Using Chemical Fuel Additives to improve fuel economy

Some of you may have heard about the old trick of adding nail polish remover to your petrol or diesel, to increase power & economy, well don’t do it, you will be sorry and I will tell you why. This old trick was one of the first experiments I tried with additives, and I’m not trying to put you off additives, I thoroughly recommend using chemical additives to improve fuel economy, and with nail polish remover it does appear to work at first. The problem lies in the fact that NPR contains only about 50% Acetone, which is the chemical that is performing all the magic, but there are many other chemicals in nail polish remover (including anti-combustion chemicals), and a high percentage of plain old water. What I discovered very quickly was, that while I temporarily got a lot of extra power (about 30% more) in the first few weeks of use, my mpg actually got WORSE. The water building up in the fuel tank, eventually came back to haunt me in the form of misfires and chugging etc.

The obvious answer to all these problems was to buy the 100% pure stuff (lab grade), which I promptly did. What a difference this stuff made, it was pretty damn impressive to say the least. The car used for those initial experiments was a 1997 Volkswagen Passat 1.8L petrol estate with a manual gearbox. Before I began the experiments it was a complete dog of a car, it had no power, 0-60 in 2 weeks, as for top speed, up to that point in ownership I had never got it over 85mph, it just wouldn’t go any faster. My first experiments with NPR in the Volkswagen, made quite a difference to performance but economy was suffering, partly due to the anti-combustion element of NPR, and also because I began to ‘drive it like I stole it’.

When I began using pure acetone in my petrol mix, things got very interesting indeed. At first I thought that benevolent gremlins had fitted a supercharger to my car during the night, it was truly an amazing transformation, my tired old car now felt like it had only left the factory yesterday. After a little more research on the internet, I discovered what was really happening under the bonnet, and it was all good news. What I discovered was that in a run of the mill petrol car, about 75% of the petrol entering the combustion chamber is wasted. In a diesel car it’s about 65% wasted during combustion, the bottom line is that petrol cars are about 25% efficient and diesel cars about 35% efficient. So what happens when you add in pure acetone? In a nutshell, it slightly alters the characteristics of petrol or diesel fuel, and this alteration produces a cleaner burn and reduces wastage. The full picture of what really happens is deeply technical and way beyond the scope of this article (and my expertise), the knock on effect is more power and better fuel economy, what more can a man ask for?

You will be amazed at just how little acetone is required, and do not increase the amount of additive beyond the recommended mixtures stated below, because it will not make the slightest difference to power or economy, it will just waste your valuable additive (about £10 or $20 for 5 litres).

The recommended mixture for petrol is 3 fluid ounces per 40 litres of petrol (just half a cupfull)

The recommended mixture for diesel is 1.5 fluid ounces per 40 litres of diesel (quarter cupfull)

Disclaimer: You undertake all these activities at your own risk, I will not be held responsible for any damage caused by the use of the information contained in this article or indeed the entire website.

You will feel a significant increase in power using these mixtures, but improvements to economy are minimal (somewhere between 10-25%), to really see a significant improvement in mpg you need to make up your own additive mixture. Bookmark this page and check back soon for my extra tips on making your own acetone based additives, I am currently seeing a 40% improvement using a particular additive mixture in a 2002 Hyundai Accent, I am still testing this new mixture and I will post an update here very soon.

One more thing I would like to mention is how much smoother an engine runs with acetone in the fuel, it turns even the roughest running engine into a silky smooth one. It literally cleans your engine from the inside out, it works like a kind of restoration fluid removing all the old carbon that has built up over the years. New cars will just run a little sweeter, you will feel the biggest difference in cars with more than 50,000 miles on the clock. Although you will always feel an immediate difference in any vehicle, in those older cars, the transformation really begins to happen after the second or third tankful of additive usage. It takes a couple of tankfull’s to remove all the old carbon build up from within your engine, once you pass that stage of usage, the power really begins to kick in.

Here is a related video I came across recently, it was filmed by some nut in the USA, it isn’t a great example of using acetone, as the person is using an automatic petrol car and hasn’t attempted to mix it properly, but it may be of some interest to you anyway. See for yourself.

A Cautionary Tale

Before using additives in my old VW passat, I had a friend fit a cheap exhaust on the car, and to be honest it wasn’t fitted very well, it was a quick fix. The car drove well for a few weeks until I started using additives, now don’t get me wrong here, I am not even slightly trying to discredit the use of acetone, it is my second favourite chemical in the world, but after the second week of using additives in that car, my exhaust fell apart, or more accurately, there was so much extra engine power that it pushed the exhaust apart. Now let me explain what actually happened, the exhaust did not break, it just came apart where the mid section joined the back box, and my friend fixed it again. The following week it happened again, then again the week after that. By then I’d had enough and took it to a proper exhaust fit outlet who fitted the exhaust properly, afterwards, even with continued use of additives the problem never returned. The lesson in this tale is that, if any part or repair on your car is already substandard, don’t go blaming the additive for creating new problems, the problems were always there. The simple lesson I learned with that car was that, if your car already has a weakness, don’t expect an additive to fix the problem, those problems must be fixed before you start looking for a miracle cure. There simply is no excuse for not keeping your car in tip top condition, it should be serviced regularly to get the best possible fuel economy out of it. If you scrimp on servicing you will pay for it at the petrol pumps, at around £50 for a basic engine service, it is money well spent.

In all my experiments with acetone, I have not experienced any other problems related to using this chemical, no corrosion, no melting rubber parts, no other problems at all. Before using additives I would occasionally fill my fuel tank with super unleaded to get a little boost, what I have learned from all my experiments thus far is that, using a little acetone is 200% better than paying extra for super unleaded, it’s also cheaper.

Update:

Just though i’d share this with you:  After running a Volkswagen Polo SDi Diesel for the last 12 months, I can honestly tell you that the biggest improvements using Acetone as an additive, has been with this diesel engine.  It makes such a difference to fuel consumption, engine power and smoothness, it virtually eliminates diesel knock.  I would estimate at least 30% better economy with Acetone in an VW SDi/TDi.  I used standard diesel for the first tankful, then added some acetone in the next one.  The difference was unbelievable, this non-turbo diesel felt like its TDi sister, and I could feel the difference immediately.  The beauty of acetone is that you will feel the power and smoothness within a minute of adding it to the fuel.  Vw Polo 1.9SDi – average mpg = 75