How many WVO miles... post em up!

[SLO_TAO]

I know there have been multiple posts and replies to unrelated posts about this but I want to see some testimonials about how many WVO miles people are at right now and any problems or surprises (good or bad) people have encountered.
Everytime I drive my truck I think it's gonna crap out on me but so far so good. The engine runs really smooth and haven't had to change a veggie filter yet.. I have a two tank system with two separate fuel filters (for diesel or bio and veggie) and a heat exchanger utilizing the existing common fuel filter. Currently at 1700 miles since conversion. I've owned the truck for 4 months.. odometer at 172,000.

Rich

[rcdallas]

I have 3000 miles running 100% veggie. I had a problem once, thought my filter was clogged, truck running really rough, turns out my lid on my veggie filter came a little loose and was sucking air in the fuel system.

I haven't been driving as much as I have otherwise I'd have more miles to account for.

On the Excursion I've put on 3000 miles running a 50/50 mix, I won't do that anymore - incomplete combustion.

[BandE]

I'm approaching 10,000 miles since my conversion.

I track my savings online

My progress


I ruined one A1000 by letting the filter get too stopped up.

[blitzlaw]

I have a little over 20,000 miles and the saga continues to be updated on THIS thread.

Best Regards,

[350 long rod]

I have around 12k miles on veggi.I converted a year ago most of those miles are towing a 5th wheel.Had filter problems at first but that was due to condensation in my tank. I installed trapps on the tank and on the filter and raised the pick up point in the tank also I now keep the tank full letting it get about half empty then fill it back up.Before I was running it at half a tank or less this allowed to much volume for air so when it cooled down ot would pull in so much of our moist air I live in the PNW it has rained here for the last 30 days almost solid and even in the summer we have pertty high humidity. I just changed my veggi filter it had 10k on it vacum was starting to run at 5 in under load clean it runs at 2 to 3.

[fordnut74]

I am quickly approaching 50,000 on Oil. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] Probably 10,000 of that was using unheated WVO ONLY.Bad Idea. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

[tduncklee]

Jason,

I’m wondering what you experienced from the unheated oil. It was my understanding that, due to the fuel rails being in the head, if the engine was up to temp the oil pretty much had to be also. I remember a post (I think) where you mentioned you had spoken with a PowerStroke designer and they told you the oil/fuel would have no choice but come to engine temp almost immediately.

If this is the case and one was to switch to WVO only after engine is hot, would the temp of the WVO be an issue? I really need my oil hotter but don’t want to re-engineer it at this point.

Oh, in an attempt to keep on topic, I've got about 2,500 miles on my 96 PSD and no problems I didn't create myself. Biggest issue; In the aviation industry they use something called FuelLube to seal the threads of the fittings rather than Teflon tape especially after the filter. Teflon can get loose in the system and potentially plug an injector. So, we used fuel lube to seal all threaded fittings. Turns out veg oil dissolves fuel lube. After 800 miles oil was weeping out everywhere. Big sticky mess and royal pain fixing it. RTV (high temp silicone sealant) seems to be good for sealing threads.

Another thing I have not seen here is a source for aluminum tube. Aircraft Spruce Great source of lots of stuff and prices are right.

Tim

[freds]

About 12,000 myself, with maybe 1000 of that in heavy towing.

Beta tester for FN74's vegistroke system, so some bugs early on; understandable being his first truck in 74-77 range.

[93whitetiger]

MY truck i got from my best bud , his site is here, http://www.veggieburner.com/ my truck is his old one a 92-F250, ya i know my tag line says 93 its a typo on my part,, ANY WAY befor i got the truck he put on 30K. He has the best job, needs to use his own ride, a truck works best, puts on about 1k a WEEK , so, the chaper the fuel, the better his bottom line,, oh ya his bottom line looks GREAT now that he isnt paying squat for fuel. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img]

[SLO_TAO]

bump.. also as most have done post up a brief rundown of your system.. ie. FN74 style

One question.. How often are people changing their veggie filters out? I just changed mine at 1700 miles.. Every filter will be different but I'm curious what an average life span for these filters are.. I changed the filter since I was getting the fuel filter light flicker.

Rich

[fordnut74]

tdunklee type- You are right, once the engine is up to temp(at least PSD's) it is nearly impossible to go wrong. However, if running cold oil, ie when the motor is cold, the soot and deposits build up quick in the motor and on the ring lands which lead to seriously increased engine wear. I am terrible for keeping notes, but the one thing I have done everytime without fail is the blackstone oil reports. And that confirmed that by running unheated oil I was quickly headed toward an early demise of my motor. So I changed my ways in a real hurry(FN74 system) did a Seafoam flush(thanks Freds!! [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif[/img])and for the last 10,000 miles all has been well. By thge way, once again I have done a revision, and made a HUGE improvemment in simplicity and installation ease. Hopefully I will have some updates and pics on my site soon. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[flyingisbest]

I have a little over a thousand miles on veggie. I work at home and just run around town with lots of small trips, a few 1 hour trips per month so a thousand miles too awhile :-) I have the fn74 setup and it works great. I want to make a change soon and relocate the fuel pressure regulator (fpr) to before the filter, it's really hard on the pump as the back pressure in the filter builds up. I understand Jason is making the change also now that he is using heated filters too. Just replaced a filter for the first time, I am not happy with the mileage, but it's still less than 20 cents per gallon for the filter [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]
I suspect that the present setup with continuous flow through the fpr causes early filter demise, and although low miles for a filter, there were pretty high hours in running. Now with a successfully operating filter heater, relocating the fpr will cause only one flow through the filter, and allow the pump to see the same head pressure regardless of filter clogging, for its lifetime - saving $300 for replacement pump and likely extending filter life.

One little note which may be of warning. I drained my water separating truck wvo filter recently (just before replacing it) to see how much water had accumulated. It drained about a quarter cup of water, but a short time later it started leaking heavily without my knowledge. I hope the people in the mall parking lot look where they are walking ;-) I didn't have any dry sweep on hand to handle the 4 foot long spill while idling for a bit. SO I might suggest that draining the filter body would be best done with the engine and pump off and the pressure purged from the system somewhat, as I couldn't turn that Fleetguard drain fitting to make it stop spraying oil no matter what. Gets the blood pressure up a bit when that kind of thing happens. Live and learn.

[flyingisbest]

Just a note regarding my experience with a 6.0L starting on cold veggie. I have experimented a bit to see how soon I can turn on my pump, expecially since most of my drinving is around town. If I start my pump and filter body heater right when I start the engine, by the time the filter and pump are up to pressure, the engine is pretty well up to full temp. But I also find that the veggie will burn just fine without noticeable "cold startup" type performance, if I can get the veggie up to pressure a bit sooner. I find that if I run the pump for a few minutes before I start the engine, I can cause poor running when starting the engine cause it gets to the injectors nearly instantaneously. So the ideal resolution is to preprime, then shut the pump off, start the engine, run for about 2 minutes up the road, then start the pump again. Gets up to pressure almost immediately again, and despite the engine temp gauge having hardly lited off the cold peg, the heater is throwing off heat, and the veggie is injecting just fine and running well. So this is my current method of operation. These engines warm up fast!

[zackmostov]

4000 veggie milesm feelin good