A friend of mine has a 2005 CTD and since the temperature has warmed up has been getting WVO and passing it through cheese cloth. Then putting 15 gallons of straight WVO into a tank and topping is off with Petrolium Diesel (Splash Mixing).

He says as long as the ambient temp is above 70 degree the viscosity is fine and says there is nothing wrong with doing it this way!

So my question is.... Is he right? what concerns would someone have with doing this? Lift pump? Injection Pump? filters? sensors? anything????

 

70 is not fine. There are two reasons to get temps at least to 165F or hotter. The first is to lower the viscosity so that the oil pumps & injects properly. The second reason is to make sure that the oil fully burns, and does not coke up & leave deposits. These deposits will tear up your engine: piston rings, injector nozzles, etc.

 

Thank you... I knew that didn't sound right... I guess he can save his money on fuel right now... he'll be spending more money later on replacement parts...

 

I've read alot of people doing that sort of thing. I Hodowanec, they're asking for trouble. I prefer to mix the two together first & then filter & dewater before adding to the tank. I don't trust the onboard filter to handle all of that water in the WVO. Plus I filter the mix below 5 microns.

 

I think it can be SAFELY DONE even on modern high pressure fuel system engines (i.e. common rail, HEUI, etc.). However, it takes a sophisticated, full blown 'two tank' system. The vegetable oil (VO) has to be heaated (typically have three heaters - one in the VO tank, one from the VO tank to the engine compartment (this is a hose-in-hose heater), and one just before the VO gets to the high pressure pump (typically integrated with the final fuel filter).

A 'two tank' system operates by starting with petrol diesel (or bio diesel), and when the engine operating temp & VO temp high enough the fuel source is switched. This is done via a couple of 3 way valves to make sure that the petro diesel & VO do not intermix. This switching can be automatic (several controllers are being sold today taht do this). Before stoping the engine, the VO has to be purged. This is done by once again switching the two three way valves and running the engine long enough to purge out the VO from the engine fuel lines/rail/etc. The purge time depends on how sophisticated the two tank system is & the engine fuel sustem specifics (for instance a 7.3 fuel rail is dead-headed and more complex to set up purge system), but can be as short as 15 seconds. Furthermore, with a controller all the valve switching can also be automatic (other than hitting the purge button).

The cost to do all this? It varies depending on how sophisticated you want to be and your engine specifics. For a modern, high fuel pressure engine such as a common rail Cummins, if you do it yourself - about $2000. Some good turnkey systems can be purchased and seem to run $4000.

Hope this helps.

 

H,

I've heard alot of people have good experience with the two tank setup. I think MMurry is talking about wvo/diesel blending. It's a little different and you don't need two tanks to get it done.

 

You are correct - MMurry is talking about wvo/diesel blending. This is a BIG mistake IMHO.

 

Yeah... my friend Steve has simply been straining WVO with Cheese cloth and then dumping it in his tank and then splash mixing it with diesel at the pump. He tries to keep it at a 50/50 mix... He says it's fine as long as the ambient temp is 70 degrees or above...

I thought he was wrong, but didn't want to get in to a discussion about it when I don't know all the facts... I'm sure as hell not doing it in my truck! Like I said before... I'll fork over the money right now for the high priced fuel (not that I want too!!!) and he can fork over even more when he has to replace a bunch of parts!!!

 

veggie oil without the proper upgrades is a bad idea. Youll kill the pump and injectors over time.
The oil has suspended water in it which will corrode the guts of the pump and flash off and erode the injector tips. also it is thicker than diesel so it needs to be thinned before injection or it will not atomize well.
If you dont atomize the fuel well it will wash down on the cylinders and cause coke buildup. That can coke the rings and lead to oil contamination.
Its not worth saving a few bucks in fuel on an expensive truck.

 

Thanks Kawi... I think he's believes by making a 50/50 mix he's thining the WVO down enough... but he is still not removing the water!!!

Not worth it!!!