Vege Oil...Fact or Myth?

[lodester]

Hello;

Just wanted to share this with you:
Exactly one month to date, I started adding a 50/50 blend of new (unused) soybean salad oil and Canola oil to my 1983 300SD diesel tank. I did not make any alterations to the car, just added the mixture to the tank.

Here's what I got:
Week 1: diesel/oil ratio = 9/1 car runs softer and shifts better, no smoke
and a bit of cooking smell, no mileage
improvement.
Week 2: diesel/oil ratio = 7/3 car runs very soft, has more power, no
smoke, shifts very quietly and improve
mileage: original: 27MPG, now: 28MPG
strong cooking smell
Week 3: diesel/oil ratio = 5/5 car runs almost like new, drastically
increased acceleration power, Engine
hums very nicely and quietly, shifting is
perfect (hard shifting completely
disappeared), no smoke, mileage improved
to 29MPG, strong cooking odor.
Week 4: diesel/oil ratio = 3/7 same as week 3

At present I am paying $3.10/gallon for clean unused oils mentioned above.
Not cheap but beats $5.10/gallon for diesel.

thanks

Lodester

[awsrock]

Interesting, I may have to try this myself. Is this the first time using veggie oil? Keep in mind that using it will clean a lot of gunk out of your system, so the first week may have not done much, as you stated, but week 2 and 3 could have had better effect because of the cleaning, ,especially since it was compounded over two weeks. Did you get your oil at a retail store?

[winmutt]

Impossible. Your butt-o-meter needs recalibrating, or your injectors were dirty or your timing is off. Petro > Veg BTU.

And you are going to coke your injectors.

[TX76513]

I will believe everything except:
- You are getting better mileage
- It fixed your transmission vacuum leak

Get one of THESE and come back with some real facts.

[winmutt]

No way you can get more power out of veggie vs dino. No way. Scientifically impossible.

[Oldyella]

This is most interesting but the prices I have seen in WalMart, etc are in the $6-$10 for various veggie oils.

Suggestions would be appreciated. We need to do something to make these foreign oil barons (not domestic) eat sand (or palm trees in Chavez case)

Thanks for sharing

[notfarnow]

You guys shouldn't be so cynical.

I have found that my mercedes not only runs better on SVO, but now the paint is shinier, my A/C works, my dog no longer snores and my persistent flatulence seems to be clearing up.

[TX76513]

Probably non food grade VO that's about right.

[winmutt]

Originally Posted by Oldyella

This is most interesting but the prices I have seen in WalMart, etc are in the $6-$10 for various veggie oils.

Suggestions would be appreciated. We need to do something to make these foreign oil barons (not domestic) eat sand (or palm trees in Chavez case)

Thanks for sharing

I don't mind Chavez getting the oil money. He atleast redistributes it to the poor.

[stephenc03]

why is it so impossible to understand the veggie oil is just as exceptable of a fuel as diesel? I do agree that increasing the fuel economy by one mile per gallon each week can easily be accoplished by driving slower or less stop and go traffic. I can say that my friends and I drove a 81 300SD from san diego to the grand canyon with for guys and a bunch of backpacking gear. we were loaded down to the brim and we were getting 28MPG on straight diesel. Coking of the injectors can just as easily happen with carbon buildup when driving it like an old lady and never doing an itallian tune up. as long as you drive it like you stole it for a few minutes a month you should be able to negate coking of injectors if any.
-Stephen

[notfarnow]

Originally Posted by winmutt

No way you can get more power out of veggie vs dino. No way. Scientifically impossible.

Ok, my last post was in jest, but this warrants addressing seriously.

You are correct that under EXACT circumstances, a car wouldn't make more power on veggie than on diesel. However, I have had cars that DO make more power on veggie, but this is more to do with old, worn out IPs, vacuum or air leaks in fuel systems. I'm not talking about "butt dyno", I'm talking about being able to cruise at 80 mph on veggie vs not being able to hit 70mph on diesel

Example: On my e300d, I have ~8inHg of vacuum in the fuel system @ 65 mph. On veggie, I have ~3. That's with new filters on both sides. I'd be willing to bet I make more power on veggie than on diesel if I tested as-is. If I restricted the veggie line to get a comparable ~8inHg of vacuum, then yes, you are right I would probably make LESS power

[TX76513]

Originally Posted by stephenc03

why is it so impossible to understand the veggie oil is just as exceptable of a fuel as diesel? .
-Stephen

No one said that.

[stephenc03]

Originally Posted by TX76513

No one said that.

There is another thread going around that is pretty heated about this topic and for some reason people dont want to listen to the facts that there are so many other variables that can cause coking besides oil... namely driver error.
-Stephen

[notfarnow]

Originally Posted by lodester

Week 2: diesel/oil ratio = 7/3 car runs very soft,

Originally Posted by lodester

Week 3: diesel/oil ratio = 5/5 car runs almost like new, drastically increased acceleration power, Engine
hums very nicely and quietly,

Veggie users often confuse running QUIETER with running better: it's a misconception.

If your car runs quieter on veggie (most do) you need to advance your IP timing a couple degrees. It's not running right.

[Diesel Dan]

Originally Posted by TX76513

I will believe everything except:
- You are getting better mileage
- It fixed your transmission vacuum leak

Get one of THESE and come back with some real facts.

Ha ha! I love the butt dyno!

Agreed: you will definitely not get more power or better fuel economy out of SVO/WVO or Biodiesel, as compared to dino diesel. As was stated by someone else: "scientifically impossible". That being said, there are many other good reasons to use biofuels. In the interest of not opening THAT can of worms again, I won't go into details. You can find plenty of arguements about biofuel on this forum if you do a little searching around. No need to re-hash on this thread.