diesels and veggy oil... just outa curiosity

[phatmanmike]

can i pour straight, fresh, new, unused veggy oil from the store directly into my fuel tank on my diesel and just mix it in with the rest of the fuel?

i know you can run on straight veggy or straight deisel, but can i pour in say, 5 gallons of veggy with 10 gallons of diesel?

just curious. dont think id actually do it!

 

[ZmOz]

Re: diesels and veggy oil... just outa curiosity

Yes. There's a good chance it will be cheaper than diesel too if you get it somewhere like Costco. It will clean everything very well, so you'll probably need to change the fuel filter a time or two.

 

[DJ]

Re: diesels and veggy oil... just outa curiosity

Bio (Veggie) diesels fuels are NOT compatable.

Add some "bio" to your system and you'll be walking within five miles.

Bio loves to "bloom" in a "dino" atmosphere, thus clogging filters.

If you want to switch, you have to steam clean tanks and sterilize. Not to mention the treatment, afterwards.

Actually, your diesel will love "bio/veggie". It is high in cetane, which diesels love.

However, as mentioned, getting it to the engine may be a challenge.

 

[ZmOz]

Re: diesels and veggy oil... just outa curiosity

Bio (Veggie) diesels fuels are NOT compatable.

Add some "bio" to your system and you'll be walking within five miles.

Pretty much all commercial biodiesel is mixed with petrolium diesel right out of the pump. They're trying to pass a law here (Portland) requiring ALL diesel fuel sold in the city to contain at least 5% bio. (and I'm all for it) There is also a product called Soy Shield, which is a bio-based additive meant for any old diesel without modification.

The only problem again is the cleaning, and filter clogging. If you buy a brand new diesel you can dump veggie oil in it no problem. (Diesel Jeep Liberties come pre filled with a certain percentage of bio, I forget how much) How much of a problem this will be for phatmanmike I don't know, because I don't know how dirty his is. There may also be a problem with fuel lines and seals leaking in an older vehicle.

 

[Link]

Re: diesels and veggy oil... just outa curiosity

Guys feel free to correct anything that might not be correct.
I was reading (internet) on this a couple years ago.

They were saying with single tank rigs there was a list of things (filters etc) to change.

Front tank dino diesel
Rear tank bio fuel
But with daul tanks to start the motor then switch to rear bio tank
To stop motor switch back to front with dino diesel and let run long enough to fill lines etc

And that way you only needed to check regular filters etc.

Good idea about cleaning rear tank! They didnt mention that.
I think I would just buy a new one from JC Whitney myself.

Anyone else heard of that?

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: diesels and veggy oil... just outa curiosity

We make bio diesel at work every week. The owner of the motorcycle shop owns 17 McD's so oil is not in short supply. There is a company that makes attachments to run on straight cooking oil. The stuff is pure hell on the filters. Funny thing though on some days the boss' car smells like french fries but there have been days where it smelled like fillet of fish!

Check here for some more ideas http://www.greasecar.com/

 

[treedancer]

Re: diesels and veggy oil... just outa curiosity

I know one thing, bio diesel is he!!On big truck filters.

 

[phatmanmike]

Re: diesels and veggy oil... just outa curiosity

well im not really sure if my question was answered or not.......

 

[Ron G]

Re: diesels and veggy oil... just outa curiosity

imo yes you can,and no i would'ntd

 

[bjcsc]

Re: diesels and veggy oil... just outa curiosity

All kinds of things are getting mixed up here. In the non-standard fuel for diesels crowd you have the following:

1) SVO - straight vegetable oil. Yes you could run this mixed with petro diesel but the problems are the glycerin and the coking problems it can cause, and whether or not your lift pump(s) and IP can take the extra viscosity. This is usually used straight from a heated tank. Engine is started on petro diesel, switched to SVO once it has reached the operating temperature of the vehicle, switched back to petro diesel ~ 5 min before shutdown.

2) WVO - waste vegetable oil. Same as above, except it has to be filtered and have water removed before use and requires careful monitoring of your filters or extra ones

3) BLENDERS - WVO or SVO mixed with RUG (regular unleaded gas)

4) BioDiesel - this is WVO or SVO that has been transesterified, i.e. the glycerin has been removed chemically with sodium methoxide (methanol + lye). This can be safely run in any diesel, but can contain trace methanol which is rough on rubber. That is the funny "darkside" of biodiesel, meaning that it requires methanol, which is made from methane which is purchased from who? - The petroleum Industry. The more "home made" it is the more methanol it is likely to contain. To be fair, it can also be made using ethanol, but the process is far more difficult and costly. This is graded B plus a number indicating the percentage of BioDiesel to Petro Diesel. Ranges from B5 to B100, with B20 being the most popular.

