WVO help needed - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

pmckechnie · #1 03-31-2008, 03:15 PM

A friend on mine called this morning and said his 87 300SDL wouldn't start. Had it towed in and then I found out that he had put 10 gal of filter WVO in it over the weekend but had not driven it. What I found was the pre filter would plug up within a mile or so. I took some of the same WVO he had put in and tried to filter it but it wouldn't run thru the filter material I had. I tried a shop rag and it to would not let it flow. The filter material had what looked like Grease in it and a very small amount of oil would run thru after an hour or so. It is about 45* here today. Now the question is, what are the options at this time? Do I drain it all out? Can I thin it someway?
Any help welcome.
Paul

imagesinthewind · #2 03-31-2008, 03:39 PM

Was there diesel in the tank or did he just put WVO in an empty tank?
If it was empty, have him fill it with diesel and some Diesel 911 to ungel the
WVO.
And cold WVO won't go through most filters. Too viscous. Must be heated
to go through most filters. I get mine to about 120* before filtering.
But putting it into a tank cold and then trying to use it straight at 45*, not gonna happen.
Do the above and hope for the best.

Paulc66t · #3 03-31-2008, 04:12 PM

Did he put it in the diesel tank? WVO will act like biodiesel and desolve all the old crud in your tank. Maybe that is what is cloging the filter. Also it should be heated to flow when cold. You can drain the tank and flush out the crud while it is open. or Possibly add more diesel to thin out the oil. You will still need to change the filters a few times as they clog.

cewyattjr · #4 03-31-2008, 04:21 PM

Yeah, it will tend to make the fuel system cough up some crud when you put WVO through it. Kinda like milk of magnesia.

You can cut the WVO in the tank with regular diesel and a splash of kerosene or regular unleaded gas won't hurt. People can blend down to pretty low temps. Ratios I've heard really vary though.

-Chuck

pizzachef · #5 03-31-2008, 04:31 PM

Drain or siphon out as much as you can and fill it with diesel. You might have to blow the fuel lines clear from the engine bay, and then prime everything, but hopefully you'll have mostly diesel in the tank and it'll flow.

Then change the filters.

daw_two · #6 03-31-2008, 06:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pmckechnie

A friend on mine called this morning and said his 87 300SDL wouldn't start. Had it towed in and then I found out that he had put 10 gal of filter WVO in it over the weekend but had not driven it. What I found was the pre filter would plug up within a mile or so. I took some of the same WVO he had put in and tried to filter it but it wouldn't run thru the filter material I had. I tried a shop rag and it to would not let it flow. The filter material had what looked like Grease in it and a very small amount of oil would run thru after an hour or so. It is about 45* here today. Now the question is, what are the options at this time? Do I drain it all out? Can I thin it someway?
Any help welcome.
Paul

If he were my friend, I would teach him about biodiesel. No mods needed to the car and it is my opinion less potential issues. Drain the tank and build a biodiesel processor with him. Transether the used vegetable oil into biodiesel..........

bro frank · #7 03-31-2008, 11:54 PM

happened to me last spring 86 one day next morning 36.

pull both filters fill new filters with #2 .

get the car warm. garage it put a space heater under the hood. add #2 to tank if he put 10 gal of wvo in tank then add 3 gall of k-1 and 1 gall of reg unleaded and some deisel clean. then jump up and down on the bumper.

once the stuff in the lines warms to about 70 or 80 it will flow.

car will start on fuel in filters. space heater under hood will "melt" what's in the injectors. so it will run after that. added k1 and rug will thin whats in tank. so it will continue to run. may idle ruogh at first but will clear once at nor op temp.

but if it's going to stay cool/cold he'll have to go fill it with deisel and drive it a bit to get it all mixed before he shuts it down. ( i left mine running once it started as i had no money left for deisel and had to be at work to have money for deisel. but i live in the middle of no-where)

if the stuff your filtering doesn't flow at 80f then he's got bacon grease not vo. different story. you'll have to warm the tank before you put anything else in it. other wise the K1 will just sit on top. if it's grease grease once they blend the gellpoint will be lowered, but it has to be melted to blend.

pmckechnie · #8 04-01-2008, 07:44 AM

Thanks for all the replies. This morning I will start the drain/clean up process. I will start by getting some of the fuel out of the tank and experiment with it to see what it will take to thin it. We will see what happens.
Thanks again.
Paul

Jadavis · #9 04-01-2008, 08:43 AM

-Garage it.
-Charge the battery.
-Change the filters and fill filters with diesel.
-Plug in the block heater. (Another option would be to run the engine off of a jug of diesel, much like you were doing a diesel purge, to warm to engine up. Then hook it back up to the WVO filled tank.)
-Set the heater controls to hot and the cabin fan to min.
-Start the car and hope the tiny diesel fuel heater is enough to warm the WVO up enough to flow through the filters.
Once it is running well enough to drive, fill the rest of the tank with diesel.

Never, ever, do that again. WVO in a diesel is not as simple as filter and go. There are plenty of websites out there to show you what has to be done to make it work.

-Jim

probear · #10 04-01-2008, 08:57 AM

It might sound crazy, but when you add the diesel to the tank, heat it up. set a couple of cans of it into hot water to get the temperature up prior to adding to the tank. Two 5 gallon jugs of diesel at 120F should raise the temp enough to get any gunk off the pickup screen. WVO at 40 can be like Crisco....

If you are using the yellow diesel containers or VO cubies, do not go higher than 130F.

daw_two · #11 04-01-2008, 05:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jadavis

-Garage it.
-Charge the battery.
-Change the filters and fill filters with diesel.
-Plug in the block heater. (Another option would be to run the engine off of a jug of diesel, much like you were doing a diesel purge, to warm to engine up. Then hook it back up to the WVO filled tank.)
-Set the heater controls to hot and the cabin fan to min.
-Start the car and hope the tiny diesel fuel heater is enough to warm the WVO up enough to flow through the filters.
Once it is running well enough to drive, fill the rest of the tank with diesel.

Never, ever, do that again. WVO in a diesel is not as simple as filter and go. There are plenty of websites out there to show you what has to be done to make it work.

-Jim

What Jim said TIMES 2