Converting your diesel to run on veggie oil?

[elkinrutdrivemenuts]

Anyone looked into running veggie oil in their trucks?  Pro cons? 

[Special T]

I looked into it. Here is what i have come up with. It works best IF, and in order.
1 IF you have a steady supply it MAY be OK.
2 IF you dive long distance, and have long run times.
3 Have a mechanical older rig.
4 IF you can either fab up your own kit or afford to take a few months to pay for the kit
5 Filtering AND keeping water out are KEY! won't work very well in W Wa
6 Also investigate burning filterd motor oil as a blend...

I think it would be easier to get used filtered motor oil than Vegi Oil.  Time IS money, unless you have lots of freetime. 

[PolarBear]

I looked into it because my Uncle owns a half dozen Dairy Queens so oil would be easy to get.  What I found out from my boat and truck diesel mechanics is that it is actually very hard on engines.  The stuff eats away seals, hoses etc.  I was told from both mechanics "Run Bio Diesel only if you like bringing you rig into me for repairs, otherwise stay clear of the stuff!"  I'm not risking my Powerstroke or Yanmars to save a few bucks in the short term.

[whacker1]

One of my friends bought an older Ford with the 7.3 that had already been converted to run vegetable oil.  He owns a restaurant, so supply was not an issue.  He was commuting from Spokane to Pullman every day with it, and mileage wasn't great, but the grease was free.  Last i checked the motor had 60,000 miles on it since it had been converted.  I know the other issue to consider is gelling in colder weather.

[elkinrutdrivemenuts]

Good to know, I was wondering how it would affect performance too.  It would be nice to save money at the gas station, but always making repairs would get old

[whacker1]

Good to know, I was wondering how it would affect performance too.  It would be nice to save money at the gas station, but always making repairs would get old

performance and mileage are down.

I sent him an e-mail to get an update on how the pickup is doing these days as I haven't talked to him about it in over a year.

I will update if he responds

[JimmyHoffa]

I've known a few that looked into it and it would've required setting up processing equipment at their homes.  Filtering, refining and blending stuff.  They would've had to fabricate a whole set-up and the start up was a pita.  I don't recall them mentioning cost savings, but did mention about how they had to drive all over town to pick up oil from different places and that was a bit of an inconvenience.  Probably renew a lot of interest if supply dropped--the Opacalypse.

[whacker1]

My buddy responded.  He has 160k miles on late 90's model F250 with a 7.3 powerstroke.  the last 30k have been on pure used vegetable oil.  The owner before him had some on vegetable oil, but not sure how many.  He is looking at switching to biodiesel in the coming months for a multitude of reasons.

1. He is not driving as far, so the vegetable oil doesn't have enough time to heat up to actually use it.

2. He doesn't have a good enough water seperation and filter set up to continue

3. he is purchasing a second diesel rig, and will not have the two tank set up that the older F250 has and thus will need to run bio.

His biggest cautions were to make sure that you have a steady supply of vegetable oil and have 2 tank set up.  Starting it on normal diesel and switching to vegetable oil when the truck and vegetable oil heat up enough to be useable.  Because it takes long enough to heat up this doesn't work well for short commutes.

[Special T]

 
 Or in the cold

[Eli346]

Whacker-Good info. A friend has been running one for about 10 years and hasn't had any problems that I know of. He also owns a burger stand so the supply is there. It's kinda funny to see a diesel idling and expecting to smell rancid fumes but smell french fries instead.

[jk]

A friend of mine I used to rodeo with has ran it in his truck for a lot of years and it ran great. that was about 10 years ago .