My system must be filthy ! LOL ... I run straight WVO and no 2nd tank over 6 months a year (with a slight hint of diesel for any EPA gurus). When it gets cold, which is somewhat rare in South Carolina, I may add some gasoline to thin it (or diesel.) I do, however, have a 30 plate heat exchanger which gets to about 180F pretty quick. I change filters about once a year out of being Type A personality but not reduced performance. Should I be concerned ? Please let me know. Thanks.

Two fuel filters (one primary one secondary) over 10,000 miles is worth it. How much is a bottle of DieselKleen? $5?

Have you ever tried running WVO?

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'85 300SD (formerly california emissions)
'08 Chevy Tahoe
'93 Ducati 900 SS
'79 Kawasaki KZ 650
'86 Kawasaki KX 250
'88 Kawasaki KDX200
'71 Hodaka Ace 100
'72 Triumph T100R

At 160 degrees the injectors will spray WVO in the same pattern as they do diesel. Colder than that and the pattern degrades to a dribble that does not burn completely and ends up on the cylinder walls. This will eventually clog the rings in their grooves resulting in loss of compression and allowing more and more WVO past the rings and into the crankcase diluting the oil and wearing out all bearing surfaces. So, your first few miles you will be burning VO at too cold of a temp.

If you run all your fuel through the heat exchanger: diesel looses lubricating properties at high temps. This will lead to wearing out the IP prematurely.

To sum up:
Cold VO is bad for the cylinders.
Hot Diesel is bad for the IP.

The damage will not happen overnight, but it will happen over the long haul.

Another Major problem with using VO is the quality of the fuel you put in your tank. Junk in the fuel will just clog your filter, water in your fuel will kill your IP in short order. Water easily passes through filters. Water block filters do not work in a VO environment.

Some people, with cheap old beater's, have done the math and decided that what they save in fuel costs before the car breaks down is more than doing a proper conversion would cost. I do not subscribe to that way of thinking. I think that if you invest the time and about $600 to do it correctly, the payoff is better and you don't needlessly waste a diesel vehicle.

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Greg
2012 S350 BlueTEC 4Matic
2007 ML 320 CDI
2007 Leisure Travel Serenity
2006 Sprinter 432k
2005 E320 CDI
1998 SLK230 (teal)
1998 SLK230 (silver)
1996 E300D 99k, 30k on WVO
Previous:
1983 240D, on WVO
1982 300D, on WVO
1983 300CD, on WVO
1986 300SDL 237k, 25k on WVO (Deerslayer)
1991 350SDL 249k, 56k on WVO - Retired to a car spa in Phoenix
1983 380 SEC w/603 diesel, 8k on WVO
1996 E300D 351k, 177k on WVO

Nope, never tried it. If I still drove the 60 to 70 thousand miles a year like I did in the nineties, I would certainly be looking into it.

I did burn my waste oil in those days though.

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2001 SLK 320 six speed manual
2014 Porsche Cayenne six speed manual

Annoy a Liberal, Read the Constitution

I'd like to see your injectors.

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http://superturbodiesel.com/images/sig.04.10.jpg
1995 E420 Schwarz
1995 E300 Weiss
#1987 300D Sturmmachine
#1991 300D Nearly Perfect
#1994 E320 Cabriolet
#1995 E320 Touring
#1985 300D Sedan
OBK #42

So would I after all this time.

Right after I started burning WVO I took all of them out and dismantled them to soak and clean them. It was a waste of my time then because they looked great.

My car has over 330,000 miles (don't think its ever been rebuilt) and if it does fail it probably won't be from running WVO.

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'85 300SD (formerly california emissions)
'08 Chevy Tahoe
'93 Ducati 900 SS
'79 Kawasaki KZ 650
'86 Kawasaki KX 250
'88 Kawasaki KDX200
'71 Hodaka Ace 100
'72 Triumph T100R

Corn oil will turn rancid much quicker than a gallon of diesel will go bad in the trunk. I don't see the advantage.

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82 300SD 202K
82 300SD 233K
83 300TD 340K
82 300TD 98k euro (parts on the hoof)
85 300TD 282K
83 300TD 197K

Engines don't fail from veg oil, but the injections system sure does. At 300k your IP should certainly get a reseal if you are going to put stuff in there that it hasnt seen before

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http://superturbodiesel.com/images/sig.04.10.jpg
1995 E420 Schwarz
1995 E300 Weiss
#1987 300D Sturmmachine
#1991 300D Nearly Perfect
#1994 E320 Cabriolet
#1995 E320 Touring
#1985 300D Sedan
OBK #42

The can of worms has been opened.
My 240 had 315k miles on it. I started running veg oil at about 260k. My engine idles smoothly, it smokes a bit on first take of in the morning and a little on acceleration. I swapped out the original injectors at somewhere around 300k cause they started to nail. My new Bosch ones are starting to nail again when accelerating on a cold start up. Though it still idles smoothly. I'm not sure if it's VO related, crappy new Bosch injectors or a combination of the two. The car starts up great in cold weather. Running VO has saved me more than $2000 in fuel in the past few years, and yes I keep records so I've figured it all out. My veg filters have been lasting me more than 10k miles and still aren't showing the hesitation of a clogged filter. It's been worth it to me.

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Engines, injectors and IPs fail, sooner or later, from unheated veg oil, and much faster if it's WVO not SVO, and infinitely faster if it's WVO (heated or not) that hasn't been properly filtered (or is too-poor quality to begin with).

If you go to boards dealing with WVO/SVO there is a pile of discussion on the subject in various engines. It's hardly a subject of debate.

If I choose to urinate in my fuel tank once a month as a fuel additive, does that mean I can start marketing it next year at $50 a bottle because my engine still runs fine?

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Mac
2002 e320 4matic estate│1985 300d│1980 300td
Previous: 1979 & 1982 & 1983 300sd │ 1982 240d

“Let's take a drive into the middle of nowhere with a packet of Marlboro lights and talk about our lives.” ― Joseph Heller, Catch-22

Not necessarily true. Polymerization at the rings and in the crankcase can cause ring and lubrication failures. Especially with the soy based veg oil that's used the most in the US.

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82 300SD 202K
82 300SD 233K
83 300TD 340K
82 300TD 98k euro (parts on the hoof)
85 300TD 282K
83 300TD 197K

I wish I knew chemistry at this point in the discussion. I performed an experiment under the most "ideal" conditions for WVO. New crush washers, Just popped tested injectors using Elsbett Technology (the cat's pajama's for WVO), perfectly empty tank, engine warmed up on 2 quarts of diesel & diesel purge. Then, I added 3 gallons of perfectly cleaned WVO (centrifuge for 8 hours), heated to 190-200 F (I heated it and poured it into the tank). Drove for about one hour. Let it cool. Pulled the injectors and you have junk down in the injector hole, on crush washers, et cet. Guess what ? Run the car for 3 months on 1 tank system, 30 plate heat exchanger, and start it cold during the warmer months -- pull the injectors and it looks the same to me. So, is burning WVO and its chemistry going to net the same results ?

What filter are you using? I have had nothing but success with water block Racor filters on VO systems, they work extremely well stripping water from the VO.

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I've heard this mentioned a few times, and it seems intuitive, but since I bought a car with a single tank heat exchanger system, I decided to do a little research. After getting the rings unstuck, I chose not to run WVO, but wasn't 100% convinced at the detrimental affects of running my diesel heated. I've had a tough time finding any real information on lubricity vx. temperature, but I finally ran across this study which finally gave me some figures at 25C and 60C.

As near as I was able to glean, running ULSD with no additives has roughly 10% more friction (depending on the test pump) at 60C - not huge, but enough to cause concern. The presence of a lubritiy additive completely negated the difference. Also of note was that biodiesel at either temp point had less than half the friction coefficient of ULSD, was less affected by temp. My conclusion is that I should find a local source of biodiesel and be happy.

If anyone has any better data than this, I'd love to see it.

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'82 300SD - Somewhere over 220k - Becoming reliable...

I've had 3 of mine running on a 50-50 blend for 3 years with no problems. The interesting thing about the diesel engine is that Rudolf Diesel made this thing to run on peanut oil as an alternative to petroleum then he died mysteriously on a trans atlantic cruise. Do a search on the documentary "GASHOLE". Its on NETFLIX. Its a very interesting watch. Its a real look at how the government, oil companies, and car industries are in bed against alternative fuels and us as consumers.

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I LOVE CATS....AND FRIES

1981 300sd
1983 300sd
1985 300d
1983 300cd
1991 350sdl