Give it to the refiners, from what I have heard burning wmo is fairly toxic and what will you do with the leftover heavy metals that you filter out?
Alternative Fuels & Better Fuel Mileage
- Thread starter Terrainist
- Start date
Give it to the refiners, from what I have heard burning wmo is fairly toxic and what will you do with the leftover heavy metals that you filter out?
What do you think is done with that oil after it goes to the recycler? The majority ends up as bunker oil/ fuel oil for ships. It is also used for making cement by burning it.
If you really want to filter it, centrifuge is the only way to go. The gunk and residuals should go back into the waste oil tank for recycling.
Unless you work for a car manufacturer and can get injectors and IP for free, I suggest you use something more substantial to filter your oil. Something like dirty underwear. J/K. See post above.
Terrainist
Explorer
Istzephyr - from what I remember reading on DTR, guys use it as fuel. I don't remember if they used it straight or mixed it. Mixing it you should have no problem. I'll see if I can't find and cross post the relevant threads.
Charlieaarons - Surprised they use Jet A in Alaska in the winter. I thought that it was too dry to run in a diesel truck, not enough lube for the pumps. Very interesting.
Charlieaarons - Surprised they use Jet A in Alaska in the winter. I thought that it was too dry to run in a diesel truck, not enough lube for the pumps. Very interesting.
Terrainist
Explorer
Charlieaarons - are you sure that they sell Jet A thru the pumps at the gas stations in the winter in Alaska? Just trying to nail down all my fuel options. Again, I was under the impression that it was too dry. Would be great if I could burn that stuff.
Istzephyr - word is, Cummins says it's okay to burn WMO (waste motor oil) in the 5.9 at 5% by volume (5% WMO/95% diesel). From reading though, some guys go 50/50 (WMO/diesel). ----- THE WASTE MOTOR OIL MUST BE FILTERED VERY WELL, it has to be clean enough or you risk damage.
Istzephyr - word is, Cummins says it's okay to burn WMO (waste motor oil) in the 5.9 at 5% by volume (5% WMO/95% diesel). From reading though, some guys go 50/50 (WMO/diesel). ----- THE WASTE MOTOR OIL MUST BE FILTERED VERY WELL, it has to be clean enough or you risk damage.
shortbus4x4
Expedition Leader
Steel soldiers has a very good forum on alt. fuels, the guys with duece and halfs with multifuel engines have been running waste oils through their engines for years now. From the research I have done a centrifuge is the best way to filter waste oil, it gets it very clean and is fairly mess free. You can run waste motor oil/atf in your diesel. The newer diesels with electronic injection pump/injectors aren't as forgiving as the older mechanical injected diesels when it comes to dirty fuel/high viscosity fuel. I know of a couple of guys who run straight ATF in their older GM diesels, they get it from repair shops that do transmission flushes. There is slight smoke when running straight ATF. I know of a couple of others who run a mix of gas/waste motor oil. I do live in an area where if its in the mid 20's its very cold. The important thing is to get what ever fuel you put in the tank very clean. I saw one Landcruiser with a 4bt that the owner only used biodiesel, she got lucky and only had to get her fuel system flushed and her tank pumped when she got a bad batch. Biodiesel is a good idea but the production quality seems to vary widely from manufacturer to manufacturer. The other thing I have seen with biodiesel is it really eats rubber hoses or anything else made of rubber, if you run B100 you need to upgrade your fuel system components to viton. A lot of people including mechanics lump biodiesel and WVO all together but to run WVO takes an extra tank and special system where biodiesel can be dumped straight into your diesel tank with regular diesel, try that with WVO and you will have a expensive repair bill most likely. I think it was Joshua Tickell wrote a book called "From Fryer to Fuel Tank" which is very good and gives info on making your own biodiesel or WVO system. The only WVO systems I have seen were on hippy vans and were very very poorly done. I hated to work on them because the insides were nasty and the WVO system was just a nightmare to decipher.
Darwin
Explorer
Not sure what your point here is. You seem confused about the difference between wvo and biodiesel. Like you said, to run wvo takes "special systems" and a second tank, so simply putting raw wvo into your tank is a really bad idea.
I don't blame you there. It is amazing what some set ups people will run in their vehicles. At the same time though, if a mechanic refused to work on my truck because of the wvo conversion, I would consider them an incompetent mechanic. In fact I took my truck into Rocky Mountain Cummins the other day to get worked on, I never mentioned the WVO system and the mechanics never said anything about it. If they know how to work on a diesel truck, then they can figure out what's under the hood. Its incredibly simple and works great.
shortbus4x4
Expedition Leader
I'm not confused at all about the difference btween biodiesel and WVO, quite a few other people are though. Quite a few people think biodiesel=WVO, they don't understand biodiesel is WVO that has been altered chemically and is no longer WVO.
