Here is neat idea I came across recently and was wondering if anybody has tried this.

We all know that oil and filter changes at regular intervals are one of the key maintenance requirements for our diesel trucks.

The fellow I talked to described a system to me that he has used on larger trucks that basically uses a five gallon pail of engine oil with a pump that continuously supplies oil to the cranck case (very small flow) and at the same time oil is extracted from the crank case and mixed into the fuel tank so it can be burned by the motor along with the fuel.

It would take a bit of balancing of flow I guess as you don't want the engine oil to get too dirty before you mix it with your fuel in the fuel tank while at the same time you don't want to go thru too much engine oil as this could become un-economical. Also make sure you got a fine fuel filter (2 micron) in case there is any issues with the cleanliness of the oil.

Technically now all you would have to do is change your oil filter once in a while and throw a new 5 gallon pail of 10W40 in the box once in a while.

Has anybody heard of such a system or tried one?

If you want to kick it up a notch I guess you could install a small lub oil tank under the frame of the truck, put a low level alarm on the tank that notifies you that you are running low on oil.

Just a thought.....


Seb.....

 

Burning(small %) used oil in diesels has been done for years....

It's probably safe in older engines but it's going to be impossible (even illegal) in the coming years due to the introduction of ULSD, particulate filters, cooled EGR, etc.

Burning ANYTHING other than clean diesel/kerosene/bio diesel etc will produce combustion products that will adhere to combustion chambers, injectors, valves, and will contaminate and possibly damage particulate filters and catalytic converters. (this is why burning ATF and other hydraulic oils in a diesel is particularly bad).

Used oil contains a LOT of dissolved soot(that is, if the ashless dispersant is doing it's job) that is kept in suspension by the additives. Oil analysis can determine when the oil is getting close to saturation and you should change it. The other stuff which is also there like metals, dirt etc which is small emough to get by the filter is probably NOT the stuff you want to run thru your injection pump (yes your 2 micron filter will probably stop *most* of it). But that stuff when burned in the engine will produce combustion products all their own.

I have burned a lot of used oil in my EPA approved waste oil furnace. The combustion products are very nasty!(also probably considered hazardous waste).


You'll get all kinds of responses and testamonials here I guess.......There are even people that will claim that Slick50 didn't hurt their engines so it must be doing something good! (I had a camshaft go flat in an engine that ran Slick50 so I can say that Slick50 "ruined" my engine!.....That cancels out those other people!!



Cheers,

Rick

 

Thanks Rick,

Your are right on the environmental front, the newer engines probalby would have a tough time burning engine oil.

For our older IDI's so I don't think I would have any problems meeting our current emissions regulations. They are pretty lax and all I get tested for annually is opacity which has to be below 30.

I don't think anybody could force you from using whatever fuel you want, just look at all the growth in the Biodiesel industry as long as you are not running a restricted fuel that is not taxed for road usage. (All the biodiesel I buy has roadtax on it)

I still think if you got the right balance such a system could work beautifully and provide lubrication benefits while keeping the oil cleaner. Not sure about the economics but with diesel to oil prices getting closer it looks promising.

You never know what the next great innovation will be. All I can say is whatever it is you will kick yourself for saying I thought of that.

PS, my pet peeve right now is with the "particulate traps" on the newer 2007 trucks. Personnally I think there will be a lot of people that buy the new trucks that will fork out some significant $ maintaining those things.


Seb.....

 

Used oil in your fuel is going to plug your filters often. Probably going to cost more money than it saves. Have you checked filter prices lately?!? You'd think Napa was lining them with gold leaf.

 

i belive this is called a lubefinder we ran this type of system in our road trucks for years as long as they were working good they were great but if starting to fail then all hell would break loose this is my experince with many years and many miles behind me
i once thought if i had to put back all of the milemarkers i stuck in my hip pockets then i may never make it back home

 

Hi Seb,


I think you're right...

The amount that you would be burning would be small.

I'm wondering if the actual amount would pay for the system you'd have to build up to make it work. I'm sure you could probably filter it enough to prevent anything harmful from getting into the IP. The amounts of combustion products that would be produced would probably be small too.


I am with you on the "new' diesel stuff coming.....I don't like it either. To that end I'm planning to put a non-electronic diesel in my 55 F-600 (when I restore it) . The only electronic part of the equation will probably be the (F-450 Superduty) E4OD I have for it.

 

Someone was just telling me about this very thing.
I can't remember what it was on, but I think it was a Cat product.

Lubrifiner was a bypass oil filter used on the big rigs since way back when.

 

I did some more thinking on the weekend and all I would really need is a small line from the oil gallery with a needle valve to adjust flow, take that thru a 2 micron racor filter and tie it into the fuel return line to the tanks.

I figure if I set the needle valve so I get about 1.5 to 2 liters of oil going to the tanks between fill-up I should be set.

To keep it simple I would just add oil manually at each fill-up for now.

Luckyly I just got another 2 micron racor set-up I picked up so it would take a bid of work but be pretty simple to do if I had the time, which I don't right now.



Seb....

 

What microns are stock fuel filters rated?

 

The product is called oilmate from engineered machine products(EMP) in Escanaba, Mich. The have a web site and also own Stewart pumps. My engineer buddy used to work for them on this very project. I beleive it has a filter media cartridge that advances new media as the old is being used up. There is electronics monitoring the condition of the oil. They are also the ones who probably machined the heads on your powerstroke for ford and are major water pump suppliers for all the majors(cat,navistar,etc) They also have some development contracts for the military for these things like the oilmate.Not too much time to get an oilchange in IRAQ!!

 

Cummins/ Fleetgaurd has a system that does this. I saw a truck engine with this system on it a few years ago but It was designed,mainly according to a Fleetguard guy I knew, for engines that ran alot of hours with out being shut down because they couldn't be. Generators ect. It monitors oil levels and put new oil in the system as it is used.

I know guys now that run over the road in late model trucks that burn their old oil in their trucks now. They put a gallon in each tank when they fill up. They like to change their own oil and they have no place to get ride of it. We used to do that with all the old oil. What didn't get put on plows, disks or anything else like that got burnt. When I was growing up pulling tractors at county fairs, this still happens, we would put new gear oil in the fuel. Get it thick, change the filter and let her eat. It was hard on them but man would it build cheap power. Had to advance the pump up alot, which is very hard a diesel. I have had to jump a tooth or put in a offset keyway on the pump drive gears, depends on what kind of motor is was, to get them to burn it right. Wasn't very smart but we had a good time. Have a lovely day.

 

BC6.9,

Stock fuel filters are rated 10 micron, which probably would work just fine also. I have three stock fuel filter set-up now from trucks that I have pulled them off. The only problem with the stock filter is the price of the cartridge. I can get the 2 micron (or 10 micron) racor fuel filter elements cheaper.



Seb......

 

Thanks Seb,
I had a Racor set up on 86, [the one that got torched]....expensive filters!
I change the stock fuel filter on my 84 every 10,000 klms....it might be a little over kill but cheaper than injectors??

 

The EMP system would be a nice to have but at $830 per unit it is a bit steep for a pick-up truck. It makes sense for larger trucks.

I think the way I would do it is manually using a filter and a needle valve. This should bring the cost down to less than $100.

Seb....