Water4Gas

[[JiF]Djsmg]

What about Veggie oil in lieu of diesel (for those who own a diesel engine)?

What I've read boils down to this:
-veggie oil can run in a diesel engine without any modifications (applies to warm climates only due to the viscous nature of vegetable oil, also depends on engine make, if computerized, type of injectors, etc...). A fact is that the original diesel engine was actually created to run on peanut oil.
-conversion kits are available for cooler climates which generally include a second fuel tank (for the veggie oil) along with a heater to keep the oil less viscous, a second fuel line to get the oil to the engine, a toggle switch to switch between straight diesel or veggie oil. Conversion kits cost vary between $1000US to $4500US.

Pros:
-Veggie oil can be free as restaurants usually have to pay for disposal of used oil. You will have to filter it however.
-Less harmful pollutants, unless you count olfactory pollution as your car/truck will smell like whatever was cooked in the oil (you could have a car that smells like doughnuts!!)

Cons:
-New Veggie Oil costs roughly $5.00USg
-Free fatty acids cannot be filtered out of oil and can cause corrosion to internal components of the engine.
-There is no long term studies to show exactly how long an engine will last when running on veggie oil.
-Olfactory pollution if you get your oil from a fried fish restaurant.
-You might have a hard time trying to drive across the country running on used veggie oil. (Limited sources of fuel)

Im not too sure if your mileage or horsepower improves or declines at all. But for those who have a few bucks to spend to save a few bucks for as long as your fuel source(s) will freely distribute used vegetable oil to you it might be worth checking out.

Please feel free to add and/or edit/correct any information above as all of the information was obtained by Googling (and we all know that if it is on the internet it has to be true).

[[JiF]Sgt. hUTCHIE]

Hello,

At risk of sounding like mr resident 'expert' on car mods, vegetable oil as a substitute for diesel does work.

But before you go for this, research your car on the internet and take note of any weaknesses and an average consensus of users for your model of car.

Vegetable oil can be mixed with diesel. A fair proprotion of users run a mix, especially in the winter months. Another thing that is done is to mix the veg oil with a little (less than 5%) turpentine to thin it or go the whole hog and convert it into Bio diesel - but this is more complex and you need some kit and a bit of basic chemistry to do it properly.

Generally older, more robost diesels work better with vegetable oils. An old Mercedes is one of the best cars for reliably running on veg oil. Unfortunately a modern common rail diesel uses a high pressure pump and these do fail with vegetable oil even if heated (they just cannot cope long term with the viscosity increase). For example my Ford Mondeo TDCI will fail if vegetable oil is used regularly

Also in the UK we have an oppressive tax junta that will attempt to royally shaft you should be radical enough to run vegetable oil without declaring it.
This is policed by the frying squad no less! People have been fined heavily for using chip oil or going down to Asda (Wallmart) and buying then using their cheapest oil in bulk. But maybe in the 'land of the free' you don't have these facists...

Still, I guess if your car smells of doughnuts you might get some interest from the cops whatever.

Sources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_rail
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetable_oil_as_fuel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bio_Diesel
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/2312521.stm - check out the frying squad - their on your case !!!

hUTCHIE

[[JiF]Mike]

Wow lots of info here now. I wish I could say that I had some results, but I don't yet! I have not found a local source for the stainless steel wire I need. Type 316L 19-gauge wire isn't very common I guess. I'm trying to find a source online today to see if I can at least get it sometime this week.

If anyone would like a copy of the book I am willing to email it to you zipped up. Part of the license is being able to share the info, so I think it's legal. However I don't want to tempt fate by posting a link to it. PM me your email and I will provide a zipped up copy, perhaps you will come to the same conclusions I have after reading the info for yourself.

This weekend I took a closer look at book 2, and found that most cars 1996 and newer will also need the electronic system component that is also discussed in the books. This part will modify the O2 sensor readings so that the cars computer does not adjust the fuel/air ratio automatically. If this component isn't used the fuel savings will disappear after a half a tank as the computer will "see" the added O2 in the exhaust. All fuel savings will be lost if this happens. There are a number of ways to do it, and 3 or 4 are discussed in the book, plans are included.

Really frustrating to have everything I need, except the dumb wire! If I don't find something soon I will use galvanized for this first one. It breaks down quickly, but it will work long enough to test!

[[JiF]KellysHero]

Mike, here's the hookup on the wire, mcmaster.com. We order from them for work, and they are extremely reliable and fast on shipping. I usually get stuff the next day by UPS ground, granted they are only a couple of hours north of us. Not only wire, but they have just about anything mechancial you could ever want and pricing is pretty reasonable.

On the left side of the webpage is a product finder, just type in stainless steel wire, and click on the link, it'll take you to the catalog page.

[[JiF]Mike]

I ran across that site in my search last week but didn't think anymore of it than any others I found. Since you order from them, I placed an order for Type 316L Stainless Steel Wire .040" Diameter, 1/4-lb Coil, 58 ft/Coil. Hopefully I'll get it in a day or two and I can finish putting this part together. Thank you for the info!

[[JiF]KellysHero]

It's been a while Mike, any updates?

[[JiF][AARP]Jimbo]

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=vPq1exwMaUs

[[JiF]Mike]

I'm embarrassed to say I have not yet finished it. I've got all the parts just been doing other stuff! I do need to finish this thing off soon. I'm pretty sure I will have to make up the electronic component as well to really see savings. I haven't even started looking at parts and prices for that yet.

[Lonewolf-McQuade]

THey've been using 'water injection' for years exp in the air industry. It increases compression while reducing fuel use. It's a fact that this works. Now as for the whole 'water 4 gas' thing I dunno that may be a scam but my neighbor is using true technical water injection on his VW and has improved his mileage substantially. And yes it is a gas vehicle!

[pissboy[LPANE]]

THey've been using 'water injection' for years exp in the air industry. It increases compression while reducing fuel use. It's a fact that this works. Now as for the whole 'water 4 gas' thing I dunno that may be a scam but my neighbor is using true technical water injection on his VW and has improved his mileage substantially. And yes it is a gas vehicle!

Water injection is different than using electrolysis to split water. Higher compression engines and high boost applications drive the air temperature up, sometimes to the point where detonation will happen. Water and Water/methanol injection is done to cool the charge temperature down in a supercharged application. If he's not running a supercharger or a turbo supercharger, then the increase in efficiency he's seeing probably comes from the fact that the water is vaporizing during combustion and the expansion rate of water into a gas combined with the air/fuel, is greater than the expansion of the air/fuel mix in the combustion chamber.