Old WVO

[curt5446]

So....I am in the midst of correcting all the mistakes the PO made with my car when he installed the WVO system. It is currently a 2 tank system with in-tank coil, FPHE, and a heated WVO filter. He plumbed the oil heating system all wrong and this has been quite a learning experience to say the least. The upside is everything I need to run the car on grease is there, I just need to sort out all the bugs.

So, my question. There has been WVO in the main tank of the car for 6 months. It has not been treated with any sort of algaecide or other sort of muck preventing stuff. It has a faint smell of varnish, similar to RUG that has been left in a fuel tank for 20 years. Can I use this oil after filtering and settling or should I get rid of it.

Thanks!

[GregMN]

The problem is that WVO fuel is home made. There are no industry standards that it would be presumed to have met when new.
So: you don't know:
the water content
the ph
what the feed stock was
and how it was treated and stored from the fryer to your tank.

I have run fuel that sat in the car's tank for 2 years. I know my fuel.

If I was in your situation, I would drain the old stuff and purge the whole system of it with a fresh batch.

[greazzer]

Because you can never know what's in the tank, disgard it. If you're burning WVO, then what real difference is there by getting rid of it? WVO is mostly free, and what you have in the tank could have all sorts of issues. Not worth any risk if you're replacing it with mostly free stuff anyways ... my .02.

[curt5446]

Sort of what my thought was. Given the skill of the previous owner and the smell of the stuff I'd bet there's already RUG in it.

I am picking up 50 gallons of fresh stuff next weekend at $1 a gallon so I'm not too worries about discarding 6-8 gallons of nasty stuff.

The main tank in the car is completely drained of old oil so I'm going to put a gallon of diesel or two in there and take a drive swirving about to slosh the diesel around and clean the gunk out of the tank. Then.....I get to sort through this stuff.


Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2

[curt5446]

Against my better judgement (yours too) I decided to give the old oil a try. I mixed it 60% diesel to 40 oil and added it to the tank and as soon as the oil mix hit the engine I noticed one thing. The injector nailing I had at idle disappeared, the engine smooooothed out, and my smoking under full throttle disappeared.

Not sure how to explain it but....I'm happy with it. Going to give it a few miles but I think I will be able to burn the rest of the old WVO.

One question, when blending, how do keep them mixed?

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2

[dieseldan44]

diesel and WVO will self mix - you dont need to do anything special.

as you have experienced, WVO combusts differently than diesel and usually is quieter in an old benz engine.

if you're nailing on diesel, still suggest getting it sorted out. i rebuilt my injectors with monark nozzles which i have been really happy with for 60k WVO miles now. they sound the same (quiet) on either fuel.

get ready to change the filter on the WVO side. im sure some poly formed in the tank over the months.

good luck burning WVO!

[curt5446]

I'm not running on the WVO side yet. I put the blend in the main tank. My prefilter needs to be changed anyway so I figured if I need to change it might as well give it a whirl. I'm working on getting the spare change together to send my spare set of injectors out to be rebuilt. Might try to find someone locally to do it.

Ecstatic to hear they will self mix. I was a little worried about something settling out.

Thanks everyone!!

Sent from my GT-N8013 using Tapatalk 2