Used oil mixed with diesel?

[jonyyuma]

Well Soundguy, I agree with you it is very expensive to screw up diesel componants. Why chance it, after all I bought this tractor to get away from minor problems.?Injections systems are not minor..nor cheap and i wish we could still buy regular diesel with a little sulfur..

 

[jonyyuma]

BTW, talking about big diesel engines on ships. I remembered our cruise on a ship of about 1500 pass. Not going to name the company. They Lit off another genset while we were sunning on the decks above. It was Like this ship had blown an engine, with Heavy black smoke bellowing from the stacks.It left a cloud on the horizon, 10 minutes and the stacks were invisable again? Jy.

 

[Steve HEF]

Here's the way I see it: Every gallon of waste oil I burn in my Kubota saves me $4.50 or more. Would I burn it in a brand new electronically controlled diesel? Probably not, but for my mechanically injected Kubota I feel it's just fine. Many of us here have older tractors with mechanical injection systems that would suffer no ill effects from running diluted waste oil. Someone asked about research?? I think whiskeywizard covered that best, tell the guy with 20,000+ hours on his engine he needs to stop burning waste oil immediately!! Farmers have been doing this from the beginning of time.

Someone else suggested that Cummins okays the use of waste oil to sell more parts?? Really? A corporation as big as Cummins with how many attornies on retainer is going to allow an employee's opinion to be published in a factory endorsed recommendation??? Just how much sense does that make?

This thread started with the simple question of whether it is safe to burn waste oil in a diesel. I can tell you from personal experience that it is safe with older mechanical style engines. A new engine with electronic sensors? I can see where waste oil might allow contaminants to cause sensors to malfunction, or even clog modern super tight injectors. You'd be at your own risk in that case.

 

[Soundguy]

i'm surprised the waste oil caused an issue.. i heard it was a common practice for them to burn their own waste oil in with the heavy bunker oil ( mixed )

soundguy

Big ships run heavy bunker fuel in those big Diesels, heavy bunker oil is basically tar and you have to heat it with waste heat from the stack heat exchanger just to get it pumpable. The fuel bunkers have steam lines to get the stuff to liquify. As a matter or fact, they often scuttle wrecks in deep water because the cold temps will solidify the bunker oil and prevent oil leaks from the wreck when they can't pump it out.

According to emissions requirements it is no longer OK to burn WLO in the ship engines anymore. Lots of ships now use onboard filtration systems to basically re-refine the lube oil and only store the sludge for disposal.

marinediesels.co.uk The construction, operation and maintenance of large* 2 and 4 stroke marine diesel engines

Click on "Horror stories" and down at the last one is a case of a Chief Engineer deciding to burn the waste lube oil and how it cost them 5 pistons and liners in the main.

 

[Soundguy]

Well Soundguy, I agree with you it is very expensive to screw up diesel componants. Why chance it, after all I bought this tractor to get away from minor problems.?Injections systems are not minor..nor cheap and i wish we could still buy regular diesel with a little sulfur..

here's how I look at it.... I can rebuild a carb.. no qualms.. dig right in bolt it back on and i pretty much know the engine will start up.

an injector pump? I don't have the equipment or skills for that ( at this time.. )

soundguy

 

[tennmogger]

I don't run waste oil in my Diesels because I don't have the means to filter it down to a few microns. Adding the means would make the whole process expensive and time consuming. Maybe one day, I certainly like the idea.

The oil filters in the engines don't filter it that well unless you run a centrifuge or bypass filtration system. We change our engine oil because it gets abrasive and fails to protect bearings and journals with clearances in the thousandths, so why put in into the fuel system where injector pump clearances are in the ten thousandths? Makes no sense to me.

 

[tungularafishcamp]

I have been adding a little diesel to my waste oil for years and it has worked fine. I add @10% diesel to the used motor oil, heck with filtering, and pour it in just like it is.............to the burn pile that is, works great!

Rick

 

[RonMar]

I think the "oh, it's OK to run it, been doing it for ever on the farm" wisdom may be a little outdated. Back when, motor oil used to be just that, oil. It isn't just oil anymore, it contains additives that include heavy metals, that improve it's ability to lubricate. The problem is that these additives don't breakdown completely in the combustion chamber. It takes an extremely hot and violent combustion process to break them down completely. Instead they form ash particulates that are as abrasive as sand. This of course dosn't happen untill the combustion chamber, so probably dosn't have much effect on the IP or injectors as long as it passes the fuel filter. Have read a few discussions on alternate energy forums where people are trying to use high percentages of WMO as a motor fuel, and have encountered excessive cylinder and ring wear. Obvioulsy, the lower the percentage burnt, the lower the particulates generated. How many hours are you prepared to loose off your ring and cylinder life?

IMO, the only way to burn WMO is in a burner for heat.

My .02

 

[Soundguy]

i agreee.. soot ont he microscopic level is an abrasive. hate to see that on the injector pump...

soundguy

 

[mooseracing]

I can tell you from personal experience that it is safe with older mechanical style engines.

Tell that to all the people with coked injectors, plugged fuel filters after filtering down to a better micron level than oil filter, stuck rings, etc.....It all matters what you think is safe. This is from people running 10% - 100%

Go to a diesel truck forum where people run this everyday, there is no doubt in people that have used it long term, that it is a slight gamble. You are looking at paying lower fuel costs, but will eventually have to replace some possible expensive parts. On older diesels (trucks at least) these parts aren't too expensive compared to a new one.


I'm not against it, I plan on running around 20%, but I need to purchase a filtering setup and centrifuge.