I Hope Uncle Sam/State Didn't See This
 

In the April issue of the Costco Connection magazine is this article about this company "converting" cars to run on Costco's soy bean oil. Well, in California the 4.6 gallons jugs ($13.79, Northern California) are not taxed. I think other states are taxed but not as a fuel. I sure hope the Feds/State revenue people did not see this! I also wonder what kind of conversion is done to run on SVO? When the weather warms up, I just pour SVO straight into the tank - no conversion, and the car runs great!

http://www.costcoconnection.com/connection/200704/?b=2&u1=texterity

Yep! A great way to ruin your engine!

That is still $3/gal and D2 was $3.08 per gal this morning in NorCal when I filled up.

I get 10% less mpg when burning B99; dont know what I'd get on cold SVO cause wouldnt try but expect it would be worse than running bio...point is, even if it works its not a cost effective use of your time nor is it really helping the environment after you've gotten it all over yourself dumping it in the tank and then have to wash and dry a load of clothes.

I hope you cut it with gasoline to thin it out a little( makes it easier on the IP). Most people say you'll ruin your engine,, Well opinions are like arse holes,,, everyone's got one. I wonder how many people that state you'll ruin your car speak from experience.

I know that some engines may have been "ruined" by using WVO, but that's prol due to inferior filtration.

But define "Ruined" surely coked injectors don't construe a "Ruined" engine. A ruined engine is one that required extensive internal repairs, that I seriously doubt will happen if burning SVO.

Looks like this is the only thing we disagree on....!:(

I have done many thousands of miles using veggy oil as fuel, in a wide variety of engines. My old 300D has around 50K miles on straight veg still runs great, and is no better or worse than the day I bought it. It has a total of some 350K miles when I dismantled the car, and although the engine is running well and uses very little lube-oil etc, its generally tired and needs re-build. Ill take some piccies when I dissassemble it, although I do know there is around 10 thou or more wear in the bores that you can easily catch your thumb-nail on--, or there was when I first got the car with a leaking exhaust valve, needing head removal......

The secret is to make sure the Engine is Set-Up for it, with regards to Timing and Injectors.--(The Untold Truth about Veggy-Motoring that Most guys Dont know or wont tell ya--Timing is ALL important for Proper Combustion of veggy--Its requirements are different to std pump Diesel. As to Injectors, These MUST be Perfect in every respect. If not, renew them or have them overhauled):D

Merely heating the oil with a FPHE or other such device is not sufficient to get the full potential from veggy oil fuel.:eek:

you actually got me to pay attention. Tell us more. What do you adjust, why? Now i want to know more...:book:

First a little theory tested and backed up by Idaho State Uni testing and research, which has been verified by my own 'basic' testing

The myth about veggy and to some extent BioDiesel, is it burns hotter....

Lets put That one to bed once and for all:eek:

It does NOT.....

What gives this impression is the higher NOx values sometimes found when these fuels are used, during early developments and testing in the 80's.

The Truth of the matter is that they take Longer to burn, and hence more chance of NOx generation...

IF the fuel takes Longer to burn, it will achieve its peak pressure later than intended during the 'working-stroke' when burned in an engine using standard Diesel-Fuel timing settings....

We've all seen the effect that mis-set Diesel injection timing can have on a diesel running std fuel. So, when you change the fuel, you need to change the parameters in which its burned to compensate, or in some extreme cases, what Lance says above 'could' occur, but this usually only happens in extreme circumstances OR with Direct-Injection type engines foolishly run on single-tank 'conversions'...

The answer for our Pre-chamber/Indirect-injection engines is to Advance the Point-Of-Injection, by 4 degrees, maybe a degree or two plus or minus depending on smoke K value testing, by F.A.S--The least smoke, the better the combustion, and better combustion all things being equal means more power/better economy.....

On our OM61x series of Pre-Chamber engines its neither needed or beneficial to increase the opening-pressures of the injectors, as was commonly thought. In fact it has a detrimental effect as this would delay the point of injection, (Effectively Retarding the timing) as the pump would have to achieve a higher plunger-movement and a higher pressure to open the injector. The 'spray' isnt finer either on an injector set a few tens of bar higher than intended, BUT its opening time is delayed and most importantly its Rate Of Delivery is slowed, thus lengthning the injection event adding to the 'delay' in fuel delivery. It will also deliver Less fuel than intended....

What IS important, is the quality of the spray-pattern achieved. A worn injector can and will work reasonably well when first used with veggy-oil as fuel.....For a time, usually around 500-800 miles, before the wear in the seat/needle/pintle causes coke build-up in the pintle and hole areas, with degradation of the spray-pattern. Smoke and poor starting result

A New nozzle which has no wear does not deteriorate in this way, but maintains a good pattern and atomisation for tens of thousands of miles:D