6 oz per 25 gal mixture is 6/3200 = 0.19% acetone (less than 2 tenths of a percent) - so I can't imagine it has much effect at all.

About the only REAL effect of adding acetone is if you happen to spill some on your truck's paint. It's an excellent paint remover/finish destroyer! (No, I didn't spill any). :hehe:

- Jack

Hah, thanks Jack, but I did, indeed, mean "debacle". It's been nothing short of that in everything that I have read.

Nevertheless, thanks for the insight. I, too, have tried this and it has so far shown be an extra 25-47 miles per tank. With too many variables to draw a conclusion for sure, I'll keep experimenting.

Hey, I came across some articles about this too. Quite a while ago, I might add. Just didn't seem like it was something I was willing to do with this truck. Besides, I don't know if I'd want to see if long term use in the truck would eventually damage anything in the fuel system. I know we had a heck of time with some of the sending units on Jags, which were pretty much produced by a Ford supplier (complete with Ford engineering numbers).

I don't know that long term use will hurt anything - the concentration is VERY low. And, I think that most injector cleaners might contain acetone too. But, it IS a powerful solvent and you certainly do not want to get it on your paint.

The "researcher" who wrote about it is very convincing until he turns his discussion into a "rant" against big oil companies and how they're in cahoots with automakers to force you to buy more of their product. That argument never holds up, especially now. It's in everyone's interest to cut fuel usage if possible. If we do, we prolong the life of the internal combustion engine, and, oil producers can just charge more per gallon if vehicles use less.

If we run out of oil though, an alternative energy source will have to be devised, and that may cut oil companies out of the picture completely. It certainly makes their investment in refineries, drilling operations and fuel distribution networks worthless.

Additionally, the entire engine manufacturing industry would have to completely retool, discarding their current manufacturing system.

It is clearly in the interest of both oil and auto manufacturers to make small "adjustments" to the current technology to extend its life as long as possible. Oil companies already put all kinds of "additives" in gas to improve its performance. In my opinion, they would not hesitate to add this little bit of acetone if it really did anything.

- Jack