Gone Are The Days

Well sure, the new release of the W4G books is about to come out, and they're taking the technology global. The the books are going to be free now instead of costing $99 or $59 (on sale in the last days...)

So the movement is expanding, and people are getting on-board and understanding that the high cost of driving can at least be reduced. That's good. The technology is getting better, and in many cases one no longer needs a dialed-gadget installed on or under the dashboard (things that made my wife give me that look).

On the other hand there is indeed something missing isn't there? The first and foremost missing item is the cheap "sex sells" logo at the the top of all the W4G site pages. All I can say about that is  - finally! But there's also that missing element of the average person taking a few common ingredients, figuring out how to make or where to buy specific parts, and assemble something unique. This was that something that opened the world of using water to extend mileage. It was suddenly yours to understand and implement. As it turns out the technology has grown to the degree that all you have to do now is buy a kit.  You can still get the books, but the focus has switched to getting something packaged and shiny. It is after all the American way. Why make a hard-boiled egg when you can buy one  pre-boiled and wrapped in plastic? Here's the email I received this morning:

Hi Guys!
The complete set of eBooks is nearing completion and will be uploaded to the servers on Wednesday, March 10th at 12:01 am Pacific Standard Time!
Thank you for your support during this lengthy process. As the revisions were made,many tens of thousands of people continued to sign up and expand our membership!
Now we are poised for the next huge release as promised: The International Showcase of HHO Technology and Global Membership Community!
All this follows the critical March 10th Release Date - Be Ready!
Make sure you are registered for access by signing up or confirming your subscription here: water4gas.com/join.htm
Happy Water-Fuel Motoring!
Ozzie Freedom
Founder, Water4Gas

I don't want anyone to get me wrong on this - I fully support this movement, and I do believe that it is something that is needed in the world, but I miss the connection to personal innovation that was inherent in the early days of a couple of years ago. I also miss that feeling of a grass roots movement, fighting the powers of the oil companies. I miss my part in that process when I identified parts that were difficult to make or come by and created a small business where I sold those few items (at a very small mark up) to others who recognized that what I was doing had as much to do with my personal sense of integrity as with anything else. (I always made sure to provide links and connections to people who were selling similar items to my own - encouraging the expansion of the movement in as many ways as possible.) 

Those days are now past. At some point Ozzie stopped communicating with me on any level but as a possible dollar sign. What has really happened? I suppose that W4G has gone the way of so many great underground movements: it has become a corporate entity that has it's sights set clearly on the bottom line. 

Ah well. Notice that the link in the copy of the email above is a live one. In spite of  the demise of my early close personal connection with W4G - I continue to support any technology that will drive down the costs of driving while cleaning up the environment at the same time. I encourage anyone who is not already involved to sign up if for no other reason but to find out the possibilities. I say, let's get on with it. But I also say this: keep an eye to a future that may well reveal something else that might do the same things - but once again returning the power of making it work to the common person. 

As I've said many times in the past: the goal is not always about making money, rather it is about making this planet a better place Right?

The Way Things Stand Now

As most of you know I've been away from this blog for quite some time. Part of that had to do with the accident, and part of it has to do with my relationship to Water4Gas. Obviously, I continue to sell hard-to-find and hard-to-make W4G parts, and I fully support the technology.

As one of the very few original people marketing my products in the W4G Marketplace I believe that I was of real assistance in helping quite a lot of people get started. The fact is that it was o early on that when I signed up and received the books Ozzie Freedom called me himself to welcome me onboard and let me know that he was around to help if I needed it...

Later on when I found that the W4G Marketplace was operating in a way that made it impossible for newcomers to get in and offer their products I took a stand and helped usher in a better and more fair way of showing product and services for sale. Many of my fellow dealers called to thank me. A couple of those who were at the heart of the problems on the site called to rage at me... Ah well, what I did was right, and I would do it again.

