S4 E3. How good is vegetable oil as a source of fuel for a diesel engine?... We find out!. plus more

[@FarmAlarm]

Here is my list of alt fuels to try: 100% vegetable oil 50/50 diesel/waste motor oil 4:1 waste motor oil:gasoline 100% waste motor oil 100% new motor oil 100% ATF (new or used) 100% kerosene 100% Howes fuel treatment

[@Lowry7724]

Thanks for typing all my recommendations so I don’t have to lol. 👍

[@Superduty_59]

I agree he recommended all the things I would have and a couple more too. @@Lowry7724

[@bobdobbs4525]

Covers my list

[@allthehandlesweretaken]

would also like to see regular gasoline with 0.5% two stroke oil premix (to provide lubrication for the hp pump) and also 10/90 gasoline/diesel (supossedly the octane of gas will delay ignition, wich in theory alows the fuel to mix with the air better)

[@webmasale]

I'll add a few more: Alcohol/ethanol. Natural gas. Trash fumes. Excrement fumes. Old tyre oil extraction. Plastic recycling.

[@stevenfrazier8939]

I collect Waste Veggie-Oil from a local restaurant in it’s original 4.6 gallon jug. I let it settle for 2 weeks, after which I drill a small hole just above the water and food level. The clear liquid drains into a 6 gallon bucket that we get from a pool and spa company for free. On top of the bucket I have a 400, 200, 100 and 75 micron polyester filters. I then pore the clean oil into a 30 gallon container and add 10% Gasoline to it. Using a small 12 volt gear pump from Seaflo, the clean oil is pumped through a 20, 5 and 1 micron polyester pleated and cleanable whole house filter into a 275 gallon IBC Tote. Using the same pump I draw out the desired amount and add more gasoline as needed according to the outside temperature. In order to use waste Veggie-Oil it must be blended with a solvent to reduce its viscosity to equal that of Diesel fuel. The colder the ambient temperature the more solvent is needed to prevent jelling of the fuel. • 10% of Gasoline is good for temperatures above 80 degrees • 15% of Gasoline is good for temperatures above 32 degrees • 20% of Gasoline is good for temperatures below 32 degrees • 30% of Gasoline is good for temperatures below 0 degrees

[@RealisticAlternatives]

@stevenfrazier8939 Where would you recommend getting these types of filters from and do you struggle to clean them? Do they clog often? Any issues with water in the recovered oil? Thanks in advance for any insights you might offer.

[@HyperSpaceProphet]

That was pretty much how I did it when I ran my truck on Waste Veggie Oil. I used similar blends based on temps but I cut the WVO with diesel instead. One thing you don't mention is bacteria and mold in the WVO. I had issues at some point and had to throw away over a hundred gallons and totally clean my storage. There are biocides to use that will prevent this (highly recommended). Clean, filtered oil is the ley however. No dirt, no water.

[@stevenfrazier8939]

@@HyperSpaceProphet The gasoline seem to keep the oil from going off.

[@blendpinexus1416]

ooooooo, nice.

[@supertekkel1]

If you preheat the vegetable oil it lowers it's viscosity. I used a engine Volkwagen oil/coolant heat exchanger to heat the oil just before the injection pump.

[@richiesrestorations4883]

Jimbo says "our little Honda Insight ONLY gets 71 mpg". Yes Jimbo, ONLY. LMAO 🤣🤣🤣

[@SgtNuker]

If 71mpg was constant, Jimbo would need 11 gal to make it comfortably to the Gulf of Mexico's beach.

[@robotcantina8957]

Exactly... and we only have a 10 gallon fuel tank....

[@fabiotiburzi]

Fffffffffffffffffffffffff

[@workingcountry1776]

Flexing.....

[@that1guy82]

Only 2.5X what i get doing 55 mph in my automatic escort.

[@MrDdaland]

Back in the 80's, the State of Missouri commissioned my Dad to convert 3 vehicles to "alternate energy sources that could be produced within the State" Dad converted a state owned 84 Malibu to run on assorted mixtures of Gas/Ethanol, a 1982 Chev Luv (quite a few of those available at a discount when the S-10 came out) for diesel, and a already converted Ford Ranger for electric. Once the State was done with their testing, they offered him his choice of the vehicles- he took the Luv. Drove it for 12 years on pretty much everything except diesel.

[@goosenotmaverick1156]

Id love to have a diesel Luv

[@Filoviri]

My first vehicle was a ‘82 diesel Chevy LUV. I used to joke that the only actual Chevy part was the tailgate, as the truck was actually made by Isuzu. I got offers nearly every day from people who wanted to buy it. My dad ended up driving it well into the 2010s, believe it or not.

[@steffybael1245]

@@Filoviri YES, THEY WERE IN HIGH DEMAND, AND SHIPPED TO THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES AT A HIGH PROFIT!!! I KNEW SOMEONE DOING IT!

[@al_capad]

Hiya, Jimbo. A univercity in Poland did a research few years back, unused vegtable oil with 10% up to 30% of volumetric addition of gasoline gives almost the same physio-chemical properties as a regular diesel.

