Vegetable Oil As An Additive

[sean_ch]

ok, I have been looking into this for awhile now and I know there are multiple topics on additives and for that I appologize... In my old ('98) cummins (I know, I came to the dark side) I was running about a quart of straight off the grocery store shelf vegetable oil per tank. This came from talking to some OTR truckers that were running it at the rate of a gallon per 100 in their rigs. With the new engines, and the particulate filter and all that nonsesense, I am wondering if anyone has heard of, is doing, or otherwise knows anything about this practice. We have just over 1,000 miles on an '08 DMax. Thanks in advance,

[merlin5577]

ok, I have been looking into this for awhile now and I know there are multiple topics on additives and for that I appologize... In my old ('98) cummins (I know, I came to the dark side) I was running about a quart of straight off the grocery store shelf vegetable oil per tank. This came from talking to some OTR truckers that were running it at the rate of a gallon per 100 in their rigs. With the new engines, and the particulate filter and all that nonsesense, I am wondering if anyone has heard of, is doing, or otherwise knows anything about this practice. We have just over 1,000 miles on an '08 DMax. Thanks in advance,

 

I personally have never heard of OTR drivers running SVO in a tractor, but I suppose anything is possible. I am curious about this, what benefits do you see in running vegatable oil through the truck? In a older truck that is mechanically injected (and designed to run LSD) it would help lubricate the injection pump but why on a newer truck that is designed to burn ULSD?

 

In order for vegatable oil to burn properly it needs to heated to approximately 140*. Also, in cold climates you risk plugging up injectors, fuel lines, fuel filters, etc... On top of that, in trucks with any type of emissions equipment the glycerin in the vegatable oil has a tendancy to clog up egr valves, the vanes on VGTs, catalytic converters, etc... So I guess my burning question is......why?

[Zembonez]

Isn't this just like Bio-Diesel? I have a friend that owns a company that cleans up restaurant kitchens. He has several 55 gallon drums set up with some sort of heater gizmo for processing used cooking oil and then he filters it into a holding tank. I don't know what the mixture is that he uses (or what the actual procedure is) but I can ask him if you need to know. He runs his fleet of trucks on the stuff. His angle is that he saves money NOT buying as much diesel.

 

It doesn't sound much different than adding veggie oil. So we know it can be done.

[onac255]

I actually put in AT Fluid in my OTR rigs(Works great...but its kind of a no no so shhhh). But Yeah I have heard other owners/operators using Veggie oil in their PRE 2007 EMISSION rigs.

 

You definitely do not want to do this on a 2008 DMax. Run Lucas thats what my friend does on all his LMMs (3 of them) and his LBZ and LB7. His LBZ has over 100K and the LB7 has 267K

 

By the way I have two big ol' CAT engines and a Detroit Diesel 60 Series.

 

By the way 14.6L CATs('99 and '01) and 12.7L Detroit.('01)

[sean_ch]

Thanks for the replies everyone, to respond to a few of the comments from merlin, I am, in fact, in a cold climate (in the winter at least). I am not mixing anywhere near bio levels at only a gallon per 100 gallons of fuel. I guess that would be 1% if I am doing my math correctly. I have never experienced any problems, but as I mentioned it was on a pre-2007, which was my biggest question/concern. I appreciate the "no-no" on the '08 and that was what I was anticipating. The major reason for using it as an additive was the lubrication. It goes along the same lines as motor oil, although I was not comfortable with the used oil. I realize the older engines would burn almost anything and I am just not as familiar with the newer ones yet and that is why I am on this forum. Thanks again,

[merlin5577]

Isn't this just like Bio-Diesel? I have a friend that owns a company that cleans up restaurant kitchens. He has several 55 gallon drums set up with some sort of heater gizmo for processing used cooking oil and then he filters it into a holding tank. I don't know what the mixture is that he uses (or what the actual procedure is) but I can ask him if you need to know. He runs his fleet of trucks on the stuff. His angle is that he saves money NOT buying as much diesel.

 

It doesn't sound much different than adding veggie oil. So we know it can be done.

 

Close, but not quite. Biodiesel is a processed fuel. Vegatable oil in unprocessed. In bio-diesel, lye, methanol and other chemicals are added and the mixture is "cooked" to break down the glycerin strands (my main concern in running veggy oil) so they can be burned correctly. Also, most companies put anti gel additives in biodiesel to prevent issues.

 

Vegatable oil is just added in and burned as is. Veggy oil can be burned correctly in most (non emission controlled) diesels but it needs to be heated to flow and combust properly. Also, if done for a long enough time the glycerin has a nasty tendency to gum up the fuel system.

 

IMO opinion if the only reason you had to do this was lubrication, dont do it. The risk of plugged injectors, fuel filters and fuel lines is just to high, and modern diesels do just fine on ULSD. A lot of really good companies make great fuel system lubricants. If you wanted to save some money and convert an older diesel to run SVO then go for it. Good luck and keep us updated.

[Black02Silverado]

I don't think it would work well in newer diesels. Like stated above it works for old mechanical systems, like in my 91 Jetta, this summer I was running a 50/50 mix of WVO and diesel. Sure was nice running for free. The jetta runs the same with it mixed with diesel. Now that the cold is here, I'm back to a super light mix of maybe two gallons of WVO to the tank.