WVO update: 9,000 miles on my W210 on a blend

[spark3542]

Purchased my 97 E300D on 11/20/07 with 162k on the odometer. Rolled 171k two days ago. This makes 9000 miles on a 90%WVO/10%RUG blend. I filter the WVO to 5 micron.

I have been changing the spin-on fuel filter about every 800-1500 miles when I witness a little stumble at highway speeds. I figured I'd be through the filter-changing phase by now. I'll chock that up to possibly not-fully-dewatered WVO, but I'm not sure.

Love the car. The 83 sits in the garage ready to go, but the 97 is so much more comfortable and nicer to drive that I seldom choose the 83.

No operational issues except for one bad glowplug (I got lucky it was #4, which is changeable without removing the manifold), and a burned out license plate bulb.

I get 26mpg consistently, which is a drop from the 29 or so on the first tank of diesel when I first bought it (but I did put slightly larger tires on it soon after I bought it).

Combining the cost of vehicle filters, WVO-filtering filters, and the RUG, it costs me about $.02 per mile to operate.

As another poster put it..."all hail the mighty 606!"

[Zackb911]

You've been doing this over the winter in MA with no issues?

[jbach36]

If this is WVO, are you pouring it directly into your tank, or do you have a special tank in the trunk, etc.

jeff 1991 300d, 118k

[muleears]

My car has the 606 also and is two tanked. 800 miles is pretty low for a spin on. I would look a little closer at your filtering process and the weather. Cooler weather will thicken your blend and can cause the same stumble as a clogging filter. Also if you aren't sure your oil is dry, you may want to heat/settle a little more. I am not sure but I don't think the mercedes spin on is a water block filter, so it won't clog due to water.

Good luck with the car, I love mine.

[spark3542]

Originally Posted by Zackb911

You've been doing this over the winter in MA with no issues?

Yes. Right down to single digit temps. In the very cold, I'll bump up the Rug % to about 15.

Single tank system, no mods to the car at all.

I did this successfully for 35,000 miles on the 83 (through the 2006/2007 winter), so I had the confidence to try it on a W210.

[Zackb911]

That's almost too tempting... I used to do conversions and was a "purest" but I got out of that awhile ago and have eased up on my preconceptions of what is ok to do. Do you have some more threads from infopop or other places of other 606 owners doing the same? Have you tried WVO/Diesel blends?

[Bio300TDTdriver]

Why do you use RUG instead of Kerosene? I know the old owner's manuals said you could use RUG, but the newer cars, the 124 for example say to use Kerosene. Has anyone experimented with blends other than RUG?

[spark3542]

Originally Posted by Zackb911

That's almost too tempting... I used to do conversions and was a "purest" but I got out of that awhile ago and have eased up on my preconceptions of what is ok to do. Do you have some more threads from infopop or other places of other 606 owners doing the same? Have you tried WVO/Diesel blends?

Before I bought the 97 I inquired on this forum about anyoine running a blend on a 210 and got just about zero response, so I knew I was on my own.

I haven't tried any diesel or kerosene blends. RUG is readily available, and is very thin, so it doesn't take much to reduce the overall viscosity of the blend. It also stays blended nicely. I'm waiting for someone to discover something non-petroleum-based to replace the RUG, but haven't found it yet.

[Bio300TDTdriver]

Originally Posted by spark3542

Before I bought the 97 I inquired on this forum about anyoine running a blend on a 210 and got just about zero response, so I knew I was on my own.

I haven't tried any diesel or kerosene blends. RUG is readily available, and is very thin, so it doesn't take much to reduce the overall viscosity of the blend. It also stays blended nicely. I'm waiting for someone to discover something non-petroleum-based to replace the RUG, but haven't found it yet.

