RE: Used cooking oil

From: Bjorn Brandstedt (super_deuce@hotmail.com)
Date: Sun Dec 18 2005 - 10:23:46 PST

Hi Darrell,
Glad to see somebody else reporting in on the cooking oil/biodiesel subject!
The viscosity of veggie oil may be 50 to 100 times that of diesel at 35F.
Only when heated to 180F or more does it approach the diesel viscosity.
Diluting it with kerosene and/or diesel will help a lot, but keep it in the
range of 10-20%. The thicker fuel will not atomize properly when cold and
you will end up with unburnt fuel which may also coke up your injectors.
If you don't drive your vehicle, at least make sure the engine reaches op
temp before shutting it back down.
Cover the radiator if you have to.
People who use veggie oil usually have a two-tank set-up, starting and
shutting down on diesel. That way the coking issue can be avoided.

My deuce now has a dual tank system, but not for straight veggie oil. I'm
heating the main tank so that I can use biodiesel all year w/o mixing it
with diesel. My plan is to use a mix of biodiesel and used cooking oil too,
but not without heating it. My switch over temp is about 65-70F.

For more on this, see the current issue of MVM. :-)

Happy Holidays,
Bjorn
MVPA19212
The Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia

>From: "Darrell Ramsell" <daram@comcast.net>
>To: "Military Vehicles Mailing List" <mil-veh@mil-veh.org>
>Subject: [MV] Used cooking oil
>Date: Sat, 17 Dec 2005 22:14:40 -0800
>
>Hi All
>
>I thought I would give you an update on my HMMWV that has been running on
>used cooking oil.
>
>I'm currently running on a 80%~20% mixed (diesle/cooking oil). I've
>started it up a several times now where temp was between 35~40'. The
>engine struggles a bit for the first 30 seconds then starts to run
>normally. I notice if I give it a little gas I can clear it up sooner.
>
>Only on one occasion did I have trouble. It started okay then began to
>sputter black smoke, then white smoke then died. It took a few starts then
>it was running fine. I assumed the trouble was due to a little clog
>somewhere from a cold lump of oil.
>
>The only othere thing I've notice it that it leaves a little bit more soot
>in the exhaust pipes. Some time it will blow a fair amount of soot out on
>start up.
>
>Otherwise, everything else is fine.
>
>Darrell
>

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