[@SkylerKingTW]

Back about 15 years ago I had an old F250 with a naturally aspirated 7.3L diesel. I was working as a mechanic, full time, and would frequently dump old motor oil, transmission fluid, vegetable oil, etc into the tank (after filtering it) since it theoretically should have worked and it was a cheap old truck that I was willing to experiment with. The result was that the truck always ran perfect. I never filled the tank with 100% "other stuff", there was a always actual diesel fuel in the tank along with whatever I was adding to it. But, it ran perfect. Never had a single problem. No unusual starting, no changes in acceleration, no issues with letting it idle for long periods of time. I did that for years and had no problems at all. It ended up being something that I did without even thinking about it, and I just saw it as a convenient way to get rid of used oil/fluids while reducing my fuel bill.

[@kingpest13]

Sweet! A couple free miles per day sounds alright to me

[@Ratkill9000]

Rudolph Diesel, had designed his original diesel engine to run off of peanut oil.

[@gulfy09]

Then went missing on a ship..

[@Pallanamnjavelet]

Commenting before i watch. In my youth a friend of mine's father used to make his "own" fuel from all the restaurants used fryer oil. Usually they have to pay to get rid of it so he got it for free. He had two large oil drums, with a pipe connecting the two, and a pump and filter mounted on the pipe. 2/4 Fryer oil went in one barrel, he then added 1/4 used engine oil to it and pumped the mix through the homemade filter box into the other barrel, where he then poured in 1/4 aviation kerosene. He claimed, that it in his old Mercedes 300d (123) it made the car accelerate harder and also run smoother with less smoke. I still remember driving behind his car, and the exhaust coming from it smelling like french fries and gunsmoke. 😁

[@Bigshooterist]

There's an awful lot of houses with tanks of #2 Fuel Oil on the way to the ocean as well. That stuff runs great in a diesel engine. Keep up the great videos.

[@teryshaw7370]

Not on that part of the country - fuel oil heating is exceedingly rare in OK and TX.

[@thogevoll]

Perhaps but he can tip off his tank and add a 5 gallon or two jerry cans from the last house with fuel oil.

[@caymengt]

The highlight of my day, the next episode of Robot Cantina!

[@guyapeterson]

That and mustie1

[@primate_0]

My favorite thing about Sundays!

[@afberglund2764]

Agree!

[@dgoesman]

My dad use to run used engine oil his his ford 1 ton truck. He had a filter setup that took all the carbon and any moisture out. He ran it for several years. My brother even started running it in his dodge pickup.

[@Clearanceman2]

My uncle does this with his 2000 F250 diesel 7.3. He lives in Florida and the truck is still in great shape body wise.

[@goosenotmaverick1156]

​@@Clearanceman2 I was gonna ask OP if it was a 7.3 but I figured it was. I've seen loads of folks doing that, they don't seem to care much 😂 I run my tractor on anywhere from 50/50 to straight waste oil. I get plenty of it from work and it makes my summer brush hogging pretty cheap 😂

[@bertgrau3934]

Used engine oil is good for heating a work shop. I used to have a trucking company, and the used oil was used to heat the shop. The heater would burn about 1 gallon of used oil an hour. A lot of truck shops are saving used oil to heat their shops. Fairly cheap way to heat, and dispose of used oil.

[@mileshoffhines1945]

I run a quart of ATF to every tank of diesel (approximately 16 gallons for 82 GMC and 20 gallons for 94 F350). This is because they were built pre-ultra low sulfer and the mechanical injector pump and injectors need the additional lubrication and cleaning properties of the transmission fluid. It helps with mileage but I've always been a bit concerned about the EGT. I'd love to see you test it. Keep up the great work! P.S. I hope the Gnomes are staying warm.

[@randallmason9687]

ATF is a good idea. I am a fan of Marvel Mystery Oil for older engines.

[@workingcountry1776]

I toss in used ATF or motor oil in each tank full of my Oldsmobile diesel. I usually just dump a whole 4-5qt jug in at fill up or half if I'm low on used oil somehow.

[@nerd1000ify]

I'd use biodiesel or TC-W3 outboard oil for this, old sump oil is full of garbage you'd rather not run through the injectors (like water and carbon particles) and it burns dirty due to all the additives in it, to say nothing of the lead contamination from engine bearings etc. A lot of diesel fuel already has 5% biodiesel added as a lubricity improver.

[@steffybael1245]

@@nerd1000ify TC-W3 IS GREAT STUFF, I USE TO BUY IT IN 55 GALLON BARRELS! SOME BIG TRUCKS ADD A SIPPER DEVICE TO ADD MOTOR OIL FROM THEIR CRANKCASE TO THE FUEL, THEN JUST TOP OFF THE OIL EVERY X NUMBER OF MILES. JUST CHANGE THE OIL FILTERS AND NOT THE OIL!

[@AirCro]

Hey Jimbo! Love your work! Since german engineer Rudolf Diesel (1858-1913) built his first diesel engine in 1892. He experimented at first with a number of fuel sources including coal dust suspended in water however by the 1900 World's Fair in Paris, Dr Diesel had his engine running on 100 per cent peanut oil! Can you try with peanut oil to see if that realy works on todays engines? Thanks and keep up the great work!