This is why I asked.
TDReprint
MIXING GASOLINE AND DIESEL
(Issue 26, pages 14 – 15)
My wise old mechanic who has worked on Mercedes for years told me that if I put one gallon regular gas to a diesel tank full after about every four tanks that it would perform essentially the same job as a fuel injector cleaner at a fraction of the cost.
I would like to hear a technical opinion.
BILL CARSON, e-mail
Bill, I’ll turn the answer to your request for a technical opinion over to Brian Kmetz. As a mechanical engineer, Brian’s daily task at work is to extract BTUs through oxidation from mass quantities of methane and fuel oils. Needless to say, he knows how the fuel “stuff” works. Brian writes:
We hear this one all the time. Another version is to add one gallon of gasoline to 20 gallons of diesel fuel as a cheap easy anti-gel for winter fuel. I’ll include alcohols in this discussion because a lot of guys add it instead of gasoline. Both fuels have the same detrimental effect on diesel fuel and are very close in weight and BTU content.
The mechanic meant well and probably never saw a fuel pump or injector failure due to improper blending of fuels. But that doesn’t mean one is not risking damage, even in small dosages.
Gasoline and alcohols hit diesel fuel right where it hurts the most. Those light thin fuels will lower the cetane number and lubricity. To explain how octane and cetane DO NOT work together, I’ll have to review more crude oil and fuel fundamentals.
The light distillates that gasolines are made from have a natural high-octane index. The middle distillates that diesel fuels come from have a high cetane index. The octane and cetane indexes are INVERSE scales. A fuel that has a high octane number has a low cetane number, and a high cetane fuel has a low octane number. Anything with a high octane rating will retard diesel fuel’s ability to ignite. That’s why each fuel has developed along with different types of engine designs and fuel delivery systems. Gasoline mixed in diesel fuel will inhibit combustion in a diesel engine and diesel fuel mixed in gasoline will ignite too soon in a gasoline engine.
A lot of old-time mechanics added some gasoline to diesel to supposedly clean the carbon deposits out of the cylinders. I have never read anything that said it worked. Gasoline will make the fuel burn hotter, and hotter burning fuels burn cleaner. That’s probably where the theory got started. In the older diesel engines that belched lots of black smoke even when properly tuned, the result of adding gasoline was probably more white smoke instead of black. This might lead one to believe the engine was running cleaner. Maybe so, probably not. Here’s what happens.
Gasoline will raise the combustion temperature. This might or might not reduce carbon deposits in the cylinder. This also might or might not overheat the injector nozzle enough to cause coking on the nozzle. That’s a clogged injector tip in layman’s terms. The fuel being injected is the only thing that cools the nozzle. Diesel fuel has a lower combustion temperature than gasoline. The fuel injectors depend on the fuel burning at the correct rate and temperature for a long life. If the combustion temperature is raised long enough, the gums and varnishes in gasoline will start to cook right in the fuel injector and turn into carbon. These microscopic carbon particles will abrade the nozzle. High combustion temperatures alone will shorten fuel injector life, gasoline makes the problem worse.
Gasoline and alcohols do have an anti-gel effect on diesel fuel, but these fuels are too thin and will hurt the lubricity. Alcohols work as a water dispersant in small amounts, but also attract water in large amounts. Diesel fuel is already hydrophilic (attracts water) so why add to the problem. The old timers got away with this because high sulfur diesel fuel had enough lubricity to take some thinning. Today’s low sulfur diesel fuels have adequate lubricity, but I wouldn’t put anything in the tank that would thin out the fuel, reduce lubricity, or attract water.
Opposites do not attract in this case. Use any of the diesel fuel additives available to clean out carbon deposits, not gasoline or alcohols.
While we’re on the subject of fuels, let’s discuss another common question. What is cetane?
Cetane is to diesel fuel what octane is to gasoline. It is a measure of the fuel’s ignition quality and performance. Cetane is actually a hydrocarbon chain; its real name is 1-hexadecane. It is written as C16H34, or a chain of 16 carbon atoms with 34 hydrogen atoms attached. All HC chains are also referred to as paraffins. Cetane is a hydrocarbon molecule that ignites very easily under compression, so it was assigned a rating of 100. All the hydrocarbons in diesel fuel are indexed to cetane as to how well they ignite under compression. There is very little actual cetane in diesel fuel.
