I'm running about 80 percent WVO and 20 ULSD. It's supposed to freeze tonight. Before I start Bruno I'll check the jar of pure WVO sitting at a safe place on the end of the driveway. It's only partiallyclouded up once and that was at about 24 degrees. But even if it's clouded, I strongly suspect ol' Bruno will fire up to about 0 degrees. Anything below that and I'll increase the ratio of the WVO accordingly.
BTW, Bruno is an outside auto... but I always plug in his block heater.
When I drained the fuel tank and replaced the strainer, Ialso changed the fuel line that gravity feeds out of the tank and into the fuel sump heater, clear filter, and electric fuel boost. It was 5/16" and now it's 1/2," so now that it's so much wider, even if it's cloudy, it should at least trickle down into the heater... and the electric fuel pump boost should encourage it to do so....

 

I once installed a greasecar 2 tank system http://www.greasecar.com on a 1990 Jetta ecodiesel. It took me 2 wks to install the thing and another 2 months tweaking it. Granted, I drove it for a year before selling it and had no further problems. But I never liked the idea of continually reheating the VO which causes condensation, scum in the tank and lessenscetane value of the VO. I also didn't like the idea of using plastic PMex fuel lines that ran though a coolant hose under the car and make a connection inside the VO tank. What a nightmare installation that is!It also came with cheap plastic fittings used when tapping into the heating/coolant system, which resulted in a slow, but constant loss of coolant. I finally had proper brass connections made at Williams Oil and Filter inTacoma WA.

I didn't have any further problems with it, but it seems to mewhen that little rubber O ring fails, and I strongly suspect it will eventually fail, you'll have coolant leaking into the now scummy VO tank. I also didn't like the notion of driving around with nearly 15 gals of 150 degree oil in my trunk.... not nice if you're rear ended. I could go on and on...

But if,after more consideration, you decide to go with a 2 tank conversion, then http://www.greaseon.com/ also has an elegant 2 tank system, designed for specific MB models which has solved those above problems. Better still, it sells for under $900.and, IMHO, is much easier to install than anything else on the market. Or you can opt for one of his single tank systems for about between ( I seem to remember ) $350. to $450. Ibought 2 of his modules, plus switches etc... and did something a little different.... It cost me about the same price as a 2 tank conversion, but was still a relatively simple installation and it has flawlessly performed from day1.
Good luck and best wishes,
charlie munn

 

i found another question... with that one tank system you talked about earlier you would get cold oil in your engine, i've heard that's really bad... is that what mixing the 20%#2 is for... my dad is still really sceptical about using the one tank system and would rather use the two tanker, but having to switch the gasses, and everything else about having a two tanker sounds nice not to deal with.... well either way... thanks for everything

 

I tend to agree with your dad, and it's smart to remember that even the best of systems,falls into the experimental range. Sure, the German Elsbet system is warrented by Elsbet, but not for WVO and then only in Germany whereeven fresh VO is made specifically for diesel fuel and the ASTM standards rigidly inforced.

So even thoughone may have upgraded to the newer/hotter pen typeduratermglow plugs, as your Dad warned, on start up, the injector lines and injectors will initiallycontain cold VO.The only way I know how to tackle that problem is by installing injector line heaters, which are pre heated to 200 or so degrees F, for 2 or 3 minutes before starting the engine.

HoweverIalso have a glow plug heaterwhich heats the VO right before itenters the IP.Yet that first few seconds before the warmer VO inters the engine may be somewhat critical. To get around that,I followed John's lead and bought injection line heaters ( $40.00 for 5 on ebay ) which pre heats the oil to around 200 degrees right before it enters the engine.

The enginereaches full temperature in about 4 or5 minutes, and thennaturally heats the injectors and injector lines. That is, the injection line heaters are then no longer needed. With that in mind, I intend toput my injection line heaters on a dashboard switch, and turn them offafter the engines gets to operating temperature. In that regard, if one properly thins the VO during the winter months, perhaps injetor line heaters are the only thing needed. Still, I have all of the other gear, simply because even the best WVO must be considered suspect. In that regard, it should be heated so that it will properly flow though a high quality stanadyne type filter. Avoid those filters that claim to have a centrafuge effect. They don't work on low pressure systems such as MB's.. That is, they only work on the bigger diesel rigs...