[@AdmiralDG]

Oh I would love to see the coal dust in water tested! There are a few of his original old single cyl diesels out there, would be a cool tribute to him.

[@andylewis7360]

If I remember correctly, Dr Diesel designed his engine specifically for farmers so that they could run their tractors on peanut oil that was grown on their own farms. Growing your own fuel must have been a boon to farmers back then. Probably still would be if farm vehicles weren’t so complex nowadays

[@erkavra3861]

As far as I know, main problems with veg oil as diesel substitute are glycerin deposits and acid pH that may cause corrosion in long term. Also, they are not a great option when cold temperatures hit, bc they become very viscous. In that case, is good to start the engine with diesel and through a heat exchanger warm up the oil

[@cedhome7945]

If you want to make your engine last a lot longer cycle the crankcase oil through a filter . This increases oil capacity and keeps the splash fed Berings from the nasty contaminates ln these cheap Chinese engines .a small 12v pump is all that's required. Great work as always 👍

[@giggiddy]

How would you do that? Draw oil from the drain, pump through filter, then return to engine via dipstick hole?

[@giggiddy]

Any idea where he got the engine? Was it a one time thing or is someone selling them for that somewhere?

[@cedriclynch]

You can get a pulley that is bored to fit onto a taper bush of one of a number of standard sizes. Each size of taper bush is available in a wide range of inch and metric bores to accept the shaft. You only need an Allen key to tighten the assembly, and it will run perfectly true and will not fret, not even when it is on a single cylinder four-stroke diesel engine. With the same Allen key you can also easily loosen and remove the assembly.

[@jeffzekas]

Here in Oregon, a lot of hippies run their old diesel, Mercedes on vegetable oil, always been curious whether it’s worthwhile taking on such a project. Thanks Jimbo for doing the investigation.

[@Sygma6]

It can be but there is a viscosity problem with the veggie oil. Most folks that didn't ruin their engine have a 2 tank setup where coolant warms the veggie oil. Start on diesel, switch over to veggie, 60 seconds before turning the engine off switch back to diesel. There is a lot of dewatering and filtering to go through when using waste vegetable oil too. For all the effort you might as well make biodiesel and not modify your vehicle.

[@banditten78]

⁠@@Sygma6the old in-line diesel pump on Mercedes don’t need conversion, only issue is the viscosity of oil in cold climate, 2 tank systems is for modern engine.

[@Callagwhan]

1.9 TDi alh/asv with VE pump You can run straight new vegetable Oil up to 10c :)

[@C-M-E]

Ooo, experiences from my youth coming back to be useful one more time! Back in the mid 90s, I was helping a friend convert a Merc 300D over to WVO, and we went through the whole process of scavenging from Chinese food shops (arguably the cleanest source compared to western fast food fryers), filtering and modifying the WVO to run in both summer and winter midwest environments. I have a notebook of our trials and tribulations musting away in a box somewhere, but going from memory, we had to dope up the WVO with 20% methanol to get it to run in winter reliably. At today's prices for methanol, I'd probably look into something cheaper like kerosene or even mineral spirits, but I don't have data for the percentages off hand. I bet if I could dig up my alt fuel book written in the 70s that we used for inspiration, it'd probably have some reference numbers. That's a log of digging that I'll save for apocalyptic conditions another day. 😁👍

[@natereinhold6180]

Holy crap! I just made a post about my dad and I doing the same thing with a 300d! 15gal wvo, 1 gallon kerosene, and bottle of fuel stabilizer. Worked great! Like $10 for 16 gallon of fuel. Edit: also I concur about the Chinese restaurants having much cleaner oil!

[@ianm432]

Side quest...build a cracking furnace(is it a furnace?) to turn plastic and other things into fuel.

[@kentaltobelli1840]

Pyrolysis is the process of heating plastic in a low oxygen environment and then distilling the output gas as fuel. Apparently you can get fuel weights similar to propane, gasoline, diesel, etc.

[@aljohnson125]

I think its called a cracking distillery

[@TKCL]

I enjoy your content, been watching since the original 212cc swap.

[@robotcantina8957]

I appreciate that!

[@RugilėJurevičiūtė]

Waste motor oil works really well in mechanically injected engines, drove one of my cars for a year on that stuff with no issues. Also ran jet a1 for a while with a tiny bit of oil mixed in to lubricate the pump. The engine ran a bit cooler and without any visible smoke whatsoever, while it smoked a bit on diesel. And yes, people actually use kerosene or jet fuel to cheat smog tests with old beat up diesel cars.

[@bertgrau3934]

Depending on jet fuel, it can do a lot of damage to a diesel engine. For example, JP 4 will work pretty well IF you add some oil to it. JP 5,6,7 can work as well, I would not use JP8 that stuff will wipe out fuel injectors and fuel pumps very quickly.

[@RugilėJurevičiūtė]

@@bertgrau3934 I actually don't know much about jet fuels, just had access to some stuff that was drained out of commercial turboprop airliners during repairs and was supposed to be disposed of and it was tested and proven to work well in diesel engines lol. Old engines can run on almost anything for quite a while, but I wouldn't be so inclined to do such experiments on common rail stuff. Cheap disposable beaters are great for this reason

[@bertgrau3934]

@@RugilėJurevičiūtė Depends on which jet fuel it is, being from a turbo prop, I'm guessing it's aviation fuel which is more like gasoline. Wouldn't want to use straight in a diesel. Mix with oil and it would be OK.

