vegetable oil conversion

[lhaika]

Does anyone have info on feasability or problems ,converting 2006 6.6 turbo diesel to run on veggie oil?

[DieselMonk]

I know that some have done it on the Bosch CR and that it works, but that is about it, as the LBZ is to new for a long term calculation. Problems you only get, if you didn't filter your WVO down to 1 micron and water. Starting with Diesel is a must until engine is heated up. Then flushing the pump again with Diesel 1km before the trip ends. Some folks in Europe dumping up to 40% SVO mixed with diesel in their CRD's in the summer and reporting that everything is working fine (one tank solution). Good news is that Mercedes, BMW (not VW though) are all using the Bosch Common Rail and that is what is in your GM. The best ways are either making biodiesel out of WVO and do no conversions (I've done that and ran it in my VW, Massey Ferguson Tractor and in my furnace) or go with a 2 tank solution and a heat exchanger.

[Steelawork'n]

In the April addition of Diesel World mag. there is an article on a test truck run at Bonneville. They ran straight Peanut oil in it. They started on Diesel until they reached around 200f and then switched to straight OTC Peanut Oil. Facinating technology these Diesel engines are.

[Basshopper]

Does anyone have info on feasability or problems ,converting 2006 6.6 turbo diesel to run on veggie oil?

Just Converted mine and ran it up to the speed limiter no issues, Towed my bass boat through the mountains up to 80 mph freeway, good to go. Seems to be a bit less acceleration than running on DINO but I can live with that, especially when it hits $3 a gallon again. Check out my sig

[Duramaster]

I work at a GMC Dealer and I personally work almost exclusively on the Duramax engine. I wouldn't recommend any form of "BIO-DIESEL" In any of the Duramax engines! It is too hard on the high pressure fuel systems! The city of Portland (Oregon) is using B-20 in it's fleet and they are constantly wearing out the high pressure fuel pumps. We then replace the pumps to get the truck running just in time for the injectors to fail!!

And another thing.............. There is a fuel station that I drive by that is selling Bio-Diesel for 3.29 a gallon And regular #2 for 2.69 a gallon

Why should I buy Bio-Diesel? I don't see a gain............. yet.

[DieselMonk]

I work at a GMC Dealer and I personally work almost exclusively on the Duramax engine. I wouldn't recommend any form of "BIO-DIESEL" In any of the Duramax engines! It is too hard on the high pressure fuel systems! The city of Portland (Oregon) is using B-20 in it's fleet and they are constantly wearing out the high pressure fuel pumps. We then replace the pumps to get the truck running just in time for the injectors to fail!!

And another thing.............. There is a fuel station that I drive by that is selling Bio-Diesel for 3.29 a gallon And regular #2 for 2.69 a gallon

Why should I buy Bio-Diesel? I don't see a gain............. yet.

Bio Diesel = Bio Diesel. SVO (straight veggie oil) or WVO is not Bio Diesel. Bosch CR pumps are good for Bio D. Europe has B100 since 15 Years @ the pump. Now overseas B20 is a must and you get no straight Diesel anymore at all. Why things mostly fail is because the fuel isn't filtered and dewatered good enough. Everything done right you notice no difference at all. Been there drove that. The only Bosch pump that doesn't like WVO or SVO is a VP44. Other than that ya good to go and give it! Always check your engine oil in Direct Injection engines.

Only problem you get when you use a higher milage diesel and dump Bio, VWO or SVO in it is, that it will clean your tank out and all the diesel sludge and crud will be in your filter in a very short time. Always have a spare filter in hand. nuff of me now

BTW: Why should you buy Bio D? I'd rather support our farmers anyday, than support the mid east for it to p*ss in my boot all day long.

[Duramaster]

So now we import our vegetables, grains, and other such crops?

[bbbear]

So now we import our vegetables, grains, and other such crops?

Well, fuel grade veg oil can be made from switchgrass which grows in poor soil and only needs minimal care. Most of the fuel grade veg oil in Europe is made from rape seed, which is another easy crop that grows in poor soil.

That said, last week I bought a 1986 Canadian GMC dual fuel tanker that will easily convert to burning very high quality Waste Veg Oil that I get from two Japanese restaurants. ( I also have a MB that I've converted to burn WVO... so far 11,000 flawless miles.) It will be easier to convert the truck. Merely use one tank for diesel and the other for WVO. I'll also build 2 glow plug inline heated sump chambers, which heats the WVO to 160*. `Put one before the 2 fuel filters ( the factory filter/water separator and a 2 micron filter/water separator added by the original owner.) The other inline heater will go right before the injector pump.


Start the engine with diesel, wait 3 minutes, switch to WVO... Switch again 3 minutes before shut down.

[billschall]

Full text here: http://www.redpowermagazine.com/foru...howtopic=27700
[I]
Using Unmodified Vegetable Oils as a Diesel Fuel Extender

[Dakster]

I'd like to comment on the fact that the article is referring to diesels of the 1980's and not of today... I can't say whether 20-100% WVO is good or bad for an engine. I would need to run series of identical engines and do tear-downs to see if there was more damage on just one set. If I remember correctly rudolf diesel designed the diesel engine to run on peanut oil...

As far as a city fleet with problems that would be a good sample group to follow. Did they have high failure rates before they switched to B20? I know that my county has a high failure rate of all vehicles, because we are hard on them. (long idles, bumper to bumper traffic, etc...)

