# Acetone as an additive **URL:** \ **Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\ **Created:** [August 4, 2008, 8:25pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/acetone-as-an-additive/17674 "2008-08-04T20:25:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![eds1951](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/2acd7d/32.png) [@eds1951](https://community.cartalk.com/u/eds1951)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2008, 8:25pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/acetone-as-an-additive/17674/1 "2008-08-04T20:25:55Z")
I found a website where a scientist has done extensive research using acetone as a fuel additive. I tried it and my fuel mileage increased and my car no longer hesitates. Anyone have a similar experience? ---
**Author:** ![texases](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/texases/32/862_2.png) [@texases](https://community.cartalk.com/u/texases)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2008, 8:26pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/acetone-as-an-additive/17674/2 "2008-08-04T20:26:50Z")
Watch out, I’ve read where that can degrade the components in your fuel system. Also, Snopes calls it a myth: [http://www.snopes.com/autos/techno/acetone.asp](http://www.snopes.com/autos/techno/acetone.asp) And Tom & Ray call it Booooooogus: [http://www.cartalk.com/content/columns/Archive/2006/January/08.html](http://www.cartalk.com/content/columns/Archive/2006/January/08.html) ---
**Author:** ![eds1951](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/2acd7d/32.png) [@eds1951](https://community.cartalk.com/u/eds1951)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2008, 8:31pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/acetone-as-an-additive/17674/3 "2008-08-04T20:31:25Z")
Thanks…my car is 12 years old, so it is just an experiment right now and I don’t care if my engine explodes. I will NOT recommend it to my friends…yet. ---
**Author:** ![SteveF](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/stevef/32/2_2.png) [@SteveF](https://community.cartalk.com/u/SteveF)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2008, 8:51pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/acetone-as-an-additive/17674/4 "2008-08-04T20:51:39Z")
Adding acetone for improved mpg is a well-tested urban myth. If you are convinced your car performs better, go ahead. Keep using it. The rest of us know enough to put nothing in the fuel tank but gasoline. ---
**Author:** ![Docnick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Docnick](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Docnick)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2008, 8:57pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/acetone-as-an-additive/17674/5 "2008-08-04T20:57:16Z")
My wife uses acetone as a nail polish remover. The stuff is sold in cans and is rather expensive, much more so than gasoline. A few years ago something called RED-X was sold as a milegae improver. It cost over $10 for a little can and I can’t recall anyone who made it pay. As per other posters, it can also damage your engine. As for mileage improvement, you have no doubt heard about the “Placebo Effect”. Anytime one is involved in an experiment, normal behavior goes out the window, and the subjects behave differently. The original observations date back to the 1920s at Western Electric’s Hawthorne plant. You are probably driving more carefully doing this acetone experiment. As a result, you are also getting better mileage. Changing your driving style does more to improve mileage than any of the miracle elixers or gadgets can give you. ---
**Author:** ![JoeMario](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3bc359/32.png) [@JoeMario](https://community.cartalk.com/u/JoeMario)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2008, 9:12pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/acetone-as-an-additive/17674/6 "2008-08-04T21:12:59Z")
Do a search for acetone on this forum and read through the discussions. You’ll see an overwhelming majority of contributors fully understand the acetone scam for what it’s worth. ---
**Author:** ![Joseph\_E\_Meehan](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/joseph_e_meehan/32/21_2.png) [@Joseph\_E\_Meehan](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Joseph_E_Meehan)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2008, 11:16pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/acetone-as-an-additive/17674/7 "2008-08-04T23:16:10Z")
A fun idea, but frankly unless you have some very specific problems that could be better and more safely solved with main line products like Seafoam from your local auto parts store, it will not help at all and could do some damage. That old urban legion has been around a very long time. ---
**Author:** ![ok4450](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ok4450](https://community.cartalk.com/u/ok4450)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 4:22am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/acetone-as-an-additive/17674/8 "2008-08-05T04:22:27Z")
It’s bunk of course. The only way acetone is going to improve anything, if at all, is if there was some fluky pre-existing condition causing poor performance and the acetone just happened to clean this problem up. After a somewhat volatile discussion here several years back on this subject I subjected my Lincoln to an acetone test on an out of state road trip although my personal opinion was that if acetone did anything at all it would be added to the gasoline at the refinery under Federal mandate. My road trip test (following the instructions just as recommended) gave me 27 MPG going and 27 MPG coming back. This is the same mileage I always get even without the acetone. If this “scientist” you’re referring to is the Right Honorable Louis LaPointe, the guy is nothing more than someone with too much time on his hands and a pretty shady method of figuring mileage to boot.