Used Engine Oil

[SierraHotel]

I don’t want to hijack the current centrifuge thread, but I have a question for all of the Waste Engine Oil purists and not-so-purists.
Do you HAVE to filter it?
The first time, it wouldn’t go through a coffee filter…at least not anytime soon. I’ve read that some go to extreme lengths to filter the engine oil…including a centrifuge. Others just drain and pour. Since I do not have the technical wizardry or budget of the centrifugal crowd, I’m thinking more along the lines of the drain and pour crowd. It’s a given that the multi-fuels, and over the road tractors so I hear, can handle motor oil as a percentage of the fuel.
So this leads me to several questions….
Is the micron filters and centrifuge really necessary? Isn’t that the reason we have 3 fuel filters?
Would the filters allow something to pass that is large enough to damage the injection pump or fuel injectors themselves?

 

[res0wc18]

you need to either filter it hot, or re-heat and filter to have any speed. I use a waste oil pump and a 1 micron filters setup and i filter hot. takes very little time to filter 50 gallons or so. Its worth the hassle. Any other questions let me know. Filtering is essential unless you dont care what COULD happen.


parker

 

[ken]

When i first started I didn't filter at all. But primary fuel filters didn't last long. I keep a spare in the glove box to get me home when it would plug. I then started to run it through a coffie filter stuffed in the tank strainer. That seemes to help the filters last longer. Although i didn't run any milage or engine hour test to see how much. I was paranoid about metal particals getting to the IP and wipeing it out. Thats why i filtered as much as i could. I'm also picky about the UMO that i would run. Is somebody did a 7000mile oil change i would respectively decline that oil.
I got the centrafuge for a song on a GSA acution. It cost me about $300 including shipping to get it home. It's not very efficent because you have to put the oil into seperate bottles and at the same amount to keep it in balence. But after a couple of minutes the oil seperates and i pour the clear oil off the top. And into the tank.

 

[yellobronc]

Can you run used motor oil (filtered of course) in the duece if the Fuel dencity compensator is by-passed?

 

[cranetruck]

A coffee filter is about 10 microns, enough for fuels without impurities (acids, water, minerals, traces of metals etc), but certainly not for used engine oil.

I wouldn't burn it for environmental reasons, and if I had to, it would only be a few quarts at a time mixed with plenty of diesel, veggie oil or biodiesel.

The FDC has nothing to do with the way your engine burns ANY fuel (see multiple related posts).

I have attached a sample of an oil analysis to show you what you may potentially feed you vintage multifuel engine. These traces of impurities are probably not even possible to filter out, if they were, an oil analysis would depend a lot on the filtering system on the engine and some go down to one micron (bypass filters). If some things were filtered out, the oil analysis would be meaningless.

Perhaps Ken can give us a before and after filtering analysis of the oil he burns.

 

[jimk]

A waste oil [garage] heater is a [engine] safe way to recycle it, in cold climates.JimK

 

[ken]

Bjorn, That's a good idea. I've never had the oil i use analized. I think i'll have some tested. Before and after it's ran through the centrafuge. I'd like to see how clean it's really getting. Although it comes out amber in color when ran long enough there could still be things in soulition.

 

[cranetruck]

Ken, if you have more than one of them there "centrafuges", would you be willing to sell one? I think we could come up with money for a fair price for it.
Thanks,

 

[Ferroequinologist]

Man, my little worker bees threw two of those over the side of the ship when we decommissioned her....

 

[ken]

Bjorn. I only have one and i'm not willing to part with it. But i got it off of a GSA auction for $50. Shipping from seattle was about $250. It has really paid for itself in cutting my fuel costs. Mabye GL has some? I tested the bio you sent me that time and it seperated it pretty quick. Mabye it could speed up your bio production?

 

[cranetruck]

Kinda knew the answer to that one.
Not so much the biodiesel part, it's the filtering of WVO that's a PITA. Filters get clogged very quickly and it's generally a mess. Needs to be heated too, to make it go through the filters.
Both for biodiesel and WVO, just letting it sit and settle out on its own helps a lot and that's where the centrifuge would come in, to speed up the settling.

 

[jwaller]

I put my used eng oil in a 50gal tank like you see in th eback of pickup trucks and mix it 50-50 with diesel. it has a 5 micron filter on it so it gets filtered on the way into the tank. I can filter about 75 gallons before she clogs and stops. so sure you can pour it in and go but be aware you better keep a spare primary filter and 15/16 wrench with you at all times.

 

[res0wc18]

i wouldnt recomend burning used motor oil anymore after doing some research and talking to the guys at navistar, it is one of the worst things that is commonly confused as acceptable. Not only that but its highly toxic and illegal its a 1875 dollar fine in most states. the amount of junk in my oil even at one micron filtering is enough to break anything after time. I just put new injectors and a remaned injecion pump and lift pump on the blazer and after inspecting the metal scarring its no wonder these things fail. But do use veggie oil though. just make sure its really filtered and ph neutral. also dont add alot of calcium leveler thats really bad for these things.

 

[houdel]

Bjorn - Check out these centrifuges. The model OC-20 is rated at 55 GPH and can be had for as low as $239.00.

http://www.dieselcraft.com/productinfo_OC20.html

 

[Stretch44875]

I am using the oc-20 for oil filtering. Tricky to get the temperture and oil flow in the right range. You need something like .9 GPM. When doing oil, mine likes to run about 125-150 degrees, and I am slightly oversized on the pump, so I have the pressure relief on the pump set about 100 psi, without the relief, it runs about 140 psi.

Things that can happen... don't use anything metal to tap the centrifuge apart, will dent the bushing, and the centrifuge won't spin. Prefilter at least 100 micron, or the jets will plug, and things won't spin. Don't exceed 100 psi or the can of the centrifuge will deform at the top, and things won't spin. Gee, how do I know these things?

The hotter the oil, the faster it spins. When I got mine, it had a noticeable out of balance vibration. Made an adapter so it could be balanced at the local machine shop for about 40 dollars. be sure to firmly mount everthing.

BUT, once things are set up, it runs quite well. Get a dry, tar like substance filtered out. Some color change, but haven't had the oil turn clear.

Here's the thread on my setup.
Click here
Dennis