Thursday, February 23, 2012
Welcome - Sticky
Yes, you can run WVO in a PD engine successfully without damaging your engine.
I know this because I indeed destroyed one engine and tried again and now have no problems and I'm proving it with my oil reports below. It's hard work but can be done. The initial system paid for itself in 2.5 years and then it took another 2 years for the new short block to be paid for. I've been driving now for 7 years on wvo and although saving money on gas is not my primary goal -- Finding a reasonable way to get off oil is.
Quick Summary of how I'm doing it:
1) I'm running a plantdrive system. Doughnut tank, on board filter etc.
2) I use Mobil Delvac 1 motor oil or Mobil 1 Turbo Diesel Truck - same stuff.
Everyone will scream at you that this is not an approved motor oil for this engine. But when you look at the facts (oil reports) you'll see there are no problems. Castrol is not 100% synthetic and the hydrocarbons will mix with the veggi oil and will thicken the motor oil. Look at my early oil reports and you'll see the viscosity problem.
3) I turned off EGR. This will prevent excessive carbon build up.
Early on, two of my glow plug tips broke off into my cylinders when they were being changed. The excessive carbon built up in my engine fused them in place. This was the initial downfall of my first engine. Pieces of the tips bounced around the cylinders. Then I started burning lots of motor oil. Then I would run low on motor oil. Then the motor oil chain finally broke.
4) I filter down to at least 10 microns. I use two 55 gallon drums with two hand crank pumps. First drum has a 20 micron filter bag. Then I hand crank the filtered oil into a second drum with a 10 micron bag inside of a 5 micron bag.
5) I use diesel fuel instead of B99 as my start up and purge fuel. With B99, I was having some very bad start ups as the fuel in the doughnut tank got lower. I attributed this to the fact that my veggie system design allows for veggie oil to get into the doughnut tank during the purge cycle. Newer systems do not have this problem.
6) I change my motor oil every 3k!
You can read all about the rest of my journey over the years below. Enjoy!
I know this because I indeed destroyed one engine and tried again and now have no problems and I'm proving it with my oil reports below. It's hard work but can be done. The initial system paid for itself in 2.5 years and then it took another 2 years for the new short block to be paid for. I've been driving now for 7 years on wvo and although saving money on gas is not my primary goal -- Finding a reasonable way to get off oil is.
Quick Summary of how I'm doing it:
1) I'm running a plantdrive system. Doughnut tank, on board filter etc.
2) I use Mobil Delvac 1 motor oil or Mobil 1 Turbo Diesel Truck - same stuff.
Everyone will scream at you that this is not an approved motor oil for this engine. But when you look at the facts (oil reports) you'll see there are no problems. Castrol is not 100% synthetic and the hydrocarbons will mix with the veggi oil and will thicken the motor oil. Look at my early oil reports and you'll see the viscosity problem.
3) I turned off EGR. This will prevent excessive carbon build up.
Early on, two of my glow plug tips broke off into my cylinders when they were being changed. The excessive carbon built up in my engine fused them in place. This was the initial downfall of my first engine. Pieces of the tips bounced around the cylinders. Then I started burning lots of motor oil. Then I would run low on motor oil. Then the motor oil chain finally broke.
4) I filter down to at least 10 microns. I use two 55 gallon drums with two hand crank pumps. First drum has a 20 micron filter bag. Then I hand crank the filtered oil into a second drum with a 10 micron bag inside of a 5 micron bag.
5) I use diesel fuel instead of B99 as my start up and purge fuel. With B99, I was having some very bad start ups as the fuel in the doughnut tank got lower. I attributed this to the fact that my veggie system design allows for veggie oil to get into the doughnut tank during the purge cycle. Newer systems do not have this problem.
6) I change my motor oil every 3k!
You can read all about the rest of my journey over the years below. Enjoy!
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
50,000 miles on veggie oil
You'll notice high iron numbers for the last oil report. During that period I had stalled a hand full of times which requires 5-10 minutes of cranking the engine to get the air out. Turned out to be a bad hose letting air in. But the worst was forgetting to purge many times during that oil reporting period. The engine was not happy about that in the cold mornings and I think that combined with the fact that I went 4k miles on the oil is what really moved those Iron numbers up. It seems to be back under control though.
