Ok I been looking and haven't found much of an answer but I am curious if I do use alcohol to fuel my truck (if I'm in a pinch and just need to get to the fuel pump) so I know there wvo and things like that but I'm curious as to other options like k1 kerosene, alcohol and things like that as that is more accessible than bio diesel and some of those fuels

 

Do not use alcohol as a fuel in a diesel motor. It would probably be the same as running gasoline in it. It would sputter, die, and hopefully not destroy anything while doing so. It has no lubricating properties.

 

ok so just stick to using it in my gas powered Mustang then?

 

Ethanol absorbs moisture and gums everything up in a fuel system. It corrodes plastic, rubber, and metal parts not built to handle it. Many seek out gas stations that are known to have the lowest concentrations of ethanol in their pumps, and spend money on additives to combat it's negative effects. Why would you want to put that in your car?

 

im looking for the alcohol type stuff that is used in vehicles to increase octain and as an alternative source of fuel if ever required. also am curious as well for learnng

 

As an octane improving additive, sorry, but can't help you with that. Maybe someone else will know something. Now as far as running alcohol as an alternative fuel, I just don't think it is feasible without major modifications. Top fuel dragsters run methanol, so...

 

hmmm...too bad menthol isnt readily available...

 

Actually it is relatively easy to get. I buy it in 55 gallon drums for my biodiesel production from a chemical distributor. If you have any race tracks or performance shops in your area, they'll have it.

I'm curious as to why you are so interested in running it in your car.

 

just to experiment with alternitive fules, and see if perhaps I can find something more readially avalible that I can buy that will be cheaper to use in the long term, (cost/benefit type analisys type thinking really...

right now (as of post) Diesel is about $2.19 which is fine and dandy, so we will take that and times that lasts say by at least I don't know guesstimating about 1,000 fill ups (as I don't drive far so I get about 1.5 weeks on a tank) so im looking (assuming price is consistant which I know it won't be due to fuel price fluctuations) around $2,190 per year or close to that, now lets say I find an alternitive source for lets say $.50 per gallon (wether its me buying stuff at the grocery store or making it my self lets say I am at the same 1,000 fill ups per year at that $.50 I am only looking at an avrage of $500 for the fuel per year verses the $2,190.


now lets throw the car into the mix, remember im just guessing on the fill up amount as far as how many I do as I alternate the truck and car, the car is driven mainly in summer time and when weather is sunny.

now lets look at the car (Mustang) at $2.09 per gallon and run the numbers...

so if we take the same 1,000 fill ups and fill the take at $2.09 per gallon were looking at $2,090 for the car alone, now lets factor the two together!


so now we will look at $2,190 + 2,090 to the tune of $4,208 so right now with current gas prices in looking at a whopping $4,208 for JUST these two cars along, so if we toss the other two cars in at the same figures that the other half has...$4,208 * 2 = $8,416 PER YEAR!!!!

While I don't mind dealing with the fuel expence as I do drive and use the vehicles to get to work and home, if I can save even a tiny amount to reduce the expence even if its by $1 per vehicle over the entire year...hey I would be happy to use a different means for fueling the cars....



hope this makes some sense to you, and sorry for the long technical I throw numbers at you post!!!

 

I understand where you're coming from. And just imagine how much your numbers change when fuel prices double where they're at now, like they were just a couple years ago. They will spike again like they always have, for whatever reason. Whether it be next month, next year, or a couple years, prices will go up.

Any reliable or safe alternative fuel today will require most or all of the following: Commitment, space, source/feedstock, modifications, equipment, time, and money.

Currently, I produce between 50-100 gallons per month of biodiesel. Normally, I would be at about $1/gallon to produce it, but I recently picked up a couple drums of methanol (the biggest expense), from a guy giving up making biodiesel, for cheap, so I am making it for less than $.50/gal.

I have a number of reasons I make biodiesel, and interestingly, cost has become the least of them. You would think with fuel prices where they're at now I'd slow down production, but a few factors have actually increased my production rate.

Ultimately, you have to make the decision based on how you wish to spend your time, efforts, and money with your two vehicles.

 

Well any help I can get to find any alternative source I will gladly take, I just wish I could make my own fuel, that would be nice to have the ability to be able to do

 

Depends on what year truck. If an IDI with a mechanic rotary-distributor pump - you're asking for trouble and pump failure unless you use high-lube fuel. Farmers and loggers have been using kerosene-mix and/or heating oil for years with no issues when careful. The US Military has used fuel that is basically just kerosene and has had many premature pump failures. That's in the Humvees that use the same basic pumps as the IDI Ford 6.9s and 7.3s. You get in trouble with WVO or pure bio-fuel too. Much depends on what it is made from. Some oils like Rapeseed and Canola oil are high in lube and some others low.

 

I've never heard heard this. Could you elaborate?

By the way, rapeseed and canola are essentially the same thing. Same plant. Canola, (Canadian, Low Acid)_ was developed/genetically modified to reduce undesireable and potentially toxic acids. Plus, the name was more marketable.

 

Note exactly the same. That's like saying a New Hampshire chicken is the same as a Rhode Island Red. Both from the same basic source but they differ. The is no consensus as to where the Canola name evolved from either. Just as many sources claim is is shorthand for "Canada Oil."

Different plant oils have differing lubricity values. Rapeseed/Canola are rated fairly high. Soy bean and peanut oils are some of the highest and sunflower oils near the worst/lowest..

 

My truck is an E99 truck with 7.3, i would like to use a blend of diesel and wast oil (I have a source at work and a local valvolien) that will give me what I can pack, so I'm wanting to get some sort of filter/transfer pump so I can pack it in and out and transfer the filtered oil into my tank directly if that makes any sense