Originally Posted By: skyactiv
Peanut oil it is!
Cool, I wanna know
Peanut oil it is!
Cool, I wanna know
Lawn mower oil substitute experiment idea
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Originally Posted By: MasterSolenoid
I'd drain the oil and fill with .... water. Maybe it'll steam for awhile.
I did this with my last mower that had broken wheels and a bent crank (hit a tree trunk). Drained the oil as much as I could and poured in about a quart of water. After a couple minutes it started steaming out of the oil fill hole, and kept running. And running.....and running. It was vibrating pretty bad from the bent crank, but never missed a beat. After about 10 minutes I got bored, shut it off, drained the gas, and put it to the curb.
I'd drain the oil and fill with .... water. Maybe it'll steam for awhile.
I did this with my last mower that had broken wheels and a bent crank (hit a tree trunk). Drained the oil as much as I could and poured in about a quart of water. After a couple minutes it started steaming out of the oil fill hole, and kept running. And running.....and running. It was vibrating pretty bad from the bent crank, but never missed a beat. After about 10 minutes I got bored, shut it off, drained the gas, and put it to the curb.
There was the Scandinavian guy who ran an engine on 3l of Coca-Cola after draining the oil.
It ran a bit and stopped. There was no autopsy.
Try:
Facial cleanser with "beads".
The goo from cherry pie filling or any corn syrup based food product.
90% isopropyl rubbing alcohol.
Furniture polish.
It ran a bit and stopped. There was no autopsy.
Try:
Facial cleanser with "beads".
The goo from cherry pie filling or any corn syrup based food product.
90% isopropyl rubbing alcohol.
Furniture polish.
Trying to think of some excuse for this, rather than just an indulgence in mechanical cruelty.
How about extreme fuel dilution?
Start at 50%, say, run it for a bit, drain, dilute it another 50% with petrol (now 25% oil) etc.
If 2-strokes are any guide it'll take a lot of fuel to kill it.
Lot of messing about and you might blow yourself up, but then I'm not doing it.
UOA at each stage, naturally.
How about extreme fuel dilution?
Start at 50%, say, run it for a bit, drain, dilute it another 50% with petrol (now 25% oil) etc.
If 2-strokes are any guide it'll take a lot of fuel to kill it.
Lot of messing about and you might blow yourself up, but then I'm not doing it.
UOA at each stage, naturally.
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This might be better.
I had a mix of diesel fuel and sunflower oil as a rust inhibitor, which after a year or two threw a dispersible precipitate sludge.
My guess was that the diesel limited or slowed the cross-linking of the sunflower oil so it didn't set into a solid mass. I was going to try it as a chain lube, but I spilt it, and because it takes a few years to make I've never followed up on it.
I would be mildly interested in how, say, a 1:1 mix does in an operating engine. I'd guess it might look like accelerated varnishing.
IF it does, and the engine doesn't die before you get bored, you might drain it and see how the various remedies (kerosene, diesel, ATF, HDMO) do at cleaning it out. If one of them works you could rinse and repeat, as it were.
To get things happening in a reasonable timescale you'd want a relatively unstable vegetable oil, linseed or sunflower, not cannola and certainly not castor.
IF you want to give your testbed engine a better chance you might replace some or all of the diesel fuel with oil.
UOA at every stage above was sarcasm, but you could take samples into wee glass containers, and/or do a series of blotter spot tests on printer paper. The latter doesnt take much sample and shows veg oil polymerisation quite well, though I've never tried it with this mixture
I had a mix of diesel fuel and sunflower oil as a rust inhibitor, which after a year or two threw a dispersible precipitate sludge.
My guess was that the diesel limited or slowed the cross-linking of the sunflower oil so it didn't set into a solid mass. I was going to try it as a chain lube, but I spilt it, and because it takes a few years to make I've never followed up on it.
I would be mildly interested in how, say, a 1:1 mix does in an operating engine. I'd guess it might look like accelerated varnishing.
IF it does, and the engine doesn't die before you get bored, you might drain it and see how the various remedies (kerosene, diesel, ATF, HDMO) do at cleaning it out. If one of them works you could rinse and repeat, as it were.
To get things happening in a reasonable timescale you'd want a relatively unstable vegetable oil, linseed or sunflower, not cannola and certainly not castor.
IF you want to give your testbed engine a better chance you might replace some or all of the diesel fuel with oil.
UOA at every stage above was sarcasm, but you could take samples into wee glass containers, and/or do a series of blotter spot tests on printer paper. The latter doesnt take much sample and shows veg oil polymerisation quite well, though I've never tried it with this mixture
ULSD in sump, run till it seize or stop when empty ?
+1 for Marvel Mystery Oil
Put veg oil (and/or maybe sugar) in the fuel or directly into the cylinder and you could probably generate rapid coking. Then you could look at de-coking remedies like water, brake fluid etc.
Compression tester MIGHT be able to detect ring-sticking.
Compression tester MIGHT be able to detect ring-sticking.
Found a picture of my half baked sunflower oil thermal stressing "experiment"
I stuck the printer paper on my (dirty) office window to get some backlighting (the black dot at the top is some Blutack) but the sun was setting, so its rather dark.
No proper laboratory equipment was harmed during the making of this picture.
I used half a drinking straw full of Sunflower oil, in a (washed-but-used) aluminium custard-tart cup, on a hotplate, quenched before sampling by floating the cup in a dish of chilled water.
Sampling used the end of an empty ball-point pen tube, dipped and then brought to the surface of the oil, and left on the surface of the printer paper for about 3 seconds.
I used SFO for a first look because I assumed I'd be likely to see an effect on a short timescale, and I was doing it in a kitchen. The dish was just on the smoke-point of the oil, but I dunno what its actual temperature was.
Spot diameter decreased over the time course, probably due to viscosity increase, though this probably also reduced the volume of sample transferred.
The two later time (100 and 140 minutes) points were also noticably darker in colour, but there wasn't much structure in any of the spots.
I stuck the printer paper on my (dirty) office window to get some backlighting (the black dot at the top is some Blutack) but the sun was setting, so its rather dark.
No proper laboratory equipment was harmed during the making of this picture.
I used half a drinking straw full of Sunflower oil, in a (washed-but-used) aluminium custard-tart cup, on a hotplate, quenched before sampling by floating the cup in a dish of chilled water.
Sampling used the end of an empty ball-point pen tube, dipped and then brought to the surface of the oil, and left on the surface of the printer paper for about 3 seconds.
I used SFO for a first look because I assumed I'd be likely to see an effect on a short timescale, and I was doing it in a kitchen. The dish was just on the smoke-point of the oil, but I dunno what its actual temperature was.
Spot diameter decreased over the time course, probably due to viscosity increase, though this probably also reduced the volume of sample transferred.
The two later time (100 and 140 minutes) points were also noticably darker in colour, but there wasn't much structure in any of the spots.
Originally Posted By: Sealbilly
Another for marvels mystery oil.
I honestly think this would be the most interesting for a couple reasons:
1. It isn't really "oil"
2. It is readily available and consumers use it in the crankcase, unlike some of the other suggestions such as peanut oil
3. Transmission fluid is actually a very lightweight oil, so I think the mower engine would likely run a lot longer than you would think/want to stick around for anyway
Another for marvels mystery oil.
I honestly think this would be the most interesting for a couple reasons:
1. It isn't really "oil"
2. It is readily available and consumers use it in the crankcase, unlike some of the other suggestions such as peanut oil
3. Transmission fluid is actually a very lightweight oil, so I think the mower engine would likely run a lot longer than you would think/want to stick around for anyway
Originally Posted By: jeepman3071
Originally Posted By: Sealbilly
Another for marvels mystery oil.
I honestly think this would be the most interesting for a couple reasons:
1. It isn't really "oil"
2. It is readily available and consumers use it in the crankcase, unlike some of the other suggestions such as peanut oil
3. Transmission fluid is actually a very lightweight oil, so I think the mower engine would likely run a lot longer than you would think/want to stick around for anyway
To have an excuse for this kind of thing, you have to consider what you are testing for and how you are going to test it.
IF Marvel Mystery Oil isn't an oil, (my understanding is its mostly a cleaning solvent mix) using it as such, say by running it at 100% of sump contents, isn't a valid test.
IF you want to test for cleaning effect, you need to have something to clean. If the engine is varnished or coked up, that'd do nicely. Otherwise you'd have to provide it with something to clean.
Using vegetable oil in the sump or the fuel is likely to provide something to clean fairly quickly, but it won't be the same as varnish and coke derived from mineral oil and fuel, so at best its a model of a real operational problem.
The validity of that model is doubtful, but it might be the best that can be done in this scenario.
Even then its likely to take a long time, and it'd probably be better to actually use the engine for something while you're doing it, like, say, mowing the lawn.
Originally Posted By: Sealbilly
Another for marvels mystery oil.
I honestly think this would be the most interesting for a couple reasons:
1. It isn't really "oil"
2. It is readily available and consumers use it in the crankcase, unlike some of the other suggestions such as peanut oil
3. Transmission fluid is actually a very lightweight oil, so I think the mower engine would likely run a lot longer than you would think/want to stick around for anyway
To have an excuse for this kind of thing, you have to consider what you are testing for and how you are going to test it.
IF Marvel Mystery Oil isn't an oil, (my understanding is its mostly a cleaning solvent mix) using it as such, say by running it at 100% of sump contents, isn't a valid test.
IF you want to test for cleaning effect, you need to have something to clean. If the engine is varnished or coked up, that'd do nicely. Otherwise you'd have to provide it with something to clean.
Using vegetable oil in the sump or the fuel is likely to provide something to clean fairly quickly, but it won't be the same as varnish and coke derived from mineral oil and fuel, so at best its a model of a real operational problem.
The validity of that model is doubtful, but it might be the best that can be done in this scenario.
Even then its likely to take a long time, and it'd probably be better to actually use the engine for something while you're doing it, like, say, mowing the lawn.
I think that marvel or even kerosene could work for quite some time, if we are hoping for a quick collapse try something else. Different types of cooking oils could also be interesting, although they could also work for a long time.
One thing to look out for is fire hazard though, avoid heating up too light fractions.
One thing to look out for is fire hazard though, avoid heating up too light fractions.
Vegetable oil is going to take FOREVER with an engine that you can only run light...in which case, add some tallow to at least replicate a steam cylinder oil.
Want something a bit faster, try "water thin" lathe cutting fluid (typcially a soluble oil/water mix with some EP stuff in it)
Want something a bit faster, try "water thin" lathe cutting fluid (typcially a soluble oil/water mix with some EP stuff in it)
4WD
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Originally Posted By: earlyre
or... wacky notion, pull the engine working engine, put the deck out for the pickers/scrappers.
you could sell the engine on craigers for a few bucks, or just hold on to it for a while, b/c you might just be able to "trash pick" a mower with a good deck/etc, and a bad engine....
but hey, what do i know....
I have had that engine several years … first pull and mow
Would have given it to mower repair guy
A video like this will wind up a misrepresentation of a good product
or... wacky notion, pull the engine working engine, put the deck out for the pickers/scrappers.
you could sell the engine on craigers for a few bucks, or just hold on to it for a while, b/c you might just be able to "trash pick" a mower with a good deck/etc, and a bad engine....
but hey, what do i know....
I have had that engine several years … first pull and mow
Would have given it to mower repair guy
A video like this will wind up a misrepresentation of a good product
Ive been following this thread for a bit, and it has been interesting. I myself have a discarded push mower that I have little use for since I have a zero turn, small rider, a tractor and several trimmers. Picked this basic Mower out of the trash, changed oil, added fresh gas and it ran. Have done this a few times over the years, and usually give them to friends that need a mower.
I too would like to experiment with it. This one is a 4hp Briggs, non-self propelled basic mower. Found this stuff at Autozone on clearance super cheap and bought it to do nothing but satisfy my curiosity. NANO TECHNOLOGY PEOPLE!!! Another gimmick oil stabilizer obviously. The mower has a 1 quart sump and this stuff is sold in quarts. Coincidence? Probably lol.
Maybe I can run the mower on it until it dies. May take a day, may run so long I get bored with the experiment. Who knows.
I too would like to experiment with it. This one is a 4hp Briggs, non-self propelled basic mower. Found this stuff at Autozone on clearance super cheap and bought it to do nothing but satisfy my curiosity. NANO TECHNOLOGY PEOPLE!!! Another gimmick oil stabilizer obviously. The mower has a 1 quart sump and this stuff is sold in quarts. Coincidence? Probably lol.
Maybe I can run the mower on it until it dies. May take a day, may run so long I get bored with the experiment. Who knows.
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