Things changed toward the end of last year and W4G instituted a transformation in the way dealers of parts and systems etc. could be supported. What they did was they sent out a letter encouraging all dealers, including myself, to set up an Affiliate Program so that W4G could then become our affiliate instead of the other way around, and would thus make money when they directed people to us. Well that sounded like a great idea and I got on it immediately. With a lot of work and a fair amount of money I did exactly as they asked and then using the form they sent out I submitted my site and information. They never responded in any way. I sent it again. Again, they did not respond... This happened six times. As recently as a month ago I submitted the information again. They act as if I do not exist, yet still, because I know the value of the technology I continue to support it, I continue to sell W4G parts at IgnitingWater.com, obviously I've not made the blog disappear, and I continue to reach out to W4G in hopes that they will at some point realize that it is a good thing to have me in their corner.

All of this may not be directly related to assisting everyone who wants to to turn their car into something more than the automakers were willing to do, but I believe that it is important to be truthful in all aspects of my experience, and this is absolutely a part of that truth.

Drive on,

Jon

Sometimes...

...it's just hard to get rolling again after an extended period, but I'll make the attempt to get back on track. As you can imaging I continue to be quite busy in spite of not posting here all that much. I can only suppose that because I do what I do well - people tell their friends.

Anyway, this post has to do with my ongoing search for an installer in NYC. I had high hopes when over the weekend I received an email informing me that someone was indeed taking on that task here in my neck of the woods (although all the woods have been pretty much chopped down or regulated to parks - but never mind that for the moment).

So that you know how difficult such a search can be I've decided to post the original email (with all identifying information of the sender removed) I received and my response to it. I am not posting this to mock anyone or deter anyone from doing this work. Rather I am posting this so that it's clear to everyone that I'm not willing to just wildly promote anyone without testing their mettle. I actually say in the note on the right side of this blog, "I am looking to be able to recommend persons of the highest integrity and expert level knowledge that can fill this needed position." - These are not idle words, and they are not without meaning. It is important to me that I stay clear in my goal to promote water4gas in a way that supports it over time.

COPY/PASTE BEGINS

xxxx	Sun, Nov 2, 2008 at 8:25 AM
To: jon@ignitingwater.com
Good morning Jon. I am starting installations of systems in the NYC area thanks xxxx xxxx cell:xxx xxx xxxx xxxx@hotmail.com

---

Jon Ellis	Sun, Nov 2, 2008 at 3:24 PM
To: xxxxx
Hi xxxx- Really great to hear that you're doing this. Congratulations! Let me offer my blog as a platform for you to let people know about the installations you've done, and the results that your customers are achieving. Naturally, because I do not know you, or have any personal experience of what you're doing I cannot put myself in a place of recommending your service, but I do fully support it and will do what I can to assist you in having your business grow. If you are interested in making use of the platform I'm offering here please respond to this email and I will place our current communication up on the water4gasreport as a post inviting you to comment further as a response to that post. Once you have made your first comment I will then place a link to your ongoing posts - in the section at the top of the page where I currently have the notice "Seeking a Water4Gas Installer in the NYC Area." Sound good? Let me know. Best, Jon Jonathan Ellis Welling Court | Astoria, New York C: 917 617 6870 jon@ignitingwater.com www.ignitingwater.com http://water4gasreport.blogspot.com/

COPY/PASTE ENDS

Well as it stands now on voting day (yes, I voted already) I've not yet heard anything in return. Hopefully he will respond and I will be able to help him a grow a business that will not only save gas for people but will be a continuing service to the environment. I look forward to the opportunity

Communication About Overheating

Hi Jon, My name is Mike XXX and I purchased some of your products a few weeks ago. I have built one so far and installed it in my 2000 suburban along with a map enhancer purchased on ebay. I been having a problem with overheating and melting the tower, shorting out and blowing fuses. I have lessened the baking soda to 1/8 tsp from 1/4 tsp. Thought may be that could be the problem. And also the water does not last very long. Would you have any suggestions what to do next. Many thanks. Mike XXX

Hi Mike - A couple of things you can look at:

• check to see that you system isn't wired into the alternator in some way
• check to see that you don't have the poles reversed (two strand wire on the Positive side instead of the Negative)

What you're experiencing has to do with too much juice flowing through those wires. I had some similar stuff happen that I ultimately cured by using two Electrolyzers connected in series. - And that series part is all important since it reduced the 12 volts to 6 each across the two units. Once I did that I was able to use as much a 5 teaspoons of Baking Soda per unit with no overheating.

