Alternative fuels > Straight Vegetable Oil

IS AWESOME

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kyradawg:
I pour in (canola) into my f-250's fuel tank I dont heat it in any way my truck cold starts EASIER AND QUICKER (tested down to 50*f) runs with more power, smoothness and much less diesel knock. The above statement comes with no ifs ands or buts just simply the truth.


Peace&Love :D, Darren

mjn:
It absolutely will work.  The biggest risk at injecting cold vegetable oil (VO) into a cold diesel engine is that the oil does not combust completely and eventually ends up in the rings.  Once the engine gets up to heat the VO in the rings turns to carbon.  Eventually, your rings get stuck and stop sealing.  Once that happens, your engine won't start.

This was proven in the early studies of running VO in diesel.   (These studies are still quoted as reasons why you should never put vegetable oil in a diesel engine.)  The problem with these studies is that did not attempt to heat the VO.  Since that time there has been millions of miles driven on heated VO.

You are welcome to do this on your engine as long as you are aware that eventually you will be paying the price.

kyradawg:

Peace&Love :D, Darren

solarguy:
He's right Darren.

Ten minutes on Google will reveal that this has been studied a fair amount by real scientists, and that running unheated SVO is pretty sure to cause long term engine damage, particularly to a direct injection engine.

Finest regards,

troy

mjn:
I let myself be caught in the "studies have shown" trap.  Fair enough, I did a bit of digging.

I think the best resource is a report done at the university of Idaho which summarizes the previous studies.  The report is available here http://www.uidaho.edu/bae/biodiesel/raw%20vegetable%20oils_literature%20review.doc
(sorry for the .doc format).

The conclusion of the report:
--- Quote ---Conclusions
Many studies involving use of un-modifed vegetable oils in blend ratios with diesel fuel exceeding 20 percent were conducted in the early 1980’s. Short-term engine testing indicates that vegetable oils can readily be used as a fuel source when the vegetable oils are used alone or are blended with diesel fuel. Long-term engine research shows that engine durability is questionable when fuel blends contain more than 20% vegetable oil by volume. More work is needed to determine if fuel blends containing less than 20% vegetable oil can be used successfully as diesel fuel extenders.
--- End quote ---

In general, nearly every study done indicated that there was mild to severe problems when running either straight or blends of vegetable oil.   In every case where a study indicates problems, the VO was not heated, or was not degummed.

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