What kind of fuels could be run in our diesels? - Diesel Forum

Equineguy · 04-22-2006, 09:53 PM

I'm sorta curious.... what could a person shove in our trucks to make them run? Anyone run any alternate fuels besides the BioDiesel? Are they cost effective once placed on?

Looked around a bit in the search.... its a headache trying to find the 'meaty' subjects.

Thanks!

AggiePSD · 04-22-2006, 10:58 PM

Waste vegetable oil, used motor oil, transformer cooling oil. Probably a lot of light oils. Probably not all advisable to run, but they will work.

thegreg92 · 04-22-2006, 11:00 PM

wait, used motor oil? really? anyone burn this successfully?

AggiePSD · 04-23-2006, 01:30 AM

There was a thread recently in the alternative fuels forum where several were burning quite a bit of it.

PSDfreak · 04-23-2006, 04:47 AM

[ QUOTE ]
wait, used motor oil? really? anyone burn this successfully?

[/ QUOTE ] I would think that would be too think for the HEUI injection systems in our trucks... [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shrug.gif[/img]

-Casey

arffdiesel · 04-23-2006, 10:01 AM

how much fresh veg oil can you mix with reg pump diesel?

BlueMule · 04-23-2006, 10:12 AM

It all depends on the outside temperatures. It just has to be thin enough to get through the fuel filter Last summer I ran on 100% veggie, just start up and shut down on #2. Once it travels through the internal fuel rails it's hot and thin enough that it injects just fine.

arffdiesel · 04-23-2006, 11:44 AM

so did you just keep your front tank full of veg. and rear full of reg diesel. start up on the rear. warm up, switch to the front, then before shutdown switch back to reg diesel for a while? is this the right concept?

Nitro454 · 04-23-2006, 03:35 PM

for this summer i plan on running bio in the front and WVO in the rear. That way I am getting away a lot cheaper than just using straight Bio. call me cheap, but it sounds killer to me especially with diesel gonna be as expensive as it is this year.

thegreg92 · 04-23-2006, 03:56 PM

i heard that veggie oil needs to be pretty warm to run. i want to be able to start my truck in the summer on veggie oil without some sort of heater. is this possible?

BlueMule · 04-23-2006, 04:44 PM

[ QUOTE ]
so did you just keep your front tank full of veg. and rear full of reg diesel. start up on the rear. warm up, switch to the front, then before shutdown switch back to reg diesel for a while? is this the right concept?

[/ QUOTE ]

Exactly! [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/warmsmile.gif[/img]

Except I kept B99 in the front tank because its larger and I didnt have to go out of the way to fill it as often. For the winter I'd put 15 gallons of oil and 3 gallons of B99 in the rear, the rest of the time it was 100% oil. Start up on B99 or #2 and drive a few miles till the water temp comes up to 160º or "N" on the stock guage and then switch tanks.Then switch back again about 2 miles before parking it.

BlueMule · 04-23-2006, 05:09 PM

[ QUOTE ]
i heard that veggie oil needs to be pretty warm to run. i want to be able to start my truck in the summer on veggie oil without some sort of heater. is this possible?

[/ QUOTE ]

Its possible, and I've done it a few times when I forgot to switch back at the end of the day. When vegetable oil is 160º-170º it is the same viscousity as #2 Anything less then that and it doesn't atomize and burn completely and you risk a carbon buildup on the nozzle tips and the rings. The three times that I forgot to switch the temps were over 100º and it started just fine but I switched over to bio and drove to work that way. Maybe unnecessary, but I didnt want to take the risk.

thegreg92 · 04-23-2006, 06:03 PM

do you have any sort of heater on your tank? i cant imagine the tank itself getting to 160ish temps on its own. also, where do you get your veg oil from?

arffdiesel · 04-23-2006, 07:29 PM

dumb question, what exactly is b99? how much money did you save in the summer by running veg oil? where was the best place to get it? is it better for the injectors?

BlueMule · 04-23-2006, 08:58 PM

[ QUOTE ]
do you have any sort of heater on your tank? i cant imagine the tank itself getting to 160ish temps on its own. also, where do you get your veg oil from?

[/ QUOTE ]

I do now, but I ran for well over a year with unheated veggie, that's the reason I was cutting it with B99 during the colder months. Last fall I put a 110 gallon tank in the bed with a <font color="blue">HOT FOX</font> heated pickup and a hose in hose heat exchanger. It doesn't do much for heating what's in the tank but by the time it gets to the engine compartment it is between 160º and 180º

As long as your oil is warm enough to go thru the pump and filter it will pick up enough heat while its in the fuel rails to inject properly. That is if you let the engine come up to temp so that there is enough heat in the heads that will transfer to the oil. Your water temp is a pretty good indicator.