Detroit 4-53T 53,000 miles on WVO

[A310]

Just passed 53,000 miles and 2000 hrs burning wvo and never run better. I'm still collecting from 4 restaurants to get the oil, but is enough to supply both the truck and shop for heat. I'm getting around 6-7K on the secondary filter and 14-15K on the primary. Happy times.

 

[JohnnyG]

Is it really that simple?

 

[Passport1]

I did something very similar years ago with a 1982 Volvo diesel. It had a six cylinder VW/Audi made engine. Collected oil from local resturant friers, filtered it with several increasingly smaller filters bought on EBAY then heated to remove any water. When the oil was pure enough I'd cut it with a small enough amount of kerosene to make the oil less viscuous and add to the tank. I'd use more kerosene in the winter but never even close to 50%. Engine ran fine until it finally lost compression at ~250K miles. I probably ran the car on WVO for 30K miles.

The best arrangement is a twin tank system. One tank with heated WVO and another with diesel for starting and purging the system just before shutdown. The old four cylinder Mercedes engines are the best and most robust for this conversion.

 

[wpod]

Is it really that simple?

No but A310 is really, really that good !

 

[02SE]

I admire everything about the engine build, swap, and running on veggie oil. The only reservation is I think the constant noise of the engine would drive me crazy.

I say that owning loud motorcycles and cars, and working on insanely loud racing vehicles for years. Maybe I'm overestimating the noise of the screaming Jimmy. Does it bother you?

 

[A310]

Is it really that simple?

It's pretty easy once you get a good filtration system set up. It's an hour a week that I spend on collecting and filtering the oil.

 

[A310]

I did something very similar years ago with a 1982 Volvo diesel. It had a six cylinder VW/Audi made engine. Collected oil from local resturant friers, filtered it with several increasingly smaller filters bought on EBAY then heated to remove any water. When the oil was pure enough I'd cut it with a small enough amount of kerosene to make the oil less viscuous and add to the tank. I'd use more kerosene in the winter but never even close to 50%. Engine ran fine until it finally lost compression at ~250K miles. I probably ran the car on WVO for 30K miles.

The best arrangement is a twin tank system. One tank with heated WVO and another with diesel for starting and purging the system just before shutdown. The old four cylinder Mercedes engines are the best and most robust for this conversion.

Yes the twin tank is the best. I ran a single tank for six months then made a heated system for the wvo. Very happy with the system.

 

[A310]

I admire everything about the engine build, swap, and running on veggie oil. The only reservation is I think the constant noise of the engine would drive me crazy.

I say that owning loud motorcycles and cars, and working on insanely loud racing vehicles for years. Maybe I'm overestimating the noise of the screaming Jimmy. Does it bother you?

I went to great lengths to make sure the in cab noise levels were low. I used 16 gauge lead sheet on the cab firewall and also leaded the oil pan and valve cover to reduce noise. The cab noise is very similar to the original 6.4, so just about the perfect noise level.

 

[wpod]

I admire everything about the engine build, swap, and running on veggie oil. The only reservation is I think the constant noise of the engine would drive me crazy.

I say that owning loud motorcycles and cars, and working on insanely loud racing vehicles for years. Maybe I'm overestimating the noise of the screaming Jimmy. Does it bother you?

The turbo 2 strokes seem much quieter than the non turbo Detroits. Decades ago I drove truck out of the Teamos line drivers local and getting a non turbo Detroit engine ruined a good day. Getting a turboed Detroit made a great day. As much as \I detested the non turbo Detroits I loved the turboed Detroits..