I'm really hurting...

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Monty,

Ain't that the truth [B)]

Anyway, after reading the lengthy thread about acetone on woodworking.com I went ahead and braved to do a test. I'll probably do this the next few tank fullls which shouldn't take long ;) and report my findings.

It will be easy since I have been monitoring my mileage for the past 5 years LOL and I average 3,000 miles a month [V] (about 6 tanks).

For those who want to read about the acetone here are a few links:
http://pesn.com/2005/03/17/6900069_Acetone/
http://www.lubedev.com/smartgas/additive.htm

I am not endorsing it but as I said...will do the test in case it really works. I have gallons of acetone on stock anyway [:D][:p].

The biggest concern is will acetone damage any car components and after weighing/considering all arguments I believe (and I may be mistaken) that it shouldn't especially at that dilluted amount (from 1-3 oz acetone per 10 gallons of gas).
 
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And one of the biggest guns blocking windmills in Sen. Kennedy who doesn't want is pristine ocean view diturbed....

WE NEED ALTERNATIVE FUELS...NOW and should start pressuring the pols...
 
Dario,
One thing I see with that artical about acetone they dont really talk to much about using it in a fuel injected car. Deisels are injected yes but they dont run in tank electric fuel pumps in them. The reason why most cars still arent E85 approved is that the alcohol eats the coating off the windings on the pump and fuel injectors.

The better for most vehicles just run top tier fuel. http://www.toptiergas.com/index.html
 
Dario,i'm not an expert at anything,but i don't think i would put anything in my truck that the manufacturer did'nt recomend,and if you think it's hard now just wait a few weeks,now they have an excuse to get the price of fuel up where they want it,who's fault is it OURS for electing the wrong people,nuff said.
 
Originally posted by clewless
<br />And one of the biggest guns blocking windmills in Sen. Kennedy who doesn't want is pristine ocean view diturbed....
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The Senator of note I mentioned [}:)][}:)][}:)]

Gas Pices are down signifigantly today!!! I think the pols heard of a potential hoard of pen turners that were going to storm their respective state capitols waving toy windmills [:eek:)][:eek:)]

Gary
 
Somebody mentioned that ethanol is maybe not cost effective. That is actually true, BUT only for corn production. Bio-ethanol is where we need to be spending our research time. (that is, cellulostic waste being converted into sugars which are then fermented). As many of you know, I am a research chemist and I get the pleasure of being involved in this.

Corn is limited by how much can be grown (by land area, water, etc). Waste cellulostic items (straw, wood, corn stover, etc, etc, etc) are in unlimited forms and it takes no money or energy to produce these (they already exist in huge quantities).

The US government is trying to research this using an enzyme to break the cellulose down to basic sugars. Another possibility is using a strong acid to hydrolyze the cellulose. The Japanese have looked into this very deeply. I attached a presentation the Japanese company NEDO with JGC did. It is being pursued by a company in the US called Bluefire Ethanol right now. BTW, the last page in the presentation shows a picture of some of the people involved in the project at a facility in Japan. It labels them as their "trained and professional staff", but this is not true. They added a couple other guys to the picture that don't work for them.
http://www.bluefireethanol.com/images/IZUMI_Status_2004_for_BlueFire_051606.pdf
I am the one on the right in the back row.[:D]
 
Originally posted by Dario
<br />I know about the tax credit $2,000.00 I believe? The amount over the MSRP is not a rumor either. I know a few who paid that and they are not from Hollywood [;)]...but those were about two years ago. Then, Toyota Prius sells more than a Camry does. I know because I inquired. Production might have caught up with the demand now though....in which case they should go lower.

Note that the calculation was done with comparable sized vehicle (Toyota Tercel at that time I believe which is even smaller than the Corolla). They got the price difference then used that to calculate the savings per month.

Don't get me wrong, I am an advocate for more energy efficient vehicles.

I apologize for using an outdated study though [B)]
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My son paid $26,000.00 for his Prius. His was a loaded model, all the extras. This really isn't any different than a well equiped model of almost any other mid-size car on the market. I don't know what he paid for the Highlander but he did buy it off the lot. No waiting on a list and no having to bribe anyone. Mentioned in another post is the used battery issue. I'm sure the trade-in value will be pretty low. Wouldn't make much sense to buy a $10,000.00 used Prius then spend another $10,000.00 for batteries.
 
Heck just get a diesil and start running biodiesil in it. friend of mine tried it out in his and runbs pretty good I was impressed.
 
The cost of gas actually has influenced our decision where to live when we move back east quite a bit. First we thought that we end up in eastern PA (Easton area) and I would drive daily, as many of my colleagues now do, into central NJ. But at $3 per gallon, and this is not going down again (in Germany my brothers already paying $6.75 per gal!!!), we thought we maybe look to find a house closer to work. We found a house approx. 9 miles away from my workplace instead of doing 55-60 twice daily. Doing the math at 25 mpg, the savings for me alone are over $200 a month!! Not counting the reduced wear and tear on the car, nerves and time saved not being behind the wheel, but in my shop turning pens!!
 
The other day I ran into a Starbuck's for a very rare purchase of a Java Chip Frapacino ($4 and yes I think that is insane but it really tastes good, and sometimes you need a caffiene hit) and I got the biggest kick out of hearing two Starbuck's regulars (the staff welcomed them by name) complaining that gas was so expensive while they ordered their "regulars" from the clerk for more than $4 each, and after she paid said see you tomorrow.

I dislike paying a lot for gas as much as everyone else, but you get to hear the complaints in most interesting places. Let's all just be glad that our cars don't run off Starbucks coffee.

Drew
 
Originally posted by GBusardo
<br />PS I didn't know about the cost of a battery, so I did some reasearch. check this out if you are interested. The cost is conciderably less than $8000

http://hybridcars.about.com/od/hybridcarfaq/f/batterycost.htm
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My son, the Prius owner, had been out of town. Today I posed the $8000.00 battery issue to him. Below is his response:

&lt;&lt;&lt;&lt;There have only ever been a handful of batteries replaced in both the first and second generation Prius. The battery is designed to last the life of the vehicle. There are multiple Prius running, on the original battery, at 250k miles. There are literally fleets of Prius running in Canada with no battery issues at all.

There are personal friends of mine at well over 100k miles with no sign of deterioration of the battery.

The handful of batteries requiring replacement were done either under warranty (which goes to 100k miles in the US, and 150k miles in states with California Emissions requirements), or for less than $3000 (full cost of a brand new battery), though most expect they would only need to pay around $500-1000 for a refurb or salvage battery. Considering the minimal engine wear, fewer moving parts, lack of a traditional transmission (also a frequent failure part requiring expensive replacement on traditional cars) the Prius is quite economical.

And, no, it can't run on the ICE alone...it can, briefly, run on the battery/motor alone, but the ICE can't start without the traction battery.

Please point those with further questions that want accurate informed answers to http://www.priuschat.com where we can give them good accurate information. They might also be interested in looking at the resale values of the Prius on a site like Edmunds.com...they'll find that they're holding their value quite well. &gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;
 
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