[@robertheinkel6225]

When I was in the USAF, we had a couple of folks use jp-4 added to their diesel car. The fuel we drained from the fuel sumps, was just dumped into the car.

[@bertgrau3934]

@@robertheinkel6225 As long as they didn't use a full tank of JP4 it would probably be OK.

[@TheFragrantClerk]

I love your videos man. I don’t know why exactly, but when Jimbo’s in the shop I gotta see what he’s doing! THANK for the entertainment!

[@KJMTurbo]

Last I checked (I run veg oil in my old Mercedes), the energy density of veg is about 10% less than diesel, so at your 50/50 mix you may notice a 5% difference in potential.

[@mreducto2]

Try rendered fat as a fuel! In a zombie apocalypse, there would be a lot of available sources of fat (pre-zombie humans?) that could be a readily available source of fuel as the vegetable oil dries up. Plus, it gives you something to have running up front of your makeshift shack/compound that will let passersby know that you're a source of fuel - you in a rocking chair in front of a fire, occasionally draining the rendered fat into a fuel tank of sorts. Plus an enormous barricade of zombies stacked up behind it.

[@rubetrucker5193]

animal fat would cause an algae. Semis get it from bio diesel since they removed sulfur .

[@nerd1000ify]

If you have a supply of methanol and sodium hydroxide, animal fat can be used to make excellent biodiesel. The only downside is that it has a high gel point compared to vegetable biodiesel.

[@1958Studebaker]

You've put some thought into this. 🤣

[@steffybael1245]

@@rubetrucker5193 REGULAR DIESEL gets algae in it. our local diesel pumps do NOT sell bio diesel. i just drained my neighbors IH TRACTOR'S fuel tank , replaced both fuel filters, added BIOCIDE to the tank and 15 gallons of red diesel, bled the injectors and got it going, had NOT been been ran in 4 years and the algae was thick as hell in the filters etc... im a 66 year old MAN and former diesel and gasoline mechanic.

[@rubetrucker5193]

@ yes that’s becuz they removed the sulfur for the diesel fuel.

[@eugeneharrelson3933]

May be complicated but you can use natural gas with a 20% diesel for lubrication. There are engines that do this already.

[@karstentopp]

Ran old Mecedes, Vokswagen and Volvo Diesels (mostly before Y2K models) without any issue on veggie oil. A bit harder to start in the winter, but once running no issues. More modern electronic/piezo injectors may behave differently, but the mechanical injectors ran ... and ran ... and ran.

[@johnnyzander1466]

I have done the same. Summer time 100%, winter time 70/30. On mechanical and early electronic, there are no problems whatsoever.

[@kimmogensen5390]

so i have a few old W124 Mercedes a 4cyl 200D 875,000km a 5 cyl 250D 574,000km and a 300D for spares so this old 200D is slow as hell but i loved it anyway , but here in Denmark you pay 800$ per year in roadtax alone , so when the diesel was high i just when to the supermarket and purchased their sun slower and rapseed oil on sale for nearly half the prize , it ran great on it , in the winter i had to mix 5% gasoline in the seedoil ,,i i also ran alot of filtered used motor and gear oil but for that one had to mix in atleast 25% diesel and 5% gas ,,,, please be aware that this was a mekanical fuel pump , and i always had a extra filter and a fresh battery in the trunk and had spares so i could at no cost replace injectors if needed,,newer diesel cars do not try,,,

[@sketchypoodle1236]

Because and effect - running from a zombie apocalypse, love how you brought that together Jimbo!

[@brucesteger2699]

When teaching diesel engine troubleshooting and diagnostic at Key Power Tech Institute in Miami, I had a 3-71 Detroit Diesel engine connected to a generator. I put five gallon fuel tanks on it with a valve under each. I put diesel fuel, vegetable oil, 30w engine oil, canola oil and Peanut oil in each tank. Using a 55 gallon water tank, a three plate load system with a winch to lower it into the water and an amp gauge to tell hp the engine can produce! The most hp was produced with peanut oil and I believe it was 73.4 hp! The second highest was diesel fuel and third engine oil!

[@Engiction]

I've heard this so many times but I'm not gonna risk my engine to test this and people I actually know never really try this. Thanks for testing this now I know

[@Roger-hq1yt]

Its fine with full mechanical injection, but EFI diesels cant atomise it properly.

[@glumpy10]

I have been running used Veg oil over 25 years. It works fine and people who say it does not are just doing it wrong and usually cutting corners. It has to be Clean 10 Um or under and DRY because Veg oil DOES hold water.

[@johnnybagofdoughnuts4193]

Yes! nobody worth their salt has done the "alternative diesel fuels" thing with the kind of thoroughness it deserves. Im glad I can anticipate some from you.

[@richiesrestorations4883]

I just ordered one of those tachs to adapt to my budget experimental 1987 diesel suburban. Thanks Jimbo for showing that. I had no idea they made something so cheap!

