Burning used motor oil

[Dieselnut59]

Have any of yall heard of burning used motor oil in your engine? I have heard truckers talk about doing it for years, but have never heard of what is necessary to allow the process. I have an almost unlimited supply of used motor oil and am very interested in setting up whatever system is necessary to use it for fuel. At our shop, we have four 350 gallon tanks where we collect the oil. We have three service trucks (see sig. ) and would love to put this to use in the trucks. If it is not practical, we will be getting a waste oil heater before Winter as I know those things work!

Does anyone know what is involved in preparing used motor oil for use as fuel in our trucks?

Thanks for the help!

John

 

[keimmmo]

I have used used motor oil in both of my trucks since they were new. I feel that they give a little better economy and power with the oil. I have seen no ill effects.



I used to use a home made filter system to filter the oil before putting it into my tank. It was a lot of mess and trouble. I have found that just putting the oil in gallon jugs and setting them in a warm place for a couple of weeks to let things settle out is about as good as my filter system. I leave a little bit of oil in the jug when I dump it into the tank... the dirt is always on the bottom.



All I have done to my trucks is to add a primary filter for added safety. I use a 2 qt spin on filter under the frame that I can buy anywhere. I relocated the factory lift pump back close to the tank on the 01. 5 so it would push the fuel through the filters instead of pulling it through. I have a fuel pressure gauge on the 01. 5. I run the filters until I see about a 2psi drop in pressure and change both the factory filter and the primary that I have added. I often get 30k on a pair of filters, so I must not be pouring too much crud into the tank!



For quantities, I can run about 20 to 1 in the 01. 5 without smoke. (20 gallons of fuel to 1 gallon of oil. ) On the old '92 it will smoke too much to tolerate if I use much over 40 to 1! You will have to experiment to find what works best for you.



Steve

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

Filtration of the used stuff - as well as KNOWN purity of the waste oil would be the key issue - some employees are pretty lax when dumping stuff in "waste oil" tanks, and there easily could be a nasty surprise in there that might bite you later.



That said, here's another thread on this issue:



https://www.turbodieselregister.com/forums/showthread.php?t=132459



As another poster has stated, keep the oil percentage relatively low to avoid problems - on my '02, with the typical VP-44 and lift pump issues, I will stick at about a quart per 32 gallon tankful, and this is primarily just to get rid of my own carefully filtered waste oil in an economical manner, while also providing a bit of added lubricity to my fuel.

 

[The patriot]

I wouldnt even give it any thought to put a few gallons in the 12 valve 1998, but the new lift pumps are finickey.

I'd tread lightly there, theyre expensive too.

Eric

 

[Alan Reagan]

On the 12V's, Cummins had mixing ratios for using used motor oil. You might try going to the Cummins website and sending them an email asking this question. They are usually pretty responsive. It's not a problem for the engine. Now the fuel pump... ... ..... :--)



I would think that it wouldn't be a problem. There is a system used on boats and big trucks that actually takes a bit of the oil and feeds it into the fuel. When the truck gets a gallon low, just add oil. It's like a running oil change. Instead of draining the oil for a change, the truck burns it.

 

[Dieselnut59]

Thanks for the replies. I will be using this only on the 12 valve engine equipped trucks (my 1996 and our three work trucks, 2 1992's and one 1998). I am hesitant about doing any fuel tinkering with a computerized engine. I will be using only oil I personally drain from forklifts. At one particuliar customer's place, I change the oil at 100 hour/monthly intervals on propane powered lifts. Often, they don't even have 60-80 hours, but they want them fully serviced anyway. We use Rotella 15-40 in everything and it looks like brand new when I drain it out of these particular lifts, which are always well serviced and tuned, although run HARD. Each lift holds a gallon, so I drain it, fill it and put the used oil back in the gallon container to dump in the collection tank at the shop. I will start keeping this oil seperate and put in a gallon at each fill up! I may have to adjust the ratios, but I will start with the 1:30 and go from there.