Acetone in Diesel Fuel???

[phaedrus]

The field tests for acetone may be confounded a bit by the change to low sulphur fuel that's going on. note that LSDF has according to wiki article, less bang and lower lubricating quality - this would seem to offer slightly higher fuel consumption. If the acetone works and lowers consumption, the gain might be masked by the change in fuel - worse, if damage occurs it may be due to the fuel sand not to acetone.  excerpt:

"Sulfur is not a lubricant, however the process used to reduce the Sulfur also reduces the fuel's lubricating properties. Lubricity is a measure of the fuel's ability to lubricate and protect the various parts of the engine's fuel injection system from wear. The processing required to reduce sulfur to 15 ppm also removes naturally-occurring lubricity agents in diesel fuel. To manage this change ASTM International (formerly the American Society for Testing and Materials) adopted the lubricity specification defined in ASTM D975 for all diesel fuels and this standard went into effect January 1, 2005. [4]

The refining process that removes the sulfur also reduces the aromatic content and density of the fuel, resulting in a minor decrease in the energy content, by about 1%. This decrease in energy content may result in reduced peak power and fuel economy. The reduction is only slight and will likely go unnoticed.

ULSD will run in any engine designed for the ASTM D-975 diesel fuels."

[Doug]

An ounces of 2 stroke motor oil will help solve the lubricity problem or add an ounce or two of hypoid gear lube or ther high presure lubricating oil per gallon. It doesn't take much.

I don't know if you can get premium diesel fuel in the US, but historicaly Ontario fuels have been the worst because of heavy crude oil that the refineries use from Alberta. The premium diesel is noticably cleaner burning and better starting in winter. The also claim it has better lubricating qualities that I can't be sure of.

Doug

[rcavictim]

Doug,

I don`t know about power differences etc. but I really like the new LSD we get in Ontario for the lack of smell.  Diesel used to be uttwerly foul and a spill on the shop floor would ruin the air in the building for a year.  I haven`t tried but I think the new LSD might be useable instead of kerosene in a wick type heater/lamp indoors (with ventilation).  You could never do that with the old sulfur laden diesel.

[Doug]

Well I stopped buy cetronel oil for the wive's torches....

I like to keep extra fuel at home just in case. So I slip in the shed top up her torches and she never noticed, the new stuff burns clean like quality lamp oil.

Doug

[phaedrus]

Well, I stoped at wallyworld and bought a tin of acetone and a graduated beaker and spiked the fuel - and whaddayaknow! It's subjective at this point but it sure seems like the soot spewingstack stopped spewing soot! If this runs true and becomes a normal procedure I'll have to make a bench space for "doctor chemistry".

P

[jtodd]

Well, I stoped at wallyworld and bought a tin of acetone and a graduated beaker and spiked the fuel - and whaddayaknow! It's subjective at this point but it sure seems like the soot spewingstack stopped spewing soot! If this runs true and becomes a normal procedure I'll have to make a bench space for "doctor chemistry".

P

At what ratio did you add the acetone to the fuel?

Nextly, I've always wondered what happened to the carbon after it gets blown out of the engine.  If you've got carbon build-up on the pistons or in the head, and [hydrogen, propane, acetone, gremlins] chase it out, where does it end up?  Does it just collect in the mufflers, or does it hover somewhere above the exhaust valves, ready to slide back down into the engine when the exhaust stops pushing it outwards?

JT

[Doug]

Carbon end up the same place as drier lint....

Funny that the question of where it goes and how fast came up.

Science has yet to measure the speed of lint. No instruments have yet been built by man that can open a door and catch it. ITS THAT FAST MAN!!!!!

DOug

[phaedrus]

Acetone added at 1 OZ (volume measure) per 5 gallons. Wallyworld had a nice little graduated beaker for less than $2.00 .

As to carbon - while I suppose it would have to (mostly anyway) blow out as carbon solids, the formation of new carbon deposits, if La Pointe's hypothesis is correct, would be minimized by the oxidation of carbon to CO2.


I noticed an immediate reduction in soot around the machine, which had been raining down in the area. This may be a false impression, very subjective. But it suggests that the CO2 path is the dominant one.

P

[listeroidsusa1]

I also tried the acetone in my '84 mazda diesel pickup. After a few miles I noticed in the mirror that it wasn't blowing soot as bad when going up a hill. Throttle response was also subjectively crisper as was acceleration. I don't know whether the acetone helped combustion or cleaned the injectors out but I noticed a definite difference. I've heard that mileage can also increase. So far I've got over 700 miles on this tank and the tank is still half full. It has 2 tanks and holds 37 gallons. I usually get 1200-1400 miles per tank depending upon whether I'm pulling my 5th wheel trailer. I mixed 3 oz. to 36 gallons. This pickup has over 400K miles and still doesn't use any oil between 3000 mile oil changes.

A funny story.......
A few years ago when I bought this truck a lady at work was asking about the gas mileage. I told her I didn't know how good the gas mileage was since I hadn't put any gas in it since I bought it 6 months previously. She said it sure does get good gas mileage, doesn't it! I told her it only had one drawback, it burned a quart of oil every 12 miles. she said,"No, I wouldn't want one that burned that much oil".  I never told her it was a diesel.............

[phaedrus]

Off the topic a bit, but I bought a very nice F-350 pickup with the 7.3L motor and a 5 spd - mechanical injection system, and got a deal at 3k with 100k on the clock - got it cheap 'cause it smoked....

And boy did it! But after I took it out and ran it hard for a few hundred miles it cleaned up. I have been adding a qt of non-detergent 30 weight per fillup per tank since day one. Dunno if that helped or hurt...

[villageidjit]

As to carbon - while I suppose it would have to (mostly anyway) blow out as carbon solids, the formation of new carbon deposits, if La Pointe's hypothesis is correct, would be minimized by the oxidation of carbon to CO2.
I noticed an immediate reduction in soot around the machine, which had been raining down in the area. This may be a false impression, very subjective. But it suggests that the CO2 path is the dominant one.
P

Phaedrus,

Your observations are very interesting.  Mostly the same as I have heard/read elsewhere.

Do your plans include testing acetone in your truck fuel?

Vic

[haganes]

you know for years i have been adding atf to my diesels at a mix rate of one quart to 20 gallons.  i never have had any problems, and never have faced decarbonizing.  i just googled around and found the vast majority of websites warning of potential hazards of adding atf - as well as lubricating oil.  i did, however, find many sites supporting the use of acetone.  here is the link to the one i found most interesting:
http://www.lubedev.com/smartgas/additive.htm

regards,
captain steven

[villageidjit]

Acetone added at 1 OZ (volume measure) per 5 gallons. Wallyworld had a nice little graduated beaker for less than $2.00 .
As to carbon - while I suppose it would have to (mostly anyway) blow out as carbon solids, the formation of new carbon deposits, if La Pointe's hypothesis is correct, would be minimized by the oxidation of carbon to CO2.
I noticed an immediate reduction in soot around the machine, which had been raining down in the area. This may be a false impression, very subjective. But it suggests that the CO2 path is the dominant one.

Phaedrus,

Any further observations to adding acetone to diesel fuel?

Have/are you testing the Ford diesel by adding acetone?

Inquiring minds want to know.....

Vic