What is the best alternative fuel to run I've heard vegetable oil motor oil atf fluid and mineral ol what's the best

 

'Best' is far too subjective, but in my opinion:

-Biodiesel, if most of your driving averages less than 10-20 miles at a time. (You will need to cut it with pump diesel if you are at or below freezing)

-SVO, (straight vegetable oil) if most of your driving averages more than that, and you will need a properly modified system (i.e. heat and two fuel tanks).

I have no opinion about motor oil, atf, mineral oil, hydraulic oil, etc.

 

I agree with Alvin - but have an opinion about WMO/ATF/etc. These 'alternative fuels' have an extensive history of causing injector damage and even catastrophic engine failures. There are few (if any) believable long-term success stories running these 'fuels'.

I've been running WVO (in 'properly' modified/2-tank systems) since 2006. My (2) PSD's have over 270k combined miles on the 'high cholesterol diet' now and I have never had a fuel-related issue.

Choose wisely - or PLEASE post pics of the carnage!!!!

 

I bought my truck for the sole purpose of making a Hybrid.

converted the truck to a dual fuel and burned WVO for 3 years. and yes it can be done in Montana winters. had an in bed tank with hose in hose for the fuel and coolant lines. if I did it again I would remove the spare tire and put in a Excursion tank and make that one my diesel, and the stock to oil. or vise versa. then you have the whole bed free for a camper or what ever.

saved a TON of $ and truck ran great. I was lucky to be partnered with a great guy that was very knowlegable about the truck as I learned a lot.

did you know the original diesel way back when was designed to run on peanut oil (from my research so dont fully quote me)
anyway I will say that its not for everybody. you know to want and be able to tinker on your truck. but that is the easy part cause we seem to love our trucks.
as for oil, you need a source of decent oil and a place to store and filter. oil changes usually cost more cause you have to filters. VO and motor OIL filters etc.
BUT all my trips to OR and there were many saved me a ton of cash. and its always a good conversation when they dont belive you and you ask them to smell your exhaust. lol

now I have a 7.3 again but its a van. not sure if I will convert or not as I have since moved and lost my convience of what I had. maybe

hope that wasnt to babbling for you

 

Ok how does the two tank set up work

 

Basically you start on normal diesel. A heating element in your secondary tank heats the WMO (or other oil) to a warmer temp to make it more fluid, then you can switch to that.

 

ok how do you keep the wvo from returning to your diesel tank is there a tread that will tell how it works and how to do it

 

I have a one tank system and have been running vo since 2003.
It has been good to me. I ran it for seven years before a real failure happened.The failure-i have had to clean the fuel line (between the fuel bowl and passenger side of engine) twice. I now view that as the weak area of the system. You need to change the fuel filters on a schedule similar to changing your motor oil.
I cannot imagine going back to 100% diesel.

 

I know somebody that has a diesel heater (Espar?) on his truck. He runs straight WVO in his tank and he has a 5-gallon aux diesel tank to fuel his heater that's on an electronic control (with a remote start and a timer). It warms up the fuel and the engine cooling system - so a few minutes after the heater fires up, his truck and fuel is toasty warm and he's never had the issues associated with cold weather. I have seen electric fuel filter heaters, like we have in our fuel bowl. I even read a paper on using microwave technology to heat the fuel and this makes sense, but I don't know about the power consumption.

 

Most people don't have the success that David has experienced with a 1-tank 'conversion'. Same goes for what Tugly described.

The main reason is because of polymerization. This is the natural degradation of VO. As the oil 'breaks down', it turns into something akin to chicken skin. Heat, oxygen and exposure to oxidants (like copper and carbon steel) expedite the rate of polymerization. If you don't remove the VO from the engine at shutdown, the VO tends to polymerize inside the heads and injectors due to copious amounts of heat and exposure to carbon steel.

This is actually from polymerized biodiesel - but is common for 'blenders', 1-tank VO users and VO 'conversions' that don't adequately purge the engine at shut-down.


The second reason is due to poor atomization of the more viscous VO combined with low combustion chamber temps at start-up - creating poor combustion that leads to coking/carbon build-up in the combustion chamber and even downstream of the exhaust valves.

Like this:







The 2-tank WVO conversion has millions of combined miles of success and very few problems with well designed systems like Jason Crawford (FN74's) Vegistroke System - now marketed by WVO Diesel Conversion | SVO Grease Conversion | Ford Vegistroke Powerstroke | Biodiesel Conversion.

A successful 2-tank system uses a redundant fuel system for VO. The VO system mimics the OE fuel system with a 2nd fuel tank, fuel pump, filters, etc. It also HEATS the VO to temps that allow it to flow thru the fuel filters during cold weather as well as reduce viscosity so proper atomization can take place at the injectors. Finally, the system must be able to replace all of the VO in the engine with diesel without contaminating the diesel tank with VO.

There is lots of reading and GOOD info here Frybrid Vegetable Oil Fuel Systems -- Theory of Vegetable Oil Conversion Read all the blue tabs and follow the links provided in sources. There are some other sites that discuss VO as a fuel, but the information is often sketchy and downright wrong. (like infopoop )

 

yeah I know a blender with a diesel jeep. I just can't see doing it.

I had a started with different presures to separate the different fuel. but after a year I changed it up and put in a check valve that became an insurance thing to avoid what SKyjason was talking about. when I turned on the VO pump, that created presure so the check valve turned the diesel pump off and having one way check valves on the rail didn't let VO get back into the diesel lines and tank. then if something was wong with the VO system and lose presure the DIesel pump would start back up or if i turned it off before shut down. if you have a good system you dont even know there is a switch. that is why you have gauges, and extra lights to monitor what is going on. and you have to know your system helps.

mine was a home built with ideas from Vegistroke as i started doing this around the time we was getting started.

I ran coolant lines back to the tank to heat the VO. then the VO fuel lines inside the coolant lines so they stay warm all the way to the motor. the only time the two fuels mixed was in the rail.

hope that helps, its early and not thinking well so I am sure I jumped around.
Happy friday all

 

Redid my friends fuel system..(fuel bowl, cleared p/s-d/s fuel lines..) from him run'n a 2-tank set-up, but utulizing the diesel fuel lines. Man, whatta mesh. Not sure how the truck even ran. Think, poor maintenance, neglect caused it, but did have 4+yrs work of run'n.

Been burn'n wvo for 15K miles now. DIY 2-tank set-up, CV's in place at stock fuel lines. Its a labor of love, man. Seems im' always in the garage (not a bad thing), processing, filtering...it can get real NASTY real quick, depend'n on your "contracts", but hey, the payoff is, you drive for free.

 

Here's a write-up on a well-designed 2-tank conversion for a PSD. This is basically the same system I built for my dually, but he wanted to put everything in the bed of his truck - my fuel pump, FPR, filter(s), etc are under the truck.
updated 7.3 diy. - Forums

My F350 has over 170k miles and Excursion now has over 100k miles on the high-cholesterol diet...

 

Saving money is not a good enough reason to do this.

This is a time consuming activity that can get/be expensive. You must dedicate yourself to gain knowledge of vo, your vehicle, and the system you choose to use.

SSJ and i went in different directions with our vo systems. I respect the direction he went in.