50% used motor oil 50% diesel - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

brabus · #1 07-19-2006, 02:54 AM

After some guy claimed to be burning 100% heated used motor oil I had to try it.

I drove my car down to half past the R on the fuel gauge (I estimate this is around 2 gallons) and then changed my oil. I put all 8 quarts in the tank and drove to a friends house 40 miles away. As far as I could tell there was no noticeable difference. It didn’t smoke or anything.

The exhaust did smell a little like when you spill oil on a hot exhaust manifold.
I hope this didn’t put a huge hole in the O-zone layer.

mbzkid · #2 07-19-2006, 03:05 AM

Large ships burn motor oil as fuel every day. I don't see your Mercedes doing any harm to the environment.

I would worry about the fuel system though. Small metal particles suspended in the oil passing through the injection pump and injectors can't be a good thing. I wonder if diesel fuel contains abrasives that can't filtered by the fuel filters as well.

H-townbenzoboy · #3 07-19-2006, 03:11 AM

I'd be afraid of running such high contentrations of used motor oil often, especially if it is not filtered right.

Here's a quote from the Chevron Lubricants site: http://www.chevron.com/products/prodserv/fuels/bulletin/diesel/L2_qa_fs.htm

Quote:

Can I get rid of my used engine oil by adding it to diesel fuel?

Adding used engine oil to diesel fuel used to be a common practice. However, it almost certainly results in a blend that does not meet diesel fuel specifications. One or more of these properties may be too high: 90% boiling point, sulfur content, ash, water and sediment, viscosity, and carbon residue. A diesel fuel/used oil blend may not be sold as diesel fuel, and we recommend against using it as a diesel fuel.

But I have yet to hear any problems from adding one or two quarts at a time, if it's filtered properly.

TwitchKitty · #4 07-19-2006, 09:53 AM

There are many threads here on this topic, search.

I don't recommend this practice. I have run it several times and the results were not good.

Rashakor · #5 07-19-2006, 10:15 AM

you need to filter at less than 1µm mesh to not have problems with metallic particles otherwise you will have injectors or worse injection pump failure. And filtering at that level is not cheap!

Otherwise, IMHO, WMO is superior fuel than WVO because it won't gel. Environmentally it is actually superior because you are consuming a real waste product (WVO is at least biodegradable, WMO is not).

andmoon · #6 07-19-2006, 10:17 AM

diesel klean motor oil and vo (not sure if vo had any effect) netted me some horrible gel.

dannym · #7 07-19-2006, 10:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brabus

After some guy claimed to be burning 100% heated used motor oil I had to try it.

I drove my car down to half past the R on the fuel gauge (I estimate this is around 2 gallons) and then changed my oil. I put all 8 quarts in the tank and drove to a friends house 40 miles away. As far as I could tell there was no noticeable difference. It didn’t smoke or anything.

The exhaust did smell a little like when you spill oil on a hot exhaust manifold.
I hope this didn’t put a huge hole in the O-zone layer.

I don't understand this. You put 2 gallons of motor oil into 1/2 tank of diesel. Did you fill the tank the rest of the way with diesel?
2 gallons into a half tank would be 20% oil or 5:1 ratio.
2 gallons into a full tank would be 10%

I have done it once or twice but put 1 gallon into a full tank, or 5% mixture. I don't think I would want to go higher.

Danny

techguy512 · #8 07-19-2006, 10:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dannym

I don't understand this. You put 2 gallons of motor oil into 1/2 tank of diesel.

No - he ran the tank down to below R on the gauge (estimated 2 gallons left in the tank) and then put 2 gallons of oil in the tank.

Wes Bender · #9 07-19-2006, 11:31 AM

I've been taking my 300D drained oil to the local airport where they burn it in their hangar heater in the winter. The much cleaner drain oil from the Austin-Healey and the Toyota Tacoma gets blended in with diesel fuel in the 300D. I use from one to two quarts per tankful of diesel. Works fine. I don't think that 50/50 is necessary or even recommended. (Among other things, you would run out of drain oil way before the next oil change is due.)

Cheers,
Wes

vstech · #10 07-19-2006, 11:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by techguy512

No - he ran the tank down to below R on the gauge (estimated 2 gallons left in the tank) and then put 2 gallons of oil in the tank.

as I read his message, he put 8 quarts of used motor oil into his (estimated from the R mark on fuel gauge) 2 gallons of fuel
John

Dee8go · #11 07-19-2006, 11:39 AM

What is the point of running your car on used motor oil? I get the WVO thing, but why use motor oil? It doesn't sound like a good thing to do. Seems like it would foul a lot of engine components up, but then my experience with deisel-powered vehicals is limited to the farm tractors I operated as a kid.

ConnClark · #12 07-19-2006, 12:17 PM

To really get the used motor oil clean you need to re fractionate(evaporate and condense) it. This leaves all the suspended metals and carbon and such behind. IMHO only then would it be fit to run through my engine. I had a friend that worked in a transmission shop that had a furnace that would burn used motor oil. I'm happy to leave it to them to dispose of waste motor oil.

barry123400 · #13 07-19-2006, 02:05 PM

At a minumin I would want to raise its temperature to say 450 degrees to get rid of any condensation and anything else that would boil off. A long settling period afterwords might separate/settle the metal products or any element that is heavier than the oil. Then filter it. Ph strip tests might be a good ideal to check that it is not too acidic as well. Just removing from an engine and dumping it into a cars tank might turn out to be false economy. But I really know nothing about alternative fuels. I just try to keep an open mind.

Carleton Hughes · #14 07-19-2006, 02:22 PM

You do NOT want to run crankcase oil in your car unless you are prepared to $pend megabucks filtering it.

Metallic particles will be the death knell of your IP AND cylinders.

As mentioned long ago I heat my house with crankcase oil which simply necessitates 3 stages of filtration and a plenum/preheater arrangement,in this case a propane burner to get the oil up to vaporisation temp.

Essentially every cycle the propane comes on for 1-2 minutes and then thermostatically shuts off and the heavy oil is ignited,no fuss,no muss,twice yearly cleanings are de rigeur.

brabus · #15 07-19-2006, 03:54 PM

Didnt think about the metal situation, I just figured all of the oil was fairly well filtered already, because of the oil filter and then fuel filter.