[@mastercricket7626]

Right , I'm thinking about getting one just cuz I like the display of it and for the pric3 .. why not right 😅 peace and love bro

[@robotcantina8957]

It's actually a great tach for the money, but my camera wont sync with the display.

[@mastercricket7626]

@@robotcantina8957 I have notice that led displays and cameras don't like each other 😂 not just you brotha .. peace and love jimbo and preciate wha you do bro

[@kylereese4822]

@@robotcantina8957 Old filtered engine, gearbox, diff oil, brake fluid and at a push basic form of Hydrogen to extend the range in a Zombie Apocalypse... oh not forgetting gasoline vapers too... every option would be used...

[@kylereese4822]

@@mastercricket7626 I ran my 1.4 TDI VW polo and Isuzu 1.7 TDI GM/Vauxhall Cavalier on cooking oil....

[@upperroomtoo]

I drove a 1984 F250 with 6.9 diesel back and forth to college for 3 years on WMO (waste motor oil). It never missed a beat and I was driving 1000 miles a week for free. With five kids at home to feed it saved my bacon.

[@Masterplan15]

Diesel/used oil gets my vote. When i worked on generators in Iraq for KBR, we had to use a version of aviation fuel for the generators, as that's what they wanted us to use (easier for everything to use as few different fuels as possible) so we added used oil to the fuel tanks on the generators to add lubricity to the fuel to make it more like diesel. Diesel has paraffin in it, AVGas doesn't, and diesels don't like it as much

[@goosenotmaverick1156]

My understanding is Avgas is pretty dry, so that makes sense. The old duece and a half's, most of them can run on just about anything, ive heard most of reasonable age will run on 1qt ATF to 1 gallon gasoline for a fair amount of time without causing damage.

[@nerd1000ify]

The US military doesn't use much avgas, or gasoline in general. To simply logistics they try to run everything on jet fuel (kerosene, basically). Which is great if your daily driver is an Abrams tank, as they have a turbine engine anyway. Diesels will run on kerosene but it's a poor lubricant for the fuel pump, so it would make sense to dose some kind of lubricaring additive. 2 stroke outboard oil or biodiesel would be my choices, and I'd put used sump oil right at the bottom of the list.

[@douglasmayherjr.5733]

Another Great Video, Jimbo. I really appreciate the education that you provide. Looking forward to more tests with the little one lung diesel. Thanks

[@robotcantina8957]

Thanks again!

[@NigelTheAncient]

If you want to experiment with diesel alternatives I would suggest actually getting a hold of some waste fry oil like you mentioned and see how difficult it is to filter it out effectively (after all you would need to find a good low tech solution to do so in the AI zombie apocalypse), I would also suggest doing the same with used motor oil, using different cutting additives like kerosene and gasoline, and even maybe find a way to measure the carbon output at the exhaust to measure the burn efficiency of the different fuels. Love your videos, always the highlight of my Sundays.

[@bubbadw60]

I've ran straight used engine oil in an 81 buick diesel I had. Aside from a slightly hazy exhaust, there was no noticed power loss. I could have advanced injection timing and cleaned up the haze a little bit had I wanted to.

[@hattyfarbuckle]

This is brilliant experimentation. I remember reading about creating diesel substitute from (free ex-fastfood) used veg oil a few years back. other than purifying the oil the only vehicle issue i can recall was seals in some vehicles not compatible. Not sure about their global policy but here in the UK McDonalds now keep their own used oil and get it converted into ecodiesel to power their delivery trucks.

[@PghGameFix]

Back when I owned a pre-smog Cummins 2500.... I would put EVERYTHING into it's fuel tank. But, because the factory lift pump was just a bad design... I had an air-dog on it with a large external filter. (Keeps junk out of the engine) But I would pour old fryer oil into it during the summer and it smelled great !!! (I would run it through a pre filter first and don't try it in the winter) I would also give my neighbors a fuel jug so when they would do oil changes... they could give me the waste oil. and... when I did a transmission service... I pored that directly into my tank. (I smelled bad) Basically... any oily thing I could get my hands on... and was clean-ish, would get used as free fuel. FYI... I sold the truck with 268K miles on it. The real pisser of all of this was... when we switched to ULSD fuel in 2007... I would have to put 2-stroke oil in "Real" diesel fuel to make sure my injector pump was properly lubed.

[@martinfahrni5677]

Thanks, that is an interesting thought, just add a two stroke oil as insurance.

[@iceman45ification1]

There's a couple of fuels I'd like to see you try: 1) diesel with a 10% mix of methanol 2) ammonia I've heard ammonia burns way cleaner since there's no carbon molecules in it. Just not sure on the purity of the mixture you're supposed to use. Great video Jimbo!! 💪🔥

[@ronnieka3309]

This is such a feel good channel. Love watching it on my early weekends mornings to start the day with a smile!

[@landonhillyard]

You should do a dual fuel hybrid. Take an old diesel generator and hook it to your Prius and charge the battery pack on board. Essentially making a homebrew series hybrid vehicle.