All the hydrocarbons in diesel fuel have similar ignition characteristics as cetane. Cetane is abbreviated as CN. A very loose way to think about cetane is if the fuel has a CN of 45, then the fuel will ignite 45% as well as 100% cetane. Diesel engines run just fine with a CN between 45 to 50. There is no performance or emission advantage to keep raising the CN past 50. After that point the fuel’s performance hits a plateau.
Diesel at the pump can be found in two CN ranges: 40-46 for regular diesel, and 45-50 for premium. The minimum CN at the pump is supposed to be 45. The legal minimum cetane rating for #1 and #2 diesel is 40. Most diesel fuel leaves the refinery with a CN of around 42. The CN rating depends on the crude oil the fuel was refined from. It varies so much from tanker to tanker that a consistent CN rating is almost impossible. Distilling diesel is a crude process compared with making gasoline. Gasoline is more of a manufactured product with tighter standards so the octane rating is very consistent. But, the CN rating at the diesel pump can be anywhere from 42-46. That’s why there is almost never a sticker on a diesel fuel pump for CN.
Premium diesel has additives to improve CN and lubricity, detergents to clean the fuel injectors and minimize carbon deposits, water dispersant, and other additives depending on geographical and seasonal needs. More biocides added in the south in summer, more ant-gel added in the north in winter. Most retailers who sell premium diesel will have little brochures called POPs (Point of Purchase) at the counter explaining what’s in their fuel. Please don’t ask the poor clerk behind the counter any technical questions after reading this discussion. All they need to know how to do is sell you beer, milk, cigarettes, lottery tickets, and take your money.
Texaco and Amoco are two big names who sell premium diesel in limited markets. Amoco primarily sells its Premier to specialized industrial and agricultural markets. I cannot get either in my area. Most fuel retailers buy additives or buy treated fuel. In the Northern plains states, Koch is a well-known marketer of premium diesel. I buy it when I travel into Northern Wisconsin.
Because there are no legal standards for premium diesel yet, it is very hard to know if you are buying the good stuff. I have good news. An ASTM task force has drafted standards for premium diesel. When the new specifications are accepted, information will have to be posted on the fuel pump. Retailers will no longer be allowed to label cheap blended diesel as ‘premium.’ They will have separate pumps with clear labels on both informing the customer what is being sold. The marketing and labeling will be the same as with regular and premium gasoline. Retailers selling the real thing use this system now. Enforcement of all fuel standards is done at the state level in the USA.
Diesel fuel is an international commodity for industry. Therefore, you should be picky about where you fill up. Shop for price from a large volume retailer so you have the freshest fuel. That’s about the best advice I can give.
The 1994 legislation and reformulation of diesel fuel in North America is due to an international effort for lower emissions. Cleaner diesel emission laws are on the way. Diesel fuel is going to be reformulated into a cleaner fuel in general. Without getting too technical (this is over-simplified and very generalized), diesel fuel for the most part is made up of two different hydrocarbon families: paraffins and aromatics. The paraffins have a naturally high cetane index, burn clean, but cause the annoying gel problem in winter. The aromatics have a naturally high lubricity, low cetane index, and cause a lot of diesel emissions and soot. Reformulated diesel will have a higher paraffin content, higher cetane number, and a much lower aromatic and sulfur content. It will also be more prone to jelling and have a lower lubricity. Big oil is working on improved additives as I type this.
The reason nothing has happened yet is because of infighting in the EPA on its new Tier II Emissions standards for gasoline and diesel. Ultra-clean technology for gasoline and diesel engines is almost ready to go, but the refiners have to lower the sulfur level drastically in both fuels. The EPA should formally set something by year 2000.
Brian Kmetz

