used engine oil as diesel

[ArTrvlr]

Like slowzuki said, it's risky business. In adition to contamination in the oil from the combustion process, metal wear particles and you have the engine oils additive package in there. The possibility of increased wear from contaminates and increased deposits in the injectors sure are not doing any good for your engine. Some say they add it to increase lubricity of the fuel. Studys have shown that engine oil adds little to no lubricity to the fuel. I'll never understand why people risk the chance of expensive damage to save a couple of cents.

Disclaimer: I am not taking a side on this issue, but I will say I am NOT going to try it. I don't use enough diesel for this to save me any money. Well, OK, maybe I am taking a side, 'cause I just realized there are three sides here. 1, it's OK. 2, it's not OK. 3, It may or may not be OK, but it ain't worth the risk for me. So, I am on side 3.

I agree with DieselPower, the big unknown is the contamination, what happens to the additives when they burn, etc. But regarding any solid metal particles, to the ones talking about injector and pump clearances, do we trust our fuel filters or not? And I am thinking that the people on side 1 (it's OK to do) believe that anything that gets through the filter is OK.

Not an argument for either way, just a thought.
jp

 

[RalphVa]

Used auto transmission or power steering fluid would be okay because it is an oil grade (5 grade) that often goes into the diesel pool anyway, but I wouldn't want to put any used engine oil into MY diesel. Just don't overdo it, maybe keep it to about 10%.

I've actually disposed of unused power steering fluid that I found sitting around (from when I had another vehicle that took another grade of it) by pouring it into my vehicle's or tractor's diesel tank.

Ralph

 

[franklinute]

As far as pouring other oils into a dielel tank - will it mix? My thinking is that it will just settle and that is where the pickup tube is and won't it just pickup the heavier oil first. We have a couple of ag diesel stationary tanks that we drain out about every 5 years. It is usually a black soupy sludge that we dispose on a brush pile to burn. Our distributor told us to be sure that the pickups on our tanks are well off the bottom to get the cleanest fuel.

 

[dedejr]

after 4 months with the same fuel filter no problem with my used motor and transmission oil i change my fuel filter yesterday of course the fuel is dark but no metal residu

 

[gatractorman]

I've done it in tractors and my service truck (6.5 TD, the mountain mover HAHAHA) with good luck so far. I dont do it all the time just when I happen to get some decently clean hyd. oil or when I change engine oil in the truck and can catch it in a clean container. I dump it right in no mix no nothing.

Put most of a 5 gal. bucket in my truck when I was low on fuel, ran as good as ever, did have a different exhaust odor however. I couldn't tell it smoked any more that usual.

Fuel filters are generally 10 micron, conceivably anything smaller should pass thru the system without harming it. I need to work on a filter system so I can use the oil out of the bulk tank. Somehow it needs to go thru a water separator and I heard a relatively new pair of jeans from a yard sale ($2 max) with the leg tied or folded up and sewed shut is an effective 1 micron filter, but quite slow.

Still mad about the $4+ diesel this past year, going to do whatever within reason I can to purchase the least amount possible.

 

[DieselPower]

The pressures in diesel fuel systems have gone from 3,000 psi to 20,000 to 30,000 psi, and tolerances are much tighter. Engine manufacturers have designed fuel injectors to be more robust to compensate, but at the same time, they have become a lot more expensive to replace. Southwest Research Institute found that the most damaging particle size for diesel fuel injection systems is 5 to 7 microns.

The other problem as I have previously said is your dumping a lot of additives from the engine oil or hydraulic oil into your fuel that were not designed to be fuel. Lubricating oil can contain as much as 25 % additives by volume. Those additives end up making deposits in the injectors and combustion chamber as well as valves.

Blending up some fancy home brew mojo juice is doing nothing but asking for problems. If dumping engine oil into diesel fuel did any good at all major trucking fleets all over the world would be doing it, they aren't.

 

[gatractorman]

Yeah it's not for the faint of heart. I'm sure it happens alot in the trucking industry, I have not been around a big truck in years but there used to be a line into the tank that done exactly that, the engine would keep the oil in it relatively fresh by periodically dumping some engine oil into the fuel. The military has a blending station where the oil is drained into a roll around cart, filtered with built it pumps and filters then blended with fresh diesel and back into the truck.

 

[RickB]

He says hes saving $50/wk and has been doing it 3 mo. If he makes it a year its saved $2.4K. Wonder how long before theres a problem.
larry

According to his math, he's putting 71 gallons of fuel a week through a Kubota L2900. Certainly not impossible, but quite improbable.

 

[Soundguy]

I love the nay sayers! Maybe this is not worth the risk for everyone, but think about how many innovations there have been because people have tried something. .

The gov't used to see how much plutonium it took to kill a person by injecting them with it.

Innovation/ I guess if you are the one DOING the injections.. and not the reciever.

waste oil in my diesel engine? Naa.. it's got enough to worry about just dealing with normal wear and tear..

soundguy

 

[kenmac]

I've got a 30+ year old diesel & I wouldn't do it. I wouldn't dream using it in a newer $20 + k diesel engine