[@gsilva220]

I'm curious about the effects flame speed and EGT have on efficiency, so here are some suggestions: 100% vegetable oil (cold start if possible) Vegetable oil with 5 or 10% ethanol-free gasoline (also with cold start) A little bit of some gaseous fuel into the intake, like propane, natural gas or hydrogen

[@SgtNuker]

There is a guy that was putting used motor oil and cutting it with stale gasoline to use in his 5.9L Cummins. He gained something like 30 horsepower and added to his overall range. I think it was another 2-3mpg all told.

[@glumpy10]

I have been running Filtered and dried used Veg oil in my Vehicles and small Diesel engines over 25 years now. I run it in my Kubota tractor and mower all the time. The biggest problem is people get used oil and strain it through a Chux Cloth or something and call it good which it is not. Need to be filtered and dried properly. Obviously not needed with new oil but that's expensive so I use waste oil. You can run any mechanically injected Diesel on 100% oil although being as cold as it is where you are, I would run 5-10% Gas mixed in so it doesn't gell and will be easier to start. Oil is far more lubricating than straight diesel so makes pumps and injectors last far longer. I wouldn't even run my engines without some Veg or 2stroke oil in them because straight Diesel is so dry now. Diesels will also run on Waste engine oil ( Filtered to 10 UM or better) ATF, Jet fuel ( add oil for lubricity) and any non aromatic Fluid. Used Hydraulic oil is good and burns clean.

[@hopingforthebest1.9]

I don't know for sure, but I would imagine the fuel pump and injector make up the majority of the manufacturing cost of that engine Especially considering that they both have tolerances that can be fractions of a thousandth of an inch

[@luckyedwards4870]

Definitely luvin ur diesel fuel experiments, especially considering I make alternative diesel fuel from veggie oil. Keep'r goin, Jimbo. Pretty cool

[@trxtech3010]

I'm still unsure what a Deezull engine is....

[@KentuckyFriedFixes]

Great stuff! Those little 196cc diesels are perfect to experiment with! Love this video Jimbo!

[@robotcantina8957]

Thanks! 👍

[@trosson05]

Thank you for your hard work. I really enjoy your content.

[@thomaslyon2112]

I know there are a lot of people who know about what you are doing in your videos. But I don’t think any of them explained it as well as you do. I’ve been a car guy Spence I got my first peddle car. Your Chanel has started a new chapter in my car guy life. Thankyou so much! I’m also a Kansas guy. Olathe.🇺🇸👍🤪🍺

[@robotcantina8957]

Thanks!

[@rotorhead5000]

As some folks have already dropped in the comments, waste oil, or black diesel (used oil with some gasoline) would be neat to see.

[@haydenc2742]

Yeah, I read somewhere like 4 quarts WMO to 1 quart gasoline, or diesel...I got one of these motors...want to see if it will run for hours and hours before it kaputs

[@rotorhead5000]

@@haydenc2742 Similar concepts here, my garage heater will run on diesel, but it would be cool to find a use for the 100 gallons of waste oil I have sitting around

[@AlienLivesMatter]

Use gelatine to clarify waste oil

[@rotorhead5000]

@@AlienLivesMatter I hadn't heard of that before, I'll have to look into it

[@justinsane7128]

I ran WVO in my 82 mb 300cd, and a Greasecar Kit in a f250 power stroke. Over 15,000 miles on the powerstroke. 5%unleaded gas, 10% diesel fuel, 85% Used cooking oil from restaurants... 😅 The secret is to get the wvo close to the same viscosity os diesel by heating it.

[@kevin-pk6hd]

I keep looking for a use for one of these engines just to use all my waste oils. So I'd love to see used oil tested. Especially the new super thin synthetic stuff 0w20 0w10 etc

[@cedriclynch]

I have a suspicion that a diesel engine might not run on used synthetic lubricating oil. I once tried to spray some on the bottom of my van to try to protect it against rust, and the sprayer would not atomize the synthetic oil at all although it will spray mineral oil in a fine mist. I have also tried to use used synthetic oil to start a fire to burn garden waste, and the oil is very reluctant to ignite.

[@AJRestoration]

When you are done with all the tests and fuel, try running it on straight veggie oil, no 50/50 mix and see what happens. Run it with a full tank and then see how easy it starts up with the veggie oil.

[@wodgesad]

Running a diesel on pure wood methanol would be interesting

[@detroitredneckdetroitredne6674]

I did an experiment years ago in my 1983. Ford F250 diesel 420. Naturally, aspirated I burned. Everything left over in an abandoned car. One gallon of gasoline transmission fluid break fluid power steering fluid and clean engine oil. And Mixed it all together. it made a very useful fuel.

[@NeonDreams7]

0:53 oh man! The coffee, it went everywhere. HAHAHAHAHA

[@robotcantina8957]

DIESEL ENGINE POWER!

[@NeonDreams7]

@@robotcantina8957 Ooo! Do it again. (Sorry, that was a reference to The Lion King)

[@sneezyferret6482]

I ran my old Peugeot 306 on veg, for 75,000 miles before I sold it, still running. Main things to consider: Indirect (good) vs direct injection (bad) common rail (very bad) Bosch injection pump (good) vs Lucas and those types (bad) Of course, the veg can be turned into biodiesel, and pretty much any diesel will run in it. General rule of thumb is something old and German, or old and French, and by old I mean typically non common rail, pre-2000 Get your hands on an elsebett engine, it was designed to run on veg. Those old Listers are also good on the veg.