My experience tells me that people who run dino diesel have injector and fp failures, just as the people that run wvo or biod. All that tells me is that injectors and fp are prone to failure in diesels. (by the way, that doesn't seem to be just a brand specific problem - all diesels apparently are suspectible to those failures)

I would like an indpendant group to do a real study on the effects of properly filtered wvo, svo, and biod using a control group of motors run on ulsd. Then and only then will we really know. I am assuming that biod can't be that bad as several areas in the world (and good ole USA) use it regularly. The only issues I hear about are contaminated/bad batches of Biod, but I've had bad batches of LSD in my previous diesel vehicles.

[bbbear]

Yesterday morning the left tank was full of diesel and the right tank was about 1/4 full. I added WVO to the right tank and brought it up to 1/2. Started it on diesel, drove off until the engine oil temp gauge reached nearly 200F, then switched tanks.... All of the gauges, exhaust temp, tranny temp, water temp, and engine oil temp remained normal.

Except for maybe running a bit quieter, I couldn't tell the difference. I'll eventually fill the right tank with 80 to 90 % WVO and post the results here. If all goes well, before next winter I'll add a heated fuel sump chamber which, hopefully, will extend the life of the stock stanadyne fuel filter, as well as the Racor 2 micron fuel filter/water separator.
In the meantime, I have spare stanadyne and racor fuel filters behind the seat, read to change out, as well as lubro moly diesel purge to add to the new fuel filters before installation.


BTW, I've been running bio diesel and WVO for about 3 years in other vehicles, an MB and a VW. Both fuels act as detergents that clean the tanks and fuel lines of soot which, until said lines and tanks are cleaned, rapidly clogs the fuel filters. `Got about 2000 miles on the stanadyne 2 micron fuel filter when first converted the MB, same with the VW, and maybe 3000 on the second change. `Have sold the VW, but am now gettting in excess of 6000 miles on the 3rd MB fuel filter change, but I do also have a heated fuel sump chamber on the MB.

[bbbear]

All I need do is start on diesel in the Left hand tank, drive off and after 3 or 4 minutes, switch to WVO.. The engine doesn't miss a beat. I can run errands and shut off the engine while in VO mode. Of course, that means it's started on VO mode. Provided I don't stay longer than about 30 minutes, I haven't had any starting problems. It emits a puff of smoke but doesn't run rough.

However, I should point out that Elsbett of Germany has been modifying vehicles for VO for over 20 years. IMO, their mods are based upon hard science and are the benchmark for the world wide experiment now occuring in VO. That said, even though Elsbett.com now sells kits for US pickups, including GMC, they state that the stanadyne rotary injector pump isn't suitable for burning VO. So those with standyne rotary ip's who do this may experience injector pump failure.

[bbbear]

The following link shows my home built ( in progress ) gravity fed glow plug heated fuel sump chamber, as well as a smaller glow plug heater that will heat the fuel line from the Racor fuel filter to the injector pump. http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slidesho...y=-7i6w3w&Ux=1

The snap on thermostat will be set at 90*F on the larger fuel sump chamber. It will be set at 150*F on the smaller GP heater. The snap on thermostats will be JB welded to an easily accessable place very near the GP on both heaters. There can be a dash switch for ea heater wired between ground. The electric fuel pump ( Part # E 1101 S, from Autozone, $49.00 ) works inline and, if so desired, can work in conjunction with the mechanical pump. If the electric pump fails, the mechanical pump will still operate. The components are shown for only one pump. You can buy them locally or buy the deluxe glow plug heater kit, sans black pipe and fittings, but including electrical components, the special milled glowplug fitting and duratherm glow plug from mercedessource.com

[bbbear]

The glow plug heated fuel sump chamber and smaller gp heater will be installed before next winter. At that time, in order to retain heat, I'll also loop the return fuel line to the IP. The heaters, plus the looped return fuel lines will keep the fuel flowing on cold days as well as extending the life of the expensive Racor fuel filter/water separator.

However, the glow plug heaters, or any other kind of heater for that matter, can never overcome the temperature, hot or cold, of the huge mass of metal in the engine and injector pump.

That said, one should either run a two tank system, starting and stopping on WVO, or own a vehicle that has a proper block heater nightly plugged in. That is, unless one lives in a very warm climate a single tank is only viable when if the block heater is plugged in nightly. That will insure the WVO enters a warm injector pump and engine. Starting on a warm engine also insures a long engine life.

A single tank WVO set up is not viable with the stanadyne rotary injection pump. That sort of pump is lubricated by diesel fuel and, even though WVO is a much better lubricant than diesel fuel, unless cold WVO enters a warm engine, the viscosity is too thick to immediately reach and lube all inner parts of the injection pump. Further, it doesn't matter if the WVO is preheated to 200* F before it enters a cold injector pump because a few ounces of heated WVO will, when entering the cold injector pump nearly instantly assume the same temperature.

IMO, that added Racor or a simular one by Stanadyne are necessary WVO components. That is, one can't over filter WVO. Fortunately for me, in the interest of engine longivity, the original owner added the Racor.

In the meantime the second right hand tank is now full of a blend of WVO ( 90% ) and diesel. It starts on diesel in the left hand tank. After about three minutes of driving, when the engine and injector pump are at normal operating tempertures, I switch to the right hand tank and WVO. The huge mass of metal in the injector pump and engine, is the perfect temperture boss. That is, cold WVO entering a hot injector pump, in a blink, attains the same temperture. The is not noticable in the engine, i.e., no hesitation and not the slightest bit of smoke from the exhaust.



When running errands and shutting down the engine for no longer than 30 minutes, I stop and start on WVO. But after the days end, or if I'll be longer than 30 minutes, about 3 minutes before final destination I switch back to diesel and thus insure the fuel lines are purged of WVO, and the next start up is on diesel.