Enviro Diesel

[RBRenos]

I have heard of people making their own diesel. A more enviromentally friendly product and a much cheaper way to fuel your vehicle.
I am looking for more information on it, or a website that I could look into would be greatly appreciated.

[timst]

Go to the Trucks website on TSN. They did a show on it, and they the link to the website on it. Great idea, they call the end product Bio-Diesel. :dogrun:

[timst]

There is also a site called greasycar.com that with a conversion kit, is supposed to allow you burn used vegatable oil directly. Just saw this today, and thought of you.

[DeepRoots]

go someplace where they talk about the stuff all the time.
the 'trucks show' is bs. spending thousands of dollars on a 'kit' is kinda going against the idea of making cheap fuel.

http://www.localb100.com/cbt/mainpage/

is a great page (with forums) for making biodiesel or running an engine on vegetable oil.
Biodiesel is the key, run it in nearly any diesel engine, no conversions... just make quality fuel and burn it. Vegetable oil has not proven itself (to me at least) to be reliable for long term use. Too many clogged fuel filters and injection pumps. injection pump for my truck costs $400 and injectors are $20 a peice, but alot of these new diesels have $2,000 pumps and $200-$300 injectors.... not wise to mess with that :-)

my old truck with a 7.3 liter (international 444) diesel has drank nearly a thousand gallons of homemade fuel this year, and at $.70 a gallon, I can't complain.

drew

[mechanic]

Many good links... but I'm not sure many wil discuss the "cons" of bio-diesel. AFAIK, most manufacturers caution against anything over B5 (95% diesel fuel - 5% "stuff").

Vegetable oils are unfriendly in cold areas (high gel temps). While looking at the "pros", pay close attention to the "cons".

I will not try to advise one way or the other.... I'm only saying that you need to enter this type of adventure with both eyes open...

[DeepRoots]

mechanic,
I fully agree to what you are saying about the 'cons'.

only problem I've had with biodiesel, is depending on the oil used, biodiesel cloudpoint varies.
Some types I've made cloud at 30degrees, and some made from hydrogenated oils cloud at 50!
obviously those need to be blended with diesel or saved for summer.

All of the problems I've seen with people running biodiesel can be traced back to laziness or ignorance in the making of the fuel. I have only experience with homemade fuel. Many problems are with people not filtering it properly (5microns is really small). or not dewatering it completely. Obviously water in any amount in a high compression engine (22.5-1 in my case) is a bad thing.

I also cannot speak for usage on the newer Heui or common rail injection systems. Common rail doesn't seem to have a problem, but the newer ford Heui has been known to be finiky.

also, doesn't is seem strange Ford only recommends 5% whereas International (the maker of the engine) recomments 20%
I think alot of that has to do with warrenty issues, more than any safety testing with the fuel. Obviously ford wouldn't want to fix injection pumps/injectors due to someone making bad fuel.
Although to me, it seems funny buying a $45,000 truck and than trying to be cheap by making $.70 a gallon fuel :-)
I've never owned a vehicle that wasn't old enough to vote or buy alcohol :-)

either way, that link (and specifically the forums) are a great place to see people really using the stuff.... not just theory but practice.

drew