# Diesel & Veg Oil



## Spacemonkey6401 (Jul 27, 2006)

Allright, I've been thinking this latley as gas prices and diesel prices have been going up. I've read about cleaning old cooking oil, but with the prices continuing to go up, you could buy pure veg. oil for about $1.50 a gallon, ie Weston cooking oil, and use it. 

I've heard/read about converting your diesel over to run on veg. oil, but looking at the kits and everything, it looks like it's just a set up for another tank. My question is, if you have a pickup with two tanks on it, couldn't you just put the veg oil in one and diesel in the other, start it on the diesel, switch over to veg once it's warmed up. and then before shutting it off switch back to diesel, so that way it's all in the system and lines, let it run a lil bit, and shut it off. Wouldn't this work?


----------



## V0lt (Sep 14, 2002)

I would think so. You'd still have to buy some parts of the kit though, in order to do the switching- and to reroute the fuel system with some valves.

Check with some of the companies that sell the kits- this might not be the only modification you have to do.


----------



## crazijoe (Oct 19, 2004)

I believe that you need to convert the vegetable oil to bio-diesel. I don't think you can run on straight veg. oil in a standard diesel engine.


----------



## V0lt (Sep 14, 2002)

You can, but you need a two tank system with switches.


----------



## Spacemonkey6401 (Jul 27, 2006)

Right, so if you had a pickup with two fuel tanks, either front and rear, or one on left side and one on right, then you wouldn't need anything from the kit.


----------



## V0lt (Sep 14, 2002)

No, you'd still need parts from the kit, because you need to keep the fuels separate and switch from diesel to veg oil after it's started, and before shutting it off.


----------



## crazijoe (Oct 19, 2004)

Still, wouldn't you need some way to heat the vegetible oil, because of the viscosity, to push it through the lines.


----------



## V0lt (Sep 14, 2002)

It's usually preheated from the engine... Most diesels can handle SVO in winter, others can't.


----------



## Zazula (Apr 27, 2006)

My experience from RTO is that there is an extensive ongoing experimentization (in academic faculties and research labs) for using alternative fuels in times of war, especially in the heavy-duty diesel engines that tanks are equipped with. The point is not if the engine will burn it or not (it will), the main point of interest is how the maintenance schedule and requirements will get affected, plus what kind of aditives might be needed (if any).


----------



## vegoilman (Jun 13, 2007)

Hey fox how exactly do you think vegoil in a gas tank will become heated. Do you think engine heat goes all the way down the fuel lines and heats fuel in the tank. You have to install a heat exchanger to heat the oil. You would have to do some mods to the existing second fuel tank. If you live where the temps are in the 90's everyday you may not have to install a heat exchanger but to everyone else you will need some way to heat the vegoil in the storage tank and preferably on the way to the engine also.


----------



## V0lt (Sep 14, 2002)

Yeah, and the indirect source of that heat is the engine. I wasn't implying that the heat magically ends up in your vegetable oil tank, I was only saying that part of the system is heating the oil so that it flows freely enough to run through the lines.

Why are you trying to start up an argument in a thread that's almost a year old?


----------



## carsey (Aug 19, 2006)

Id be very careful with this route. Not only is it illegal in many countries as you dont have to pay tax on the vegetable oil and the emissions your car outputs. Ive heard of trading standards going to farming shows to see who was illegally using red/green diesel in there ordinary cars and not tractors.


----------