[@lucasdiniz5642]

I've seen a guy on Tik Tok who teaches how to make something called black diesel, which consists of 4 gallons of waste oil (used motor oil) and 1 gallon regular unleaded gasoline. It would be interesting to see a test with this.

[@AverageJoesracingteam]

Correct. I run black diesel in my 2002 jetta tdi with the alh engine (the last easy accessible injector vw engine) The car gets 35 mpg around town and 42 on the hwy. I've used it to tow several other vw and random cars back to my shop on a tow dolly. I'm currently swapping one of the extra tdi engines in to a ranger (pretty common swap in Canada) Black diesel also runs well in my 12 valve 5.9 cummins bus. Currently running 70 percent blk diesel to 30 percent diesel. Eventually I'll have a 2 tank system so I can do all my driving on blk diesel, then have the 2nd tank with the mix in it to simply clean the injectors to start and stop the engines

[@Roger-hq1yt]

Rudolph Diesel originally used vegetable oil because Diesel hadn't been invented, i used to burn a mix of Central heating oil and 20/50 oil, mix it like a 2 stroke mix, 1 pint ( uk pInt 568mlof Engine oil in to 5gallons( UK gallons at 4.5 litres( 1000mml) and shake up, essentially a 40:1 mix ratio.

[@airgunbubba2505]

Humble suggestion. HHO generator added to the intake with the 50/50 diesel/Veg oil blend used as fuel.

[@mythoughtsonfaith1031]

I will loan the hho generator if RC would do it. Might take me a second to dig it out of storage. I would also like to see the exhaust used to generate steam, and then draft the steam into the engine, for comparison to HHO

[@gregvanderboom5011]

Waste vegetable oil (WVO) tank needs to be heated for optimum use... That's what I read on the Internet where they sale WVO kits. One needs to be concerned about the zombie apocalypse. I didn't know zombies don't like salt water. Learn something new today. Thank you for the video I like the intelligent content that keeps me thinking.

[@martinneumann7783]

Very interesting! I’m looking forward to the next episode. Until then I will ride my bicycle… Thanks for the Diesel show! Cheers - Martin/Germany

[@johnsettle5607]

Been running my Mercedes 300D on waste veggie oil, used motor oil, used trans fluid, and mixes for years. 806,600 miles and still going.

[@nathanotten3436]

I have one of those on my tractor and for how cheap it is it’s totally worth it I have used for about two years now and never had a problem they can take a beating

[@robotcantina8957]

Good to know!

Here in Spain we have a lot of small diesel cars and this is doable with the older ones, I mean, the ones that use mechanic pumps. I have a 1994 Seat Ibiza (this is the Spanish version of the VW Polo, just a bit smaller than a Golf) that would work with 100% vegetable oil no problem (main issue would be the cold starts) as the 1.9 litre n/a diesel (producing a whooping 68 bhp) uses a mechanical pump. Well, there's another issue: tax evasion. Fuel here is really expensive (and so is vegetable oil) as it is charged with plenty of taxes. So theoretically, if you are using oil as fuel, you are not paying oil taxes, hence you may get in trouble (well, if they find out). Great stuff as always Jimbo!

[@idrisddraig2]

I've done 250k miles on waste vegetable oil. I used gravity filtration to 1 micron. I mixed 5% petrol (gasoline) to help seperate water more than anything. Unfortunatley I now drive a modern diesel that doesn't like non standard fuels, but worse than that it's registered in France where the beurocacy make it very hard to use non standard fuels. I always ran a 2 tank system with a heated fuel tank for the veg. My record for performance in a VW T4 (90's Eurovan to USA folks) was 100mph at -25C on the Munich ring road at 60% throttle. At 70mph it would get 45mpg (imperial)

[@thomsoncarter3121]

Try transmission fluid. Back in the day, we would fill up diesel fuel filters with transmission fluid to prime them and lubricate the mechanical pump.

[@centralintelligenceagency9003]

Note that very small diesel engines are usually pre-chamber engines, which are way more tolerant towards unrated fuels than a direct injection engine found in a truck.

[@robotcantina8957]

Great point!

[@bobbieslandy]

Great video as always, Thankyou! I ran my 2002 Land Rover defender TD5 on diesel / 2 stroke mix because that was the thing to do at the time, I swear it ran better and had a little more power, although i only had the butt dyno to refer to… I dunno, maybe a diesel / 2 stroke oil mix might be an idea. I can’t remember the ratio, just remember buying it when it was cheap and pouring it in. Exhaust fumes smelt better too 😊

[@beardotapeshoes27]

I’ve been running my diesels on everything except 100% diesel. Filtration is the key! I use fry oils, used engine oil, trans fluids. (Conventional burn cleaner than synthetics) you can occasionally get contaminated Jet-A, kerosene, hydraulic fluid etc. All are filtered and then blended with diesel. You can run on 100% fry oil, oil or Jet-A, but the engine oil at 100% is a little smokie. Axle grease needs to be thinned a lot before it will run properly, The veg oil in the winter at 100% is harder to start, Jet-A is similar to diesel but has less lubricant in it. Although the military diesels all run on JP-8 (kin to jet-a) they don’t seem to care about less lubricant in the fuel. I tend to keep gasoline away from my diesels. When Rudolph Diesel invented the darn engine, diesel fuel didn’t exist. It was invented to run on oils of sorts. I’m eager to see what kind of slurry you’re gonna come up with to feed this thing.

[@hunnybunnysheavymetalmusic6542]

I find it amazing how cool all my diesel engines run. Seems that, while I have massively overheated gasoline engines on MANY occasions... I have yet to EVER overheat a diesel. Even one that was almost fully dry. Seems that this has something to do with the 'thermodynamic efficiency' of how they work.

[@DasKmbH]

7:10 I love your projects... all the things I wanted to try (but didn't have the tools/space/know-how to do). How many TPMs (Tacos per minute) does it make? 😃

[@steffendhonau]

Thank you for your Videos! This little engine will run (I know for a fact) on almost everything that is like oil as long as it is liquid including waste oil. That has been tested before. Haven't seen somebody used butter before, I'm sure it will work as long as you head it up to become liquid, or bacon grease

[@ExpediteTravels]

You can also add a little bit of gasoline to your veggie oil that will help thin it out I would try waste motor oil that's been filtered maybe 50/50 add some gasoline in with the used oil or transmission fluid or you can even mix kerosene do not use straight kerosene you will wreck the injector pump It needs lubrication since this is a mechanical injector you can pretty much run whatever you want which is a good thing As soon as you get into the newer trucks with electronic crap on them good luck trying to run homemade diesel out of waste oil and diesel mix

[@jasonburguess]

The trick to efficient use of vegetable oil is preheating the fuel to 220 degrees Fahrenheit before injection, I ran a 1984 bluebird school bus with a gm 8.4liter turbo diesel on waste vegetable oil for 8 years, the fuel was heated, filtered and had all moisture removed prior to use, then it was heated using inline electric heaters taking it to 220f right before the injection pump, this increases the engine efficiency dramatically and reduces the possibility of gelling of the fuel. Using electric solenoid valves on both the supply and return lines allow for switching from diesel to vegetable oil without the return dumping vegetable oil into the diesel tank. Using the coolant system of the engine to heat the vegetable oil holding tank allows you to start the engine on diesel, warm it up, then switch to vegetable oil after about 5 minutes without the viscosity of the vegetable oil causing problems. Also filtering the heated vegetable oil through a 5 micron water lock filter before its put into the holding tank keeps the injectors from clogging.

[@trialspro]

Used motor oil. Set up with a basic fuel filter. Something cheap and easy to keep with the apocalypse theme

[@juhomaki-petaja]

It will burn anything oily stuff. When I was working as heavy equiptment mechanic. Me and my colleague drove our home-shop route with old VW Diesel Rabbit. As fuel we had used hydraulic oil, and ATF. Only problem was winter. At -20C temp, fuel filterwas too restrictive. But 50% diesel helped.

[@jrnmller1551]

During the 1980-90 Mercedes put out a bulletin,that if you could not buy winterdiesel, you could mix your own, by adding gasoline up to 50/50 mix was allowed, would be funto see how many BTU you could get from that ??????????????

[@simpleman806]

Back around 2005, I bought a 1982 Scottsdale k10 heavy half diesel, 6.2L. In 2006, I was looking into biodiesel. That Scottsdale was the perfect test subject due to it having saddle tanks. Run 1 tank diesel and the other tank biodiesel. Based on the research I did, used cooking oil works better than new. You can use 100% used cooking oil, but for it to work better, you need to add some methanol and/or use that diesel antigel additive. I did a small test run using just used cooking oil and it worked great. I was getting equipment to be able to filter out the cooking oil and then the injection pump went out. It wasn't from using the cooking oil, it was just old and worn out. Hopefully that info will help you some

[@MrDdaland]

For the gelling,, we just added a magnetic block heater to the bottom of the fuel tank and wired it into the circuit with the engine block heater

[@ajrabine2575]

This channel absolutely just made my day. I was watching you guys all last night and watching videos on how to make black diesel/vegetable oil mixes. I was really thinking about doing something with a mini bike or go kart. Your the best

[@robotcantina8957]

Thanks!

[@tahustvedt]

I've probably bragged about this before but my previous car, a 2006 Volvo V50 1,6d consumed ~3L/100km when driving long distance. That's with a full DPF and all the rest emission system. Modern diesels are pretty impressive in that regard. Too bad they have to be maintained like modern cars too. The engine bays look like snake pits.

[@chinsta00]

As far as energy content and generated HP is concerned, vegetable oil works just as well as diesel. The problems with vegetable oil are mainly due to high fuel viscosity damaging the injection pump, and vegetable oil blow-by getting into the crankcase sump and contaminating the lubrication oil. In other words for a reliable vegetable oil powered engine, you need to heat the fuel tank and fuel lines to keep the fuel thin, and replace the engine oil at slightly more frequent intervals than usual. Of course, alternative methods of thinning the fuel work equally as well, like blending 50/50 as you have done in this video, or you can go down the transesterification route and create biodiesel.

[@VintageSG]

Used light hydraulic oