used cooking oil in diesel engine?

[Shannow]

wileyE,
I think that the crux of your issue is...switch to 20%.

I think that the esters might be cleaning out tanks and oxidised rubber fuel lines etc. after running dino.

Either that, or your bio has soaps/glycerine in it.

Using WVO is a very customised approach to running a vehicle, you need to be on top of your game completely.

 

[Gearstix]

I have an idea on how to keep your tank of WVO warm...
Where I live, not sure about you guys in the warmer parts of Canada/USA, in the winter it dips down to -41*C/-41*F regularly, and it does get colder than that. We have block heaters that you plug into the wall.

Maybe you could use a block heater or a magnetic oil pan heater if the tank is metal.

I would be interested in doing this in my truck if I do a diesel swap.

 

[badnews]

During Katrina I knew a guy that would mix (clean) Veg Oil in with his diesel fuel to strech it due to limited supply

He suffered no ill affects with his Ford engine

This was a emergency but he continued the experiment to see what would happen and he did not incur big problems

 

[Kestas]

I've read stories where in Europe, the price of diesel fuel was sometimes higher than cooking oil. The savvy owner would buy his fuel from the supermarket.

WVO has become so popular, that places like San Francisco now have less WVO that there are people who want it. I believe the city has contracts with many restaurants to provide WVO for their city vehicles.

 

[labman]

You could look at electric water heating elements for heating the drum of grease. I would select a low wattage 240 one and run 120V. It may screw right in the bung, or perhaps with a bushing.

 

[sixtwoturbo]

For heating his drum, get one of those heating wraps, I use one in the winter for "drying" out my WMO and they work great.

Grease car should sell them and of course, Ebay. They average $120.

 

[m37charlie]

I would recommend relatively frequent lube oil changes, since WVO that gets into the lube oil reacts to form solid "goo" that will eventually cause bearing failure if not noticed.
At least keep a very close eye on viscosity. Use one of the cheaper lube oils like dino Delvac 1300 15W40 or Supertech 15W40.

Charlie

 

[2004tdigls]

Originally Posted By: medic
While eating Thanksgiving dinner with my parents today, my dad told me he is getting his '97 Passat TDI converted to run on used cooking oil. This consists of a 15 gallon tank in the trunk and some hoses running from the coolant system into the tank to warm the cooking oil. He said he will have to run the first 5 miles on diesel and then when the cooking oil is warmed up he can switch over.

He told me that there are limited cooking oils that can be used and canola oil is prefered. He has already set up a deal with a local restaurant and a grocery store so he can pick up their used cooking oil. All he has to do is filter it with a regular water filter that you find under a kitchen sink. One filter lasts for 50 gallons. He figures, with the current price of diesel, that this system will pay for itself in 3 months and after that it's money in his pocket.

He has also been told that the cooking oil will clean his injectors and other fuel related parts of his engine.

[ November 25, 2004, 11:28 PM: Message edited by: medic ]


its suicide for your tdi,

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=215038&highlight=wvo

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=269973

just search the threads, lots of dead cars there

 

[L_Sludger]

Many moons ago I read about how people were buying new vegetable oil or cooking oil for their converted diesels. They'd get the oil from a store. Somehow, it was cheaper than diesel fuel, so it was a nice way to circumvent the road tax. Not sure about the reality of it though.

 

[Shannow]

UK and Europe they are, as diesel is so expensive.

So successful, that the law is now that you have to register with their version of the IRS and pay excise on the vegetable oil.

 

[HerrStig]

We have people on this site who are so OCD they let their crankcases drain all night to get "all" the oil out and others who put cooking grease in their diesels. Quite a difference in attitudes.

 

[HerrStig]

Originally Posted By: 2004tdigls
Originally Posted By: medic
While eating Thanksgiving dinner with my parents today, my dad told me he is getting his '97 Passat TDI converted to run on used cooking oil. This consists of a 15 gallon tank in the trunk and some hoses running from the coolant system into the tank to warm the cooking oil. He said he will have to run the first 5 miles on diesel and then when the cooking oil is warmed up he can switch over.

He told me that there are limited cooking oils that can be used and canola oil is prefered. He has already set up a deal with a local restaurant and a grocery store so he can pick up their used cooking oil. All he has to do is filter it with a regular water filter that you find under a kitchen sink. One filter lasts for 50 gallons. He figures, with the current price of diesel, that this system will pay for itself in 3 months and after that it's money in his pocket.

He has also been told that the cooking oil will clean his injectors and other fuel related parts of his engine.

[ November 25, 2004, 11:28 PM: Message edited by: medic ]


its suicide for your tdi,

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=215038&highlight=wvo

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=269973

just search the threads, lots of dead cars there
These new TDIs are not the old over CAT mechanical injection dozer engines, Toto.

 

[Shannow]

Been scouring youtube for how people make their own fuels etc. (Excalibur's distillation from plastic has me amazed and intrigued).

One poster suggested that the problem with used cooking oil is that it's got a mix of vegetable and animal oil, and that makes it unstable.

So I grabbed a bunch of items from around the house.
* some rice bran oil (unused) that has started to go rancid;
* the drippings from my duck/pork christmas meal;
* some kitchen grease, basically sausage fat;
* some used engine oil.

And did some blending.

Yep, the cooking oil/fat mixed, but split over time.

The fat and used engine oil has made like a layer cake of carbon, and various sludgy looking gunk.

Threw a little alcohol ethoxylate into the brews, and it only murkied them up some.

Wouldn't want any of those blends in the tank personally.

Seems that vegetable oil and mineral mix fine, it's the animal fats that make gunk, and a layered tank effect is likely.

 

[erikadiaz]

Never tried it, does it work?

 

[Bror Jace]

OK on the used cooking oil. How about unused cooking oil?

I have some ... 1/3 to 1/2 of a gallon. Free to anyone in the Capital Region of NY if we can agree on a time and place to meet.

 

[Shannow]

I've added vegetable oil to my diesel to get rid of over purchases (like a 5L drum of olive oil that wife thought was a bargain, but didn't get used quickly enough...1L per tank over 5 tanks).

 

[peejaycruiser]

My cousin used to run a take away shop and he used the old cooking oil as fuel for his old Gemini diesel. He lived in Coffs Harbour and the shop was in Urunga so he saved a fortune on diesel.

 

[Pontual]

If the used cooking oil has spices and NaCl, I would't use in diesel engine.

One of the best recipes to get stuck rings and all sorts of deposits and other maladies.

 

[kschachn]

Originally Posted By: Pontual
If the used cooking oil has spices and NaCl, I would't use in diesel engine.


You might end up smelling like a french fry driving around.

But what's the issue with salt (which is pretty insoluble in oil anyway)?

 

[Pontual]

Originally Posted By: kschachn
Originally Posted By: Pontual
If the used cooking oil has spices and NaCl, I would't use in diesel engine.


You might end up smelling like a french fry driving around.

But what's the issue with salt (which is pretty insoluble in oil anyway)?


Salt combine with water and other combustion byproducts and salty waters leaving clorets behind is corrosive, getting some part to be a soluble compound in oil then. And hard sodium ash deposits in cc and ring lands are also an issue, IMO.