Oil & Fuel Burning used motor oil?

[Elkins45]

Had a conversation with an old guy who told me he mixes all of his old motor oil with diesel and runs it in his older mechanically injected diesels?

Common practice? Dumb idea? He said he filters it first.

 

[Fawken]

I have used it to heat my shop in the winter, but it burns dirty and fouls the catalyst. Not sure I would ever have a diesel "older" enough where I would do that. Cleaning a catalytic element is bad enough- constantly cleaning injectors would be worse.

 

[aeblank]

Wouldn't catch me doing it. Ever.

 

[RalphVa]

Friend of mine who has a garage with he and his dad heats their garage in the winter with used oil dribbling onto the fire in his "wood" stove.

I used to sit old metal oil cans of used oil in one corner of our wood stove. Only problem is it stunk when the wood fire went out.

Ralph

 

[oosik]

I have a pail half full of old motor oil that I have my extra chains for my chainsaw soaking in. I've used it as chain saw lube oil but it tends to foul the system - so I don't do that any more.

Otherwise - I use as a starter when I burn slash piles in the fall. I took 30 gallons to a recycler but he wanted to charge me 50 cents/gallon. I just chuckled and brought it home.

 

[BHD]

at one time there was kit for over the road truckers that fed a bit of engine oil into the fuel tank, and replenished it with new oil (in theory) one would never have to change oil just the filter now and then, knew a trucker who used the system in his over the road trucks,

I do not do it, but did consider doing it during the oil Embargo 1970,s. even considered buying a special oil filtering machine,

 

[Mysfyt]

Worked for a trucking company that did this back in the 70's with no issues. Cummins mechanically injected engines back then.

 

[aeblank]

That is done in marine engines as well. The company I used to work for made timers for a company that made the system.
Engineered Machined Products : DNCO Oil Management System

This looks to be a display "board" showing tanks and hoses, filters, pumps, etc.

 

[jaotguy]

if the oil is dyno ( not synth) you can burn it in older diesels without problems ... the 10 micron filter will catch any "bits" before they reach the pump or injectors ... and it adds extra lube to the pump and injectors

you can also add fresh ashless oil (aero oil) directly to the tank and gain power ( as a cetane booster )

the engine will not know the difference BUT this WILL increase your pollution output

do not use synthetic oil ... it has a higher burn temp than regular diesel or dyno oil ....( it won't burn well )

do not use it if you have a CAT or exhaust cleaning system for particulates ...

 

[ultrarunner]

Thanks jaotguy for posting!

Had a neighbor with an old 1970 Mercedes 240D that would collect used motor oil, filter it and mix at a high rate of 33% with regular number 2 diesel...

 

[square1]

As owner of two diesels that could burn waste motor Oil (WMO), the opinion of Conestoga Diesel, a pump and injector supplier was the key factor in my deciding against it.

Moose Pumps and waste motor oil cores

[SNIP]"The reality is, and I have posted about this MANY times in the past... the decision to run WMO as fuel is strictly a financial one. Yes, you can save incredible amounts of money by running WMO. I do it myself, in the Moosestang which is not running one of my pumps. But in so doing, one must set aside funds to make repairs to the fuel system which become necessary due to accelerated wear. The carbon in WMO is hard, and no amount of filtering is going to make that oil clean enough for an IP, and the carbon just tears the inside of a pump up."[/SNIP]

 

[jaotguy]

WMO ... yes there are trade offs (some extra wear on the pumps and parts ) but considering that these "older units" were meant to run on diesel with sulfur ( slightly thicker viscosity) , then new fuel is too thin and "dry" for them ...

we are not running used oil "straight" , so the wear is minimal , and the extra lube is worth it ...
but the choice is up to the owner to weigh the pro's and con's

as for WVO ... it should NEVER be run through any diesel system

 

[JWR]

Had a conversation with an old guy who told me he mixes all of his old motor oil with diesel and runs it in his older mechanically injected diesels?

Common practice? Dumb idea? He said he filters it first.

Dumb idea. There are plenty of non-self-inflicted problems running diesels and about 90% of them are tracked back to some kind of fuel problem. You'd have to be a real nutcase in my opinion to run anything in your diesel other than the cleanest, normal, ordinary #2 you can find.

 

[bumperm]

I heard a rumor when I was a kid, someone was using a cement mixer to blend used oil with sawdust, then rolling it in newspaper to make logs for his fireplace. Heard it didn't smoke bad and lasted quite some time.

 

[Industrial Toys]

First of all, doing anything with old motor oil is messy business. But in the over all scope of what it costs to run, repair and replace equipment, is it worth it? Not to my way of thinking. Maybe in a doomsday scenereo.

 

[jaotguy]

Waste engine oil :
can it be done ... yes
should it be done ... questionable ( depending on circumstances )

WVO
NEVER ....

Bio
only if certified PH neutral and road grade ...

 

[JerryK]

There are some big equipment shops up here that generate lots of used oil/hyd fluid. Some of them filter the old stuff and mix/pump it into their fuel oil tanks.. then heat their shops in the winter..

 

[George2615]

There are waste oil burners / furnaces. They have an oil pre-heater and use compressed air to atomize the fuel to burn for heat. If they (waste oil furnaces) weren't so expensive Id buy one to heat my garage in winter as a supplement to my regular oil furnace. I service all my vehicles annually and keep all my used oil in 5 gallon pails. One day I'll find a used W.O.F. at a reasonable price. Until I do I have about 30 gallons in stock.
I do use a little oil and diesel mix to treat my wood trailer decks every year.
I don't just burn it cause it makes too much smoke.

 

[doxford jim]

I have burned used engine oil, lub oil and hydraulic oil in an incinerator designed to burn waste oil. It can be done but is tricky. The engine oil needs a much higher temperature to burn properly. Good clean diesel was also used to help the burning process, so it wasn't a matter of just burning waste oil alone. This was with a fairly modern incinerator back in the late 1980's.
For what it is worth, I take my used oil to the companies that sell new oil - Walmart, Canadian tire etc. By law they are required to dispose of the used oil in an acceptable manner - I let them decide on how they do it.
Works for me, though my neighbours used to use the oil on burn piles on their land.

 

[KubotaToy]

I too take my used oil back to the sellers, but most have restrictions on how much that will take (most have a 5 gal limit per trip). I have a deal with one if I buy 10 gal of oil, they will take back 10 gal, but others do not care how much you buy, they will only accept to the limit. The folks at Wally World told me the limits are to keep you from being inthe oil changing business and using them for oil disposal, but they will gladly sell you as much oil as you want.

I tried to build a oil drip system for my wood stove, just too hard to control.