Vegoil destroys engines?

[cardoctor]

I have been running WVO for almost 5 years in a number of vehicles with great success. Vehicles include "90 Ford 1 ton van w/ 7.3 Int. diesel, 2 M35 w/ multifuels, Crown bus w/855 Cummins and Gillig bus w/ 6V92. Not one repair related to WVO use! I mix @ 5gals at a time, cut with diesel, let settle, filter as it goes into the tank. Find a good source, get rid of all moisture and particulate matter. It's not brain surgery, have fun with it! FYI, I've also tried used motor oil, but I prefer WVO.

 

[Yohan]

cardoctor, so are you making biodiesel and "washing" it to the proper PH and all of that, or just cutting it with diesel, spinning it out in a centrifuge and hitting the road? Is "varnishing" the cylinder walls a concern with WVO if it is not processed into biodiesel? Maybe that isn't a problem when you cut it with diesel?

I have a 2004 Dodge Cummins diesel pickup truck but I'd be afraid to experiment with it since I could never afford another one if I got a little ham-fisted.

 

[stampy]

Understanding that the question was to cardoctor my take is if it is direct injection (into the cylinder) you probably don't want to use wvo unless it has been processed to biodiesel and washed. The coking occurs when the hot injector has wvo fused around it The injectors dont get as hot in an indirect injection engine and in the older engines the injector tolerances are larger. IE: you can run WVO in a VW TDI up untill about 2005 but I have heard that you have troubles in the new engines that are for low sufur diesel. My take is get a second vehicle( a CUCV or a Benz) and play with that. I have enjoyed running WVO and feel that I am truly doing something for the environment, not buying as much foreign oil, and the biggest reasons self reliance and cost! Yeah it takes an hr a week maybe and if you go the centrifuge route it will be expensive. My total cost of equipment was around 2000$ But if cap and trade passes I will set up my genset and solar array and batteries as I refuse to pay the electricity tax!

 

[Wolf.Dose]

You can run vegie oil with your engine as long as you like!
However you have to consider:
Is the engine of a classic designe, means pre chamber or so called M-system.
Direct injection of the first generation also is possible.
More modern stuff will run, howerver with some long term effects.
The ash rate of veggie oil is higher as Diesel fuel (as all the other alrernative stuff.). So you have to change oil changing intervalls (If you change annually after 5000 or 6000 miles, this is not the problem with annually change, but you will notice your oil is closer to syrop than to oil).
If you ride more you have to cut your intervals to a third of the normal milage. If you do not do that you run into the risk of oil failure due to the oil will change into pudding without warning. But this means your engine is dead before the pressure gauge indicates that you have no more oil pressure.
Cold temperature start with veggi oil is hard without a fuel heater!
Hope this info helps!
Wolf

 

[dcwilkie]

I picked up two 35 gal fuel tanks on GL and plan to use one of them for heated WVO (don't know what to do with the second one- anyone interested?). I've heard it's a good idea to start the Deuce on Diesel fuel, switch over to WVO and then switch back for the 5 minute shutdown period. Thoughts?

 

[maybefixit]

There's a great book on this subject by Josh Tickell "From the Fryer to the Fuel Tank", which goes into great depth on the science of Biodiesel and WVO. Using waste vegetable oil with only a filtering step poses a risk of thick cold oil clogging a line in / to the oil injection system. This risk really only exists when the engine is cold, as warmer WVO becomes more consistently liquid. So most advice for straight WVO is to start the engine on the consistently liquid diesel, heat the WVO with engine coolant to get it liquid, and 'flush' the injector system before shutdown with straight diesel.

With the multifuel design of the Deuce, it may not matter as much, because its systems are already made to handle oil thicker than Diesel fuel. Others who have a multifuel engine could better comment on that.

I have read that a person with a diesel Chevette had some trouble getting a restart when they forgot to 'flush' the engine in 5 minutes before shutdown - but were able to get it going by pouring boiling water on the injector lines and injectors, heating them enough to let the WVO flow.
I've always been very interested in the idea of getting a diesel to do the biodiesel / WVO stuff, and would love to get a Deuce for 'recycling' motor and hydraulic oil.

 

[stampy]

B100 or straight biodiesel is like rocket fuel in my benz!!!!! But it can be a pain to make and the methanol is expensive. A three way valve (pollard) works well. You could even set up a timer so it changed over automatically to wvo or set up a temp gauge to trigger it even better. shutdown is the big issue

 

[Keith_J]

Waste vegetable oil will polymerize in the injection pump, lines and injectors. I would recommend against it, even though it works. If you must, run a 2-tank system, starting and stopping on quality fuel.

The injection pump heats the fuel as a by-product of the intense pressurization, causing the already degraded oil to form thick, nasty varnish. Eventually, it will plug. It also is acidic, causing corrosion of the metal.

 

[Spin]

170 degrees is a great temp to run WVO. An internal tank heater fed by heated engine oil works the best. Temp guage, and a tank solenoid switch, start it on diesel, heat it up, switch, then before shutting down for the night or an extended period of time, flush with diesel, and then shut down. Couldn't be easier...