Really?

[Scott K]

So I had a mechanic from a shop call me today, and he asked me one of the dumbest questions I have heard.

OK, let me give a little detail of the story first, then I will tell you the question. If anyone thinks they have a good answer, let me know, I will pass it back to the tech.

A couple years ago there was this invention going around to improve fuel economy by adding h2o into the combustion chamber, since h2o has hydrogen in it, which burns, and the water will cool the combustion chamber down, which increases fuel economy. Well there were several companies selling their version of how to induct the h20 into the cylinder. And I think I just talked to a future genius that thinks he has the best way to do this. Which before I go any further, I want you to think of this before trying it out at home. Water and metal dont mix, they create a reaction, and will do damage overtime!

Now before he told me what his idea was, he made me promise I wouldnt tell anyone else, so they wouldnt steal his idea. So you all have to promise not to say anything to anybody!

He said he had tried a different version of it, but the down side was the injection tube that goes into the water tank would always leak because of the engines compression going into it. So he thought he had an answer to it, why not just mix the water in the vehicles gas tank, then it will get into the combustion chamber through the factory fuel lines, and through the injectors. So he tried it, on one of his vehicles, said it works great, but it suddenly created a missfire as the tank got emptier, the miss got worse. He wanted to know if I knew a way to keep the gas and water mixed better, he said he installed an electric fuel pump inside of his gas tank that just recirculated the gas and was suppose to mix the water and the gas so he wouldnt have this problem.

I told him, that there was just so many things wrong with his idea, and it would just create so many problems in the fuel system, and eventually in the engine, that I strongly recommended to not do this. But he insisted it worked great until the tank got low, so all he needed to do is come up with a way to keep the water mixed thoroughly with the gas, and tried to explain to me why it would work, and that I wasnt being any help, because I dont believe in saving the earth, and I just wanted to continue to use fossil fuels. I was a little loss for words at that point.

Any how, that was my amusement for the month. Again, if you have any great ideas about this, I will pass it along to the tech, and remember, dont tell anyone his secret invention

[311Hemi]

What shop was this again?

[Jeremy airjer W]

WOW!

We have a couple of customers that have installed the hydrogen generators on there vehicles. One of them is a Toyota Camry 2.2 liter and he swears he gets 2-3 more miles to the gallon with it on the freeway?

[Jeremy airjer W]

I think I have an idea on whats going on.

when the tank is full the fuel that cavitates or foams rises to the top where it is seperated by the larger volume of liquid fuel. As the fuel level drops there is less volume which makes more room for the foam.

If he installed a pressure regulator on the discharge side of the mixing pump and discharged the mixed fuel in the lowest part of the tank he might decrease some of the cavitation.

The other thought is to cap off the return line at the injector rail and figure out a way to regulate fuel pressure at the pump inside the tank. That way he could control where his discharge goes and fuel would still constantly circulate in the tank and he could eliminate his mixing pump.

[Scott K]

What shop was this again?

It was from a couple states to the SE of here

[Scott K]

I am thinking the missfire was due to the fact it has water in the fuel. There just isnt no way that would work, as water does not have any btu, and the hydrogen in it wont separate by mixing it with gas, and trying to burn it in the combustion chamber. I can possible see how water can cool the combustion chamber, which in theory a cooler combustion would create better economy, but again, we are talking water, which isnt burning, and will only cause havoc in the cylinder. And any little bit of benefit he would get from the cooler combustion, would be more then lost due to the fact the engine isnt running correct, because there is water in the fuel. At least that is my opinion.

Maybe he is on to something, but I personally think he is just on something!

[Jeremy airjer W]

I say you send him all the ideas and let him roll with it! He he he he!!!! If nothing else it will mean more down time for the vehicle which has to be better for it than running on fuel and water! lol

[Jeremy airjer W]

OOOOHHHHH! i just had a break through. Tell him he needs to use "heavy water". You know the stuff they use in nuclear reactors because it has the extra hydrogen atom or something in it! Lol, that has to be the ticket!!

[Scott K]

Maybe I should tell him to try using 50/50 gas and Evian water. At $1.59 for a pint

[fishing tech]

Tell him to use a kitchen aid blender in the tank.

[Tom7227]

Back a long time ago I was a mechanic on C-97's and the had huge 16 cylinder recip engines. They had a system where they injected water into the cylinders to crank up the power. I only worked on them for about a year and we never came close to using this type of thing, but the USAF thinks it works. Might be a bit more complicated system than the average guy can slap onto his wheels.

[croixflats]

Years ago,85', I bought a engine block from a drag racer and I was shootin the breeze with him and he showed me a water injector system he installed on his new firebird at the time. As the motor in the firebird was taken out and tweaked with new cams and such. He claimed the water injection added more horses and the big benefit help the engine run smoother with new aggressive cam. The car sure did sound nice with that serious lope when it idled.

I don't remember how this system was set up but I thought throw it out there that water being injected in the motor has been around for a while.

Oh, that engine block I bought well I didn't get a chance to work on it as someone stole it. Sweet block to and I had a 68 firebird to put it into.

[deadeye]

Water injection works great for performance motors by cooling the intake charge resulting in less knock and lower EGT's. This allows more boost, timing, or compression depending on what the motor is.

Water injection uses a sprayer which is similar to a injector so water isn't just dumped in. Its also usually on a rpm or MAP switch so its not on all the time, just when it's needed.

Most of the time now they use methanol (washer fluid or a more potent formula) for this kind of stuff since its got a little more oomph than just water.

Im not sure what they were doing dumping water into the fuel though. H2o and H are not really the same thing even though one contains the other. They are supposed to be injecting hydrogen gas, not h2o, to get the mpg effect (which is marginal at best). Even then the generators don't really make enough to make it worthwhile. They would be better off being nice to the gas pedal, you can get 20% or more if your easy on it. If it really worked the OEM's would be all over it to meet the ever better mpgs they got to meet.