I have used B20 and B100 with no ill effect in my car. I have also poured SVO into my tank just as you propose, but did so knowing I could based on the engine.

Can or should you? Who knows. What engine are you talking about?

 

[phatmanmike]

Re: diesels and veggy oil... just outa curiosity

2003 vw tdi

 

[bjcsc]

Re: diesels and veggy oil... just outa curiosity

Lots of people do it in VW's. There are a lot of resources and forums online. Check 'em out. Here's one I found with a quick search: http://www.transmitmedia.com/golfTDI/

 

[tomatolord]

Re: diesels and veggy oil... just outa curiosity

The answer is yes and no

Yes - if it probably is a small amount to a full tank

No if you want the car to start on a cold day or you put in too much veggie oil

The problem is that cooking oil is much thicker -viscous- at room tempertures then diesel fuel

So you have to heat the oil 1st then you can use it

That is why when you see these kits or conversions they have 2 tanks 1 to start the engine and get it hot enough to heat the cooking oil so that it flows like diesel.

These conversion kits also have filters that are 3-4 times the size of a regular filter - becuase they are using dirty oil from fryers etc, not clean Wesson oil out of a bottle.

tomatolord

 

[whywhyzed]

Re: diesels and veggy oil... just outa curiosity

We run B5 in our fleet of 30 machines (Cat, Deere, New Holland, Link Belt etc. ) No issues. We have run approx. 160,000 litres through the fleet now. We did nothing to the machines, flushed nothing, converted nothing. All the manufacturers (Cat, Cummins, Deere, Kubota, Deutz etc ) gave their blessing up to 5%. No mods required.
A couple said 10% ok, most would only go to 5% before warranty would be affected.
The machines are all less than 5 years old.

Although the diesel we buy is B5, it is typically only between 1.5 and 3% bio.

As far as dumping Costco veggie oil in the tank. No. It costs 5 to 10 times what diesel fuel costs and doesn't burn well at all in an internal combustion engine.

 

[whywhyzed]

Re: diesels and veggy oil... just outa curiosity

One of my colleagues has this video on his desk... I haven't watched it yet..."Veg My Ride"

http://submedia.tv/images/veg_prev.jpg

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: diesels and veggy oil... just outa curiosity

TDI my favorite! I just sold mine this past year and I had it chipped and it would fly! I got 50-55 mpg on the highway.

The absolute best place to ask is at Freds http://www.tdiclub.com/. One you weed through the younsters it is a great place.

 

[ZmOz]

Re: diesels and veggy oil... just outa curiosity

As far as dumping Costco veggie oil in the tank. No. It costs 5 to 10 times what diesel fuel costs and doesn't burn well at all in an internal combustion engine.

Uh...no. I don't know what their exact prices are today, but costco cooking oil is around $3/gallon. (remember, it's not taxed) Also, it burns very well in an internal combustion engine...that's why when diesel goes over $3, Costco runs out of cooking oil. Lots of people just dump it right in their tank in the costco parking lot.

 

[tomatolord]

Re: diesels and veggy oil... just outa curiosity

Neighbor just put in a biodiesel system for his company. 3.50 a gallon delivered for cooking oil, its cut with stuff so you can put it right into the fuel tank.

tomatolord

 

[whywhyzed]

Re: diesels and veggy oil... just outa curiosity

Cooking oil here is about $3/Liter... doesn't burn worth a crap... Decent quality cooking oil is blended NOT to burn. When you force it to burn in a compression ignition engine, the ash and soot would go sky high. I would expect stuck rings in short order. Maybe Costco sells some really crappy cooking oil in in some parts of the world which would burn better.

 

[ZmOz]

Re: diesels and veggy oil... just outa curiosity

Cooking oil here is about $3/Liter... doesn't burn worth a crap...

There are several different types of cooking oil in every store, all with different prices and burn qualities. All biodiesel except the commercial stuff made out of clean oil is made from used cooking oil. To suggest it doesn't burn well is absolutely ridiculous. Of course it burns well...that's why people use it as fuel.