On the other hand, the main reason to have the glow plug sump chamberin the trunk, along with the electric fuel boost pump is to insure theVO can move up and through the stanadyne filter /water separator which is under the hood.I have that trunkglow plug sump chamber heater forthe same reason I have a glow plug heater after the stanadyne filterand right before it enters the IP... and that's to keep the VO fluid and moving into the IP...And I'm adding the fuel line injector heaters in order to cover the problem your Dad alluded to...

In that scenario the engine is always getting 200 degree oil and or diesel. The fuel is easily moving though the fuel lines. Before starting the enigine, turn on the ignition switch for 2 minutesto allow the fuel lines to heat up, as well as the injectorline heaters.Beforeyou crank the engine the VO left standing in the inector lines heat to 200degrees F. HotVO flowsinto the pre chamber while 150 degree fuel flows into the IP. It' then flows into the injector lines and isthen heated to 200 degrees by the injector line heaters. After 4 minutes or so, the VO is naturally heated to 200 degrees by the engine.

Even then, after the weather temp drops into the 40's F and even down to the 20-'sF, I thinthe fuel by 20% with dino diesel, that's mainly to keep it flowing. (Theinjector line heaters insurethe engine is always started with about 200 degree VO.)If I suspect it'll drop to 0 degrees F, or colder, then I'll go to a 50/50 mixture of WVO and ULSD. If I suspect the cold will be ongoing, I'll switch to pure ULSD.

Still, you and your Dad could buy a good 2 tank system for greaseon. com or build your own 2 tank system designed along the same lines as both greaseon.com or elsbet.com.
I hope this has been of some help.
Best wishes,
charlie munn

 

I have heard that mixing diesel and vegetable oil will cause a waxy precipitate to form and fall out of solution. When it does this it will clog filters and presumably injectors should it get that far. I have also heard the same regarding the kerosene but it is not as severe as the regular diesel. I have ran a Ford F250 on the WVO mixed with regular unleaded gas and it ran fine. Unfortunately, I didn't filter/settle the oil completely enough so I kept clogging filters.

 

Does anyone have any comments of salinity (salt) in waste vegetable oil? Is it safe? I'm sure there's some amount of salt in wvo. How does one get rid of it? Test for it?

 

Salty.Hey I love my diesel,I lick a sample of every wvo I get to make sure no salt soy sauce.

 

Can you give references to this research? What were the conclusions regarding the cause of the coking? Is coking reversible without expensive work?

________
Marijuana

 

Actually this used to be recommended in old mercedes diesel maintenance manuals in winter - from memory it mght have been 15 to 20% recommended. This advice was discontinued (acc to a workshop manual) because the lower partial pressure of gasoline could make the vapor in the fuel tank explosive, and thus a safety hazard. I don't know what the % range of gasoline is at which it could be explosive. With 100% gasoline there's no such risk because the vapor is too rich to be explosive (oxygen ratio is much too low).
If you are prepared to take the risk that a spark could get to the inside of the tank (eg in a collision), it seems it is probably a very good winterizing agent. It seems like a very small risk to me but I'm just guessing. I actually did it last winter for startups, before switrching to the VO tank, and it started much better. But I later found I had glow plugs out so it starts very easily now with no such need for gasoline, even with temps in the teens.

________
STEAMING FOOD

 

The owner's manual that came with my first diesel, a1977 240D, included this recommendation of adding a gallon or two of gasoline during the coldest winter months. I tried it once and didn't care for the way it made the engine run. Loss of power was significant, and in a 240D you need every ounce of power. After that tank of fuel was spent I immediately went back to my anti-gel additive and have never added a drop of gasoline to diesel fuel since.