Hi, just wanted to hear anybody's take on Running VeggiOil or the like in your Diesel.
Both Positive information or War stories.
How do you make sure it's ready for the engine, effects on performance, any issues with regulations or government inspections.

 

Where do you get veggie oil? KFC

 

I've run vegetable oil and biodiesel in my 6.9 with no ill effects. I've noticed a slight boost in power and reduction in noise with biodiesel, and a slight loss in power with vegetable oil (versus petro-diesel). All in all, I can barely tell the difference (except for the smell, which is much better).

I think i might not be getting my oil hot enough with just a copper coil in the tank, so i'm looking for a heat exchanger (either a marine coolant, or coolant-based oil cooler) to boost the heat right before the i.p.

Most restaurants have oil you can take (always ask first and don't make a mess), but more expensive places (especially asian and bar and grill joints) have better oil. Don't take opaque, cloudy or thick oil. I wouldn't suggest KFC, animal fats gel above room temp, so you have to get the fuel hot to filter and very hot to run through your injectors. If you heat it when prefiltering, don't let it get hot, just let it get warm enough to flow. If it is too hot it can warp the filter element. You can also mix with diesel to thin it out.

I also keep my startup/purge tank good 'n' loaded with diesel kleen injector cleaner, just to make sure that any deposits from my haphazardly brewed/collected biodiesel/vegetable oil get cleaned out.

 

have you heard that you can put tranny fluid in the tank periodically to clean the injectors....fact or fiction?

 

I sure am interested in more comments on this. I was reading a column about a year ago in a motorhome magazine about how popular it is to run diesels on veggie oil in Australia. This sure brings it closer to home.

When you guys talk about heating it, are you saying that you need to pre process it BEFORE putting it in the fuel tank, or do you need to modify the actual fuel system of the engine?

Thanks - let's hear more!

 

my buddy has a set up on his cummins,he strains it,mixes deisel,and strains it again,he has hot fuel lines that go a little beyond the line switchers.and a big heater in the tank.

it has to run for some time before he can switch it over,he uses it over the road mostly.

 

I run clean, filtered WVO in my 86 6.9 IDI whenever I can get my hands on it. Since I can't find a steady supply of decent WVO I have been running it 25% in the front tank and using the rear to purge with 100% petroleum 5 minutes before shutdown. Helps lubricate and helps defray the ungodly fuel prices. I have noticed it seems to cut the power just a tad when running the grease but not that much. If I ever get a good supply of WVO going I'm doing the straight grease in a heated tank while purging 5 minutes before shutdown.

 

teedo: if you're looking to boost the heat of your oil, check out www.biofuels.ca and look at the vegtherm. it's a very simple setup that runs off the electrical system. i got some simple brackets at my local hardware store & mounted it to the front of the fuel filter bracket. as a heads up, i have a vegtherm mega installed in my system and i needed to upgrade my alternator - my stock unit was only 55A. it was easy to do & was around $75 with a two-year warranty nat my local rebuilder shop. if you have any questions, feel free to email me.

 

i've also heard about adding tranny fluid to the fuel. i think diesel kleen would work better, though, as that's what it's designed for.

 

I live in Aus and a firend of my Dad's makes bio-diesel himself to run in his truck. After a while, that just got too much hassle for him, so now he just gets the oil, filters it a couple of times before going into a separate tank (heated and heated lines). He starts on normal diesel and runs on vege oil (old fish and chip oil) for the most of the time. He's put over 200,000kms on this truck with the vege oil and it still runs great.

Side effects: It smells like fish and chips everywhere you go

 

Do not try to get away with 50/50 mix (diesel and veggie). I tried this on my 79 240 mercedes diesel (guine pig). Well worked ok (little sluggish) when it was warm out. but lately if it gets below 50 it plugs up and all goes to hell. after that I have been heating the tank up to burn it out to add more diesel. I havnt had much luck since it gets 36 MPG and it is a 22 gallon tank =(. But as for my 89 ford I put a titanium fish tank heater in the tank and an inverter and at night I plug in the heater and during the day I plug it into inverter as I drive. Runs great and smells good. DO NOT 50/50 MIX!. Oh and dont use McDonalds they use the same oil in the friers for like 3 weeks and the stuff is like dark brown even after being filtered =(. any questions lemme know

 

Hi,

I use biodiesel and a 50/50 blend of wvo and kerosene ( or diesel ) in the second tank. I switch when the engine is warm. No problems after 8k miles on my '92 F-250 7.3 na w/ 176,000 miles. The truck is stock.

But the 50/50 mix is not recommended and experimental. Some other F-_50 owners have had problems on unheated blends and others when converted to a heated fuel system.

For the most stories online, go to biodiesel.infopop.cc in the SVO Forum, and search on 'F-250' or 'F-350'. There must be a couple dozen there.