I have no problem tracing a WVO system out and understanding what does what as long as the customer is willing to pay me for my time. Its when they don't want to spend the money that I have a problem with. Here is a description of all the WVO systems I have seen come into shops I work at. Usually they have a van or motorhome that they are living in and don't have high standards of hygenie. The first thing that hits you like a brick is the smell, then you stick your head inside to see if its as bad as you think, usually it is. You fight the gag reflex as you pull the doghouse off to access the rear of the engine, usually you have to move a bunch of crap to do this. You haven't lived until you work on something that has crap, trash, and God knows what in it for God knows how long. You try to hurry as quick as you can, by the time you are done your skin is crawling and you feel the need to take a shower and change into clean clothes. This is why I say I have never seen a good WVO system, I know they are out there, I just have never actually worked on one.
I have no problem tracing a WVO system out and understanding what does what as long as the customer is willing to pay me for my time. Its when they don't want to spend the money that I have a problem with. Here is a description of all the WVO systems I have seen come into shops I work at. Usually they have a van or motorhome that they are living in and don't have high standards of hygenie. The first thing that hits you like a brick is the smell, then you stick your head inside to see if its as bad as you think, usually it is. You fight the gag reflex as you pull the doghouse off to access the rear of the engine, usually you have to move a bunch of crap to do this. You haven't lived until you work on something that has crap, trash, and God knows what in it for God knows how long. You try to hurry as quick as you can, by the time you are done your skin is crawling and you feel the need to take a shower and change into clean clothes. This is why I say I have never seen a good WVO system, I know they are out there, I just have never actually worked on one.
IHDiesel73L
Adventurer
Click here and you'll be able to say you saw a good one. Seriously, I looked for a long time before I found the Vegistroke system and I had seen them all. Most looked like someone had taken a couple of quick trips to Ace Hardware and Radio Shack and slapped something together in a weekend. The Vegistroke looks, installs, and functions like OEM equipment.
shortbus4x4
Expedition Leader
I looked at their website, if you have a Powerstroke thats a pretty slick setup. It costs a bit but is sure nice.
IHDiesel73L
Adventurer
Between the system itself, the filtration rig I built, and miscellaneous other costs, I put out about $3000 altogether. I put on about 20K miles a year which, at an average fuel consumption of 15 MPG (I have low gears and a heavy foot) means I consume about 1300 gallons of fuel per year. At today's pump price in NJ ($3.25/gallon-and well all know it's been plenty higher) that works out to about $4,300 per year :Wow1: I've been doing this for three years now so I feel it was a good investment :wings:
I'll second that. I use a centrifuge to clean my WVO and wouldn't use anything else. There are no filters to mess with and change, and you're removing particles down to fractions of a micron-once you've got oil that clean the filter on the truck is simply a safety precaution.
I would not do any of this in a Powerstroke or newer Cummins, etc...as shortbus says-the newer diesels are not going to tolerate it. I actually question how well the older ones tolerate it in terms of injector coking, but if they're running, they're running. Again, in the newer diesels a two tank system is a must for WATF/WMO/WVO. In theory the centrifuge should remove most of the heavy metals in WMO from bearing materials, but I've never seen evidence one way or another.
shortbus4x4
Expedition Leader
The one guy with an older GM has dual tanks, he runs ATF in one tank and diesel in another. He basically starts and stops on diesel, instead of a computer switching tanks, he does. The other guy has step van, he runs straight ATF or a mix depending on what he has, its been 2-3 years now since he has been doing it and no problems yet. But it doesn't get real cold where I am. I know another guy who has a couple of mid eighties Tempos with the diesel engines in them. He was running straight ATF but he seemed to be going through injection pumps quite often. The injection pumps on those cars use a vacuum to suck the fuel from the tank, no lift pump, same idea as the CP3 pump on a Duramax. I thought the higher viscosity ATF was making the pump work harder thus shortening its life. I recommended cutting the ATF some with diesel or gas.
IHDiesel73L
Adventurer
I've seen systems like that and almost built one myself, but now I have a truck where I don't have to think about it, my wife (or anyone else) can drive it without a problem, and since the truck essentially has two separate fuel systems, I could take it to a shop with the system turned off and they wouldn't even know it was there. Powerstrokes have two sets of fuel ports on the heads. Ford uses two and plugs the other two-those are the ports the Vegistroke uses.
Terrainist
Explorer
Doing research into the WVO (waste vegetable oil). As most know, certain diesel trucks and cars are better suited for this than others. One thing that didn't occur to me is the diesel engine itself better be in pretty good condition. None or very, very little blow by, good ability to maintain pressure, etc. Or the WVO will trash it from what I've been reading.