Because this is such a common experience to everyone I've decided to post our conversation to the blog.

Take care Mike and please let me know your results.

Best,

Jon

The Importance of Sealing the Electrolyzer

Early on when I first began to work with Water4Gas on my car I realized that I had a leak around the electrode fittings and made sure to seal them off. At the time I spoke with several people on the forum about this, and everyone agreed that it was important that there be no leaks at all. Also it came up that there was a problem for everyone concerning the plastic caps being used on the Electrolyzer. Lots of people were reporting that after they were in use for a little while that they would warp a bit and consequently they would leak. Many solutions were offered; some of them were good - such as gaskets being made to order, and Form-a-Gasket (a paste type product available in auto parts stores).

But if you've been following this blog you will know that, for me, simply knowing something is not always acting upon it right off the bat. Really although without much energy on it I did make sure to seal off the Electrolyzers that I've made for myself and some friends, but had no acceptable way to test those seals until a few days ago. Strangely about a week ago I had tested a couple of O-Ring Seals that appeared to do the trick: the test was simple - I took a cap that had not been drilled out, put water in it and turned it over. If it leaked then that was obviously not the seal I was looking for. I had it narrowed down to two - one of which was a bit thinner but fit the cap exactly, but I decided against it in favor of the thicker version that on first look is ever so slightly big. As it turns out my instincts were correct and that is the perfect seal. You see there was a further test that hadn't occurred to me. Because I've had such motivating successes with my gas mileage
I decided to check out the creation of "New Water" which utilizes an Electrolyzer in a very specific way. The trick there is that the Electrolyzer must be sealed off completely or when you place the output line into the separate jar you will get no bubbles at all! The Electrolyzer in this case is being put under positive pressure with the Aquarium Pump instead of a vacuum as it is used on a car - meaning that a little soap solution will allow you to see leaks. Well I started with a brand new cap that I had personally attached all of the fittings to, and had personally sealed using Goop. I got no bubbles. One of my Electrode fittings had a minor leak (these seem to be a problem area). I fixed it but still got no bubbles. I found a small leak around the edge of that brand new cap. I tightened it. Still nothing. I grabbed the thinner version of the O-Ring and put it in the cap and still had a leak. I traded out the thinner version for what I now call the "Perfect O-Ring" and wha'-do-ya' know?

Bubbles:-)

I immediately went out and placed the Perfect O-Rings in the Electrolyzers on my car.

Sealing is everything. Well let's just say that sealing is as equally important as every other detail, and all of the details are really, really important. Have I made myself clear? You cannot have any leaks.

Life is Indeed Strange

As you know I've been going through every possible craziness as I move along in my quest for mileage. At this point I have a pretty clear understanding that my MAP Enhancer on the Highway setting somehow had a dead short. I also want to make this clear. I sent off a note to Mr. Minton, the man I purchased my Enhancer from and within an hour or so he called me on the phone. Again he demonstrates his integrity, and is sending a replacement. He will also pull the device I've been using apart so that he can find out what went wrong. As far as I can tell this could have happened to anyone. Nevertheless it's happened to me, and in the interests of telling everything - I feel obligated to tell this as well. To put this in perspective I recently sold 100 of the towers to one of my customers in North Carolina. I received a call from her and she told me that 34 of the towers would not go together without splitting. I immediately sent out replacements. She told me that it seemed as though some of the tower pieces were thicker than others and I wondered aloud how that could possibly be. Well as it turns out she was right! and for the very first time ever I was wrong:-) Can you believe it? - Seriously though, as it happens, when very large shipments of sheet Plexiglas come in they can be ever so slightly different in thickness, and that is exactly what happened - the towers that she received were partially made from one run of the sheets, and the rest from another. The point it is that weird things happen, and all we can do is make sure that no one suffers from those occurrences. I took care of the problem for her and Vernon is taking care of the problem for me. When we come together as people of honor there is no fault, no blame - only solutions.

Now about that receipt you're looking at above - I got 23.37 MPG without the Electrolyzer or the MAP Enhancer working! The only thing I had going for me was the Oxygen Sensor Spacer. The gain I've been getting for the last several fill-ups apparently is from that device alone. What a surprise that turns out to be - especially since, as I mentioned in an earlier post, the next move I intend to make once I install the new MAP Enhancer - is to remove the sensor from the system altogether - to allow the Enhancer to control the amount of gas being used. I still intend to do that and let the results fall where they may. We shall see. We shall see.

New Video - How to Wrap the Wires

So many of you have sent me messages of thanks for the other video on the same subject, so I do understand that it was helpful, and I'm really happy about that. I do however think that this one should be all the more useful since, thanks to my son Josh, my hands remain on the screen at all times.-)

Obviously this one is concentrated on wrapping the tower with 1/4 inch notching, but the principle remains the same for any one of them.

I've also realized that I might make things easier if I include links here to the other two videos that relate to assembling the two parts of the tower and the original one on wrapping the electrode wires onto a tower...

How to Install the MAP Sensor Enhancer

In the past I have asked the same question and it was answered for me by Mr. Minton. Now a man named Eric has asked the question of me and I promised to post the following information here. I am placing a copy/paste of Mr. Minton's instructions to me - as well as a diagram that I created and he kindly corrected for me: copy/paste begins - There are three wires coming out of the MAP Sensor. One is the Ground, one is the 5 volt Sensor Power, and the third is the MAP Sensor Signal to the Car's computer, the ECM. You cut the third wire and splice each end to the MAP Sensor Enhancer according to your instructions.

There are three wires coming out of the MAP Sensor Enhancer. One is Black; connect this to a wire that is attached to your cars frame or similar location. The other two wires are spliced onto the two ends of your MAP Sensor. The Red wire connects to the MAP Sensor signal wire and the Brown wire connects to the wire going to the ECU. When connecting the Enhancer be sure the dials are set to "0". Once you have it installed, turn the lower switch to "Enhanced" and the upper switch to "City". Then slowly turn the "City" dial until your engine starts to sputter, then turn the dial back 1/4 turn.

The following website http://www.hhodevelopment.com/introsupport.htm will explain everything you need to know about the installation. Also, you will need to add an Oxygen Sensor Extender to your O2 Sensor. If you have duel exhausts, you will need two. Your O2 Sensor is located on your exhaust manifold before the catalytic converter. - copy/paste ends

If anyone else has anything to add or subtract from this please do so as a comment for everyone to see and benefit from.

Changed Out the Original Electrolyzer

As you can see I've laid these two towers side by side to compare the differences. Naturally, the one on the right is the one that I built and wrapped, and this photo was taken before I installed it in the car. So it's obvious that it is perfectly clean and has no residue on it. The other - is the one that's been in my car for a bit longer than a month and yes it's nasty looking, but more than that - now that I know what I'm actually looking at: there are very few winds of the electrode wire and worse than that I notice that the negative wire is beginning to rust! This means that this wire is not 316L stainless steel. This means that what I've had sort of working in my car was not made properly and was not made using quality materials. I will not divulge the name of the person who sold it to me, rather I will simply encourage everyone to use the best materials and to treat others in the water4gas community as though they were members of your family. This is not only about the integrity of the product - it is also about allowing people to have the best possible experience as they begin to explore this technology. Let's not discourage others through a greater desire to make money than to have people know that this really works.

When my MAP Sensor Enhancer was not working I could not know until Mr Minton informed me of what had happened. The reality that my electrolyzer in all probability has never worked properly is something I had to discover for myself. If I were not moving along in my quest for understanding I might not have made the discovery. I might have gotten discouraged and even given up never knowing that I was so close.

Anyway the new electolyzer is in the car. All of the areas where it might leak (sucking air through the lid or around the electrical posts) have been carefully sealed. I switched out the universal vacuum fitting for a fitting that exactly fits my hoses. The one thing that I've not yet figured out is how much baking soda to use in the electrolyzer with so many more windings. I will find out and report back here.

One other thing: As soon as I put the new Electrolyzer I went ahead and refilled the tank so that I'd be getting a more accurate measurement for the next posting. It amount that I put in was insignificant and I did not recored that mileage.

Also I just put up the new website www.ignitingwater.com where I am selling support products for water4gas.

Mileage report with the new Enhancer

I'm in that spot again. I want to talk about the incredibly great mileage that I'm getting now that I have placed all of my ducks in a row, however I can't do it! Sure, 23.6 MPG is better than I was doing, but let's face it - I've seen 26. I want 26 again. I want 40!

As most of you must know by now I am fairly persistent, and I'll not let this go until I get what I want. There are certainly enough of you now encouraging me, and telling me that it is possible. Telling me about your Toyota getting mileage that I only dream about. - Thanks a lot. No really, all kidding aside - thank you all.

My thought as I sit here writing this is that I'll go back to the Electrolyzer and put in a new tower with my own windings on it - In the last day I've started producing and selling 1/4" thick towers with notches at the 1/4" so there are nearly twice as many windings apparently producing twice as much HHO so that my car can run leaner. (Thanks to Rod and Steph for cluing me into new info from Ozzie) I expect that I'll have time to do that on Monday.

I feel that I should mention this: The Electrolyzer that I have on my car is not one of the one's that I've made. Rather it is the original one that I bought as a completed item (it has glue on the coils which is obviously something I personally identified as a problem. "Why then," you ask with a look of stunned amazement at my stupidity, "didn't you put one of your own creations on?" - It's a damned good question. I suppose the only real answer is - that I got caught up in the fact that it has worked in the past, and I've been busy: the sales of the towers have taken up a surprising amount of time. More to the point - it didn't occur to me that it might not be delivering the amount of HHO that my car actually needs. (Although that leaves me wondering why it did what it did in the first place.) Nevertheless, I'm now about to remedy that situation.

The way things stand at the moment is that I am in the midst of an experiment, and as it happens I am one of the factors in that experiment. I may well have done something wrong (though I have no idea what) - it might not be my influence at all. I will find out and hopefully this excursion of mine will assist the rest of you.

So one more time I've taken another step. At least it's not a step backward as some others have been, and it's even a slight move forward. Bottom line: I want a giant step forward. Don't we all?

Also I want to add a quick note about the towers: one of my clients let me know that when he was wrapping the electrode wires on one of the 1/8" thick versions he cracked it in half. This is the first and only incidence of this that I know about. I have replaced it with a 1/4" version at my expense. All I can say is that I have personally wrapped about 20 of these things without problem and I expect that it may be as simple as my having a lighter touch. In the last day I've also replaced one of the 1/4" towers - it broke in the mail. What the Post office needed to do to make that happen is almost beyond belief. I guess that I'm just saying that things happen and I will always stand behind my products. If you think that you might be very strong or just want to wrap wires really tight - go for the 1/4" towers.

See you next time I fill up - or before if I think of something really profound to say. - Yeah right.

One last thing waterxfuel is soon to become ingitingwater. Watch for it.

I just put the new MAP Enhancer in.

The wait is over and I've got the new Enhancer in place. I asked for and received the following instruction on how to set up the City side of the Enhancer: When connecting the Enhancer be sure the dials are set to "0". Once you have it installed, turn the lower switch to "Enhanced" and the upper switch to "City". Then slowly turn the "City" dial until your engine starts to sputter, then turn the dial back 1/4 turn. I expect that this will come in handy for anyone going down this path.

ADDED NEXT DAY: I also asked for and received the following information on how to set the Highway side of the Enhancer: The Highway setting is for speeds above 40 mph. Match the HWY Dial to your City setting. After reaching a speed of 40 mph, switch to your dial to HWY and lean it out until your comfortable with your setting. Be careful and do this slowly. You don't want your engine to die at that speed. Also remember, when you want to pass or go up a steep incline, switch your lower switch to Factory so you will have all the power you need. Good info for all.

As I said in the last post I waited to fill up until I got the new gadget, so here are the results - as you can see I didn't do as badly as I'd expected since this works out to 22.9 MPG - (lets call it 23 why don't we) which is nearly couple of miles-per beyond my norm. This was obtained with the Oxygen Sensor Spacer installed as well as the HHO Generator. I suppose if I'd done the battery trick I would have done even better. It just occurred to me, (as I wrote that last line) that I didn't do it when I did the install - so I promise to go out and do it in a little while so that everything starts from an even base.

Wish me luck since my luck will also be yours...

Waiting waiting waiting

Today I waited all day long to receive my replacement MAP Enhancer. The Post Office taunts me with their insane tracking method which lets me know that it has arrived in the local station. Yet, I still do not have it! (See me thrumming my fingers on the desk.) Tomorrow is the day. (One can only hope.) Once I have it installed I'll put gas in my half full tank and report the results of having the Electrolyzer and the Oxygen Sensor Spacer in place. My hopes are not high. I did not bother to reset the computer with the disconnect the battery trick. Figured to do that when I put in the new Enhancer. On the other hand, one of my clients gave me new trick (you know who you are but I've forgotten - please write in as a comment to identify yourself - and I'll inform the readers of your ability to provide awesome information). Instead of pulling the the negative cable and leaving it off for 20 to 30 minutes - pull both cables off and touch them together. Reportedly it will do the same reset without the wait. Now, that's great... Thanks to that guy from all of us...

On the Subject of Brittle Wires

I've received several calls from people who are having a problem with the electrode wires that they are twisting up for themselves (not those that I sell) snapping while they're attempting to twist them up with a drill. Personally, I have not had this experience, but from what I've gathered from those discussions is that some 316L wire is somehow impregnated with silicone and has the designation 316Lsi. I would advise against that purchase since it seems to be at the heart of the problem. The wire that I use comes from a company called McMaster-Barr (link provided) and these are the specs that you want when ordering:

Material	Super Corrosion-Resistant Stainless Steel (Type 316/316L)
Finish/Coating	Matte
Shape	Wire
Wire Type	Standard
Diameter	.032"
Tolerance	Standard
System of Measurement	Inch
Material Certification	Without Material Certification
Gauge	20 AWG
Specifications Met	Not Rated

I encourage anyone who wishes to do so to order from them and twist up your own wires. For those of you who do not want to deal with that - as you may know by now - I sell the complete pre-cut and twisted wire sets for $6.50 [additional info added 7/6/08: for the 30 inch sets and $15.00 for the 60 inch sets] which I see as a very reasonable price for the service.
It's all good.

How to Wrap the Electrode Wires

So yeah. I know that my hands drift out of the screen a few times, but I think that the video is good enough for the time being. I promise to redo it - soon. In the meanwhile please use it and see if it doesn't help you to figure this process out. Personally, I believe in a hands on approach and everyone would best be served by grabbing up a tower and going for it. The worst that could possibly happen would be that you'd do it wrong and have to start over again.

What follows is a copy/paste of a text description of wrapping the electrode wires that I wrote out for one of my clients: at the top of the assembled tower run the first wire through one of the holes there. Do this from the top down so that the looped end (to be attached to the electrode post) is at the top with enough room to make the connection to the post. Begin wrapping the wire - beginning by dropping down a couple of notches. Continue to wrap - skipping every other notch until you reach the bottom where you will push the end of that wire into one of the holes there - and give it a good bend to keep it in place. Repeat the process with the other wire - in the opposite hole on the top and placing it into the notches that you skipped before.. Just remember you're winding in the same direction as the first wire.

Hopefully, between the video (even flawed as it is) and the description you'll find this part of the process relatively easy.

Everyone please feel free to comment, ask questions or make suggestions. - you know the rules:-)

How to assemble the two parts of the tower.

Several people who've purchased the uniquely designed electrolyzer towers from me - have asked how to put the two pieces together, so I've cooked up a little flick (very short) to show just how it's done. When I have a few moments to produce my next extravaganza - I will also upload a video demonstrating how to properly lay in the electrode wires. I hope that this is helpful.

Anyone interested in purchasing towers can just look over at the the sidebar on the right of this blog to see how to do that. Or just write to me at waterxfuel@gmail.com with: how many you want - the thickness you want (1/8 or 1/4 inch) - and the state you live in.

The Mystery May Well Be Solved

So I did find that air leak but it really seemed to me to be a rather insignificant leak - still I was grasping at straws. I just knew that I had to have done something wrong. Well as it turns out it wasn't me at all. The MAP Enhancer that I bought from Vernon Minton was faulty, and the fact is that if he'd not written to tell me about it I never would have known:

Dear Mr. Ellis

The MAP Enhancer we delivered to you may have one or more defective parts. Please ship this unit back to us at: [Address deleted by Jon]

After removing the unit from your system, be sure to reconnect the MAP Sensor Signal wires. If you have a HHO Generator installed, remove the fuse until you re-install your MAP Enhancer.

After we receive the unit, we will immediately priority mail you a new one and credit your PayPal account for the shipping.

We apologize for this inconvenience. If you have any questions, please use this email address.

Thanks,

Vernon F Minton
Once again Mr. Minton has demonstrated his integrity and I for one appreciate it. It would have taken me forever and a day to figure out that something was wrong with the Enhancer. Sure it 's a hassle but such thing happen with computer and TV and what-all, and I've never once had a note from Sony telling me that there was a problem with something that they sold me and that they wanted to make it right. If I found something wrong it's always been up to me to discover it and then go through the maze of telephone robots to get satisfaction.
Rock on Vernon!

I hate to say this, but...

As I've mentioned before I do feel a desire to lie at times like these. I want this to work. When it does work I'm totally jazzed about it. I don't want to report that I'm having a problem. I want to inflate the figures so that this technology will appear to be working better than the results that I am currently experiencing would indicate, but I'm not going to do it! The reality is what it is. As you can see I got approximately 19.6 MPG. Again this is less than I get with no enhancement of any kind. Am I frustrated? YES! Will I give up? No because the fact is that I've seen it work with my own eyes and I expect to see it again. Clearly, I'm doing something wrong and I will get the information that I need to do it right. I happen to be a very persistent person.

In the light of the above I've posted the following in the W4G forum: Ok now I'm totally baffled. I have the MAP Enhancer installed, and can actually hear the difference when switching between "Factory" and "Enhanced." I have a spacer in the upstream Oxygen sensor. I've reduced the amount of baking soda in the electrolyzer to 3/4 tsp. I've made sure that my vacuum lines are as open as possible (cut back the "T's" and reamed them out) - And my mileage is back to 19 MPG! Remember that without any H.H.O. device I was getting 21 MPG... I don't mind being the guinea pig, but I'm actually wasting fuel at a time when that should be considered to be a sin.

I will post the answers here and I will peruse any viable solution and post those results as well. BTW - I filled the tank before hitting the highway yesterday and the round trip was 22.6 miles. At this point I don't know if there was a gain of any kind, but I just thought I'd let you know that that mileage will be included when I post the next results.

UPDATE (a few hours later): I just received this answer to my query: I hope you don't mind me putting in my $0.27 (inflation). I've followed your posts and you see saw mpg's and frankly, I'm (almost) baffled also. The almost is the reason for this letter. That and the fact that I agree about wasting gas should almost be a crime. Of course, some experimentation is justifyable.

So, the thing is, I have posted about the lids on the H.H.O. units not sealing well, and was wondering if you have checked for this problem?
Remember, though they might have sealed when installed, the plastic lid has a tendancy to warp with heat. I use a water-proof silicone, "Form-A-Gasket", as I feel that it is flexible enough to "warp" with the lid.
As you know, excess air leaking into the jar would have the same effect as a leaky vacuum line, causing a loss of performance and lower mpg.

I so appreciate this guy - a really forthcoming person who is willing to share what he knows. So I just checked my electrolyzer for leaks and what do you know I found one! I am going to take care of that but I do wonder just a bit if it's so much more air leaking in than the bubbler delivers (which admittedly isn't much). We shall see. I continue to wait for other possible answers...

About That Oxygen Sensor Spacer

Yesterday I made a valiant effort to install the thing and only managed to scrape my knuckles badly enough that they still hurt. It turns out that (at least for my car) you need a special wrench to pull the sensor out. My friend (and mechanic), Louie lent me the tool but the results were as stated above. Today I went back over to his shop and asked him to do the task for me - which he did in quick order and refused to accept payment. It took him all of 10 minutes. Experience and having the correct tool - counts.

So as you know I'd already put in the MAP Enhancer. So as a consequence of my failed attempt at installation - I'd already driven 29.4 miles - when the spacer was actually installed. So - I did drive around a bit with that piece of the puzzle missing, but also felt that I was getting a true gain that would show up with the spacer in or not. What happened next was unexpected but it was something that I noticed immediately upon driving out of Louie's shop: my MAP Enhancer needed to be readjusted to a leaner mixture. There was no doubt that something different was going on. It was unmistakable.

My next posting will contain my newest mileage stats, and for the first time they will reflect some highway driving. We intend to take the kayaks out for a spin tomorrow and will need to get to some interesting location - right? At least something more pristine than the East River.

Worst Mileage Ever

That's right this works out to 17.7 MPG. I got 4 miles less per gallon than my car gets all on its own! The reasons are clear and they all come back to me: As I posted earlier I could see that the car was not doing as well as it should - but did I disconnect the negative terminal from the battery for half an hour to let the computer reset again? Nope - I didn't want to deal with having to reset the radio stations and the clock. OMG did that lazy attitude come back to bite me in the behind - especially when I just paid more per gallon than ever. Also, I was waiting for the overwhelming heat to go away so that I could install the MAP Sensor Enhancer, so I didn't go in to fill the tank until that was done - meaning that I paid more and and at the same time had to buy more. Sure I knew the cost of gas was going up - because these days it's always going up. All in all - painful.

On the other hand, I did get the Enhancer installed yesterday. Just to be on the safe side of getting things in order, while I did the installation I did disconnect the battery. There was some mention in the instructions that I got of disconnecting the upstream Oxygen sensor - but I couldn't figure out how to do that other than pulling the electrical line off - which amounts to the same thing. Reason: I want to put the spacer on and I'm waiting until I talk to my mechanic to see if he can tell me how to do that without wrecking it. (I'll report later on that.)

What I did do was get the MAP Enhancer online and working! As you might surmise - I am fairly well proud of myself. Choosing the correct wire seemed a real problem but once I got it - I got it. I can tell that it's doing what it's supposed to do by a very simple test. First I followed the directions for tuning it and found that spot for my car that works best. Then, while the car was sitting at an idle I flicked the setting from Enhanced to Factory. There is a very noticeable difference in the engine. It is unmistakable. I did it right. I expect that that difference will show up the next time I fill up ( and I won't be waiting so long until I do that - because I'm dying to see the results). It's all I can do to keep myself from just going out and driving around, but I'm really not all that willing to demonstrate how stupid I can be:-)

Another thing that I did while I was installing the Enhancer is that I took another look at the "T" connection for the vacuum lines connected to the Electrolyzer - I noticed that one of them appeared to be loose. It was - which certainly may be responsible for the terrible mileage. I just don't know. Still, I took a close look and realized that the Universal T is designed in a way that each end narrows further and further so that it can accept all sizes of lines. What this means is that for my car I had lines that didn't need to be as small at the ends as these were - so I cut them off with wire cutter and reamed them clean with an Exact-o blade. What this should mean is that I will get more vacuum pulling the HHO into the manifold.

I'm realizing more and more that each little thing is important. As always I'm learning at each step and with any luck you will be able to avoid the pitfalls through my missteps.

I'm getting to it...

The fact is that even though I have the equipment I don't have a place in the shade to work in and sad but true the heat is too much to deal with. Out in it for ten minutes and literally felt nauseous! Generally I love the heat, but this is beyond anything. They say that it'll cool down later tonight, so tomorrow looks like the install day. Looked in the package and realized that I'd only ordered 1 Oxygen Sensor Spacer even though I knew I needed 2! Rats. I have the other one on order. I will install the one I have along with putting in the MAP Enhancer. Once I have those on the car I'll go put gas in it and I can tell that I've been wasting gas on this run. Hopefully my mistakes and falters will help the rest of you to avoid those things... Maybe not. Anyway, I'll report again as soon as I get things in order.