[imagesinthewind]

I was thinking of doing this in my car (617 engine) but heard such horrible things about what happens when RUG (even mixed with WVO) hits a diesel engine that I decided to do more research.
I'll end up doing a one tank system with various heaters (filter, injector lines, etc) in my car to use more of my WVO in it.

[Zackb911]

They above is blending Gas with Diesel. WVO is different in many ways from Diesel, so using the above may be apples and oranges and not the proper basis for a conclusion against it.

I'm contemplating blending Diesel and WVO starting with a 50/50 blend myself.

[Bio300TDTdriver]

Originally Posted by Zackb911

They above is blending Gas with Diesel. WVO is different in many ways from Diesel, so using the above may be apples and oranges and not the proper basis for a conclusion against it.

I'm contemplating blending Diesel and WVO starting with a 50/50 blend myself.

So blending it with WVO makes a diesel engine able to burn RUG? Very interesting science.

[spark3542]

Originally Posted by Bio300TDTdriver

This is why I asked.
TDReprint
MIXING GASOLINE AND DIESEL
(Issue 26, pages 14 – 15)
My wise old mechanic who has worked on Mercedes for years told me that if I put one gallon regular gas to a diesel tank full after about every four tanks that it would perform essentially the same job as a fuel injector cleaner at a fraction of the cost.
I would like to hear a technical opinion.
BILL CARSON, e-mail
Bill, I’ll turn the answer to your request for a technical opinion over to Brian Kmetz. As a mechanical engineer, Brian’s daily task at work is to extract BTUs through oxidation from mass quantities of methane and fuel oils. Needless to say, he knows how the fuel “stuff” works. Brian writes:
We hear this one all the time. Another version is to add one gallon of gasoline to 20 gallons of diesel fuel as a cheap easy anti-gel for winter fuel. I’ll include alcohols in this discussion because a lot of guys add it instead of gasoline. Both fuels have the same detrimental effect on diesel fuel and are very close in weight and BTU content.
The mechanic meant well and probably never saw a fuel pump or injector failure due to improper blending of fuels. But that doesn’t mean one is not risking damage, even in small dosages.
Gasoline and alcohols hit diesel fuel right where it hurts the most. Those light thin fuels will lower the cetane number and lubricity. To explain how octane and cetane DO NOT work together, I’ll have to review more crude oil and fuel fundamentals.
The light distillates that gasolines are made from have a natural high-octane index. The middle distillates that diesel fuels come from have a high cetane index. The octane and cetane indexes are INVERSE scales. A fuel that has a high octane number has a low cetane number, and a high cetane fuel has a low octane number. Anything with a high octane rating will retard diesel fuel’s ability to ignite. That’s why each fuel has developed along with different types of engine designs and fuel delivery systems. Gasoline mixed in diesel fuel will inhibit combustion in a diesel engine and diesel fuel mixed in gasoline will ignite too soon in a gasoline engine.
A lot of old-time mechanics added some gasoline to diesel to supposedly clean the carbon deposits out of the cylinders. I have never read anything that said it worked. Gasoline will make the fuel burn hotter, and hotter burning fuels burn cleaner. That’s probably where the theory got started. In the older diesel engines that belched lots of black smoke even when properly tuned, the result of adding gasoline was probably more white smoke instead of black. This might lead one to believe the engine was running cleaner. Maybe so, probably not. Here’s what happens.
Gasoline will raise the combustion temperature. This might or might not reduce carbon deposits in the cylinder. This also might or might not overheat the injector nozzle enough to cause coking on the nozzle. That’s a clogged injector tip in layman’s terms. The fuel being injected is the only thing that cools the nozzle. Diesel fuel has a lower combustion temperature than gasoline. The fuel injectors depend on the fuel burning at the correct rate and temperature for a long life. If the combustion temperature is raised long enough, the gums and varnishes in gasoline will start to cook right in the fuel injector and turn into carbon. These microscopic carbon particles will abrade the nozzle. High combustion temperatures alone will shorten fuel injector life, gasoline makes the problem worse.
Gasoline and alcohols do have an anti-gel effect on diesel fuel, but these fuels are too thin and will hurt the lubricity. Alcohols work as a water dispersant in small amounts, but also attract water in large amounts. Diesel fuel is already hydrophilic (attracts water) so why add to the problem. The old timers got away with this because high sulfur diesel fuel had enough lubricity to take some thinning. Today’s low sulfur diesel fuels have adequate lubricity, but I wouldn’t put anything in the tank that would thin out the fuel, reduce lubricity, or attract water.
Opposites do not attract in this case. Use any of the diesel fuel additives available to clean out carbon deposits, not gasoline or alcohols.
While we’re on the subject of fuels, let’s discuss another common question. What is cetane?
Cetane is to diesel fuel what octane is to gasoline. It is a measure of the fuel’s ignition quality and performance. Cetane is actually a hydrocarbon chain; its real name is 1-hexadecane. It is written as C16H34, or a chain of 16 carbon atoms with 34 hydrogen atoms attached. All HC chains are also referred to as paraffins. Cetane is a hydrocarbon molecule that ignites very easily under compression, so it was assigned a rating of 100. All the hydrocarbons in diesel fuel are indexed to cetane as to how well they ignite under compression. There is very little actual cetane in diesel fuel.
All the hydrocarbons in diesel fuel have similar ignition characteristics as cetane. Cetane is abbreviated as CN. A very loose way to think about cetane is if the fuel has a CN of 45, then the fuel will ignite 45% as well as 100% cetane. Diesel engines run just fine with a CN between 45 to 50. There is no performance or emission advantage to keep raising the CN past 50. After that point the fuel’s performance hits a plateau.
Diesel at the pump can be found in two CN ranges: 40-46 for regular diesel, and 45-50 for premium. The minimum CN at the pump is supposed to be 45. The legal minimum cetane rating for #1 and #2 diesel is 40. Most diesel fuel leaves the refinery with a CN of around 42. The CN rating depends on the crude oil the fuel was refined from. It varies so much from tanker to tanker that a consistent CN rating is almost impossible. Distilling diesel is a crude process compared with making gasoline. Gasoline is more of a manufactured product with tighter standards so the octane rating is very consistent. But, the CN rating at the diesel pump can be anywhere from 42-46. That’s why there is almost never a sticker on a diesel fuel pump for CN.
Premium diesel has additives to improve CN and lubricity, detergents to clean the fuel injectors and minimize carbon deposits, water dispersant, and other additives depending on geographical and seasonal needs. More biocides added in the south in summer, more ant-gel added in the north in winter. Most retailers who sell premium diesel will have little brochures called POPs (Point of Purchase) at the counter explaining what’s in their fuel. Please don’t ask the poor clerk behind the counter any technical questions after reading this discussion. All they need to know how to do is sell you beer, milk, cigarettes, lottery tickets, and take your money.
Texaco and Amoco are two big names who sell premium diesel in limited markets. Amoco primarily sells its Premier to specialized industrial and agricultural markets. I cannot get either in my area. Most fuel retailers buy additives or buy treated fuel. In the Northern plains states, Koch is a well-known marketer of premium diesel. I buy it when I travel into Northern Wisconsin.
Because there are no legal standards for premium diesel yet, it is very hard to know if you are buying the good stuff. I have good news. An ASTM task force has drafted standards for premium diesel. When the new specifications are accepted, information will have to be posted on the fuel pump. Retailers will no longer be allowed to label cheap blended diesel as ‘premium.’ They will have separate pumps with clear labels on both informing the customer what is being sold. The marketing and labeling will be the same as with regular and premium gasoline. Retailers selling the real thing use this system now. Enforcement of all fuel standards is done at the state level in the USA.
Diesel fuel is an international commodity for industry. Therefore, you should be picky about where you fill up. Shop for price from a large volume retailer so you have the freshest fuel. That’s about the best advice I can give.
The 1994 legislation and reformulation of diesel fuel in North America is due to an international effort for lower emissions. Cleaner diesel emission laws are on the way. Diesel fuel is going to be reformulated into a cleaner fuel in general. Without getting too technical (this is over-simplified and very generalized), diesel fuel for the most part is made up of two different hydrocarbon families: paraffins and aromatics. The paraffins have a naturally high cetane index, burn clean, but cause the annoying gel problem in winter. The aromatics have a naturally high lubricity, low cetane index, and cause a lot of diesel emissions and soot. Reformulated diesel will have a higher paraffin content, higher cetane number, and a much lower aromatic and sulfur content. It will also be more prone to jelling and have a lower lubricity. Big oil is working on improved additives as I type this.
The reason nothing has happened yet is because of infighting in the EPA on its new Tier II Emissions standards for gasoline and diesel. Ultra-clean technology for gasoline and diesel engines is almost ready to go, but the refiners have to lower the sulfur level drastically in both fuels. The EPA should formally set something by year 2000.
Brian Kmetz

Not sure of the relevance here. I don't know the cetane or octane values of WVO. Don't know the lubricity or sulphur content. Hard for me to determine whether RUG makes WVO act more like diesel or less.

The main point of two-tank systems is to heat the WVO to achieve a similar viscosity to ambient diesel viscosity. I'm accomplishing the same thing with RUG.

[TheDon]

Originally Posted by spark3542

I figured I'd be through the filter-changing phase by now.

that is only with biodiesel.. the whole filter changing issue due to biodiesels great solvent properties

[smk_texas]

Hi,
What is RUG ???? or what does it stand for ??? I am a beginner in WVO conversion process. Since diesel prices are close to $4 here in Texas , i am thinking of using a blend mentioned by spark3542. There is a site called dieselsecret.com where they sell you additives to make a proper blend. IS it worth it ??? i have 90 300d. Thanks

smk_texas
90 300d 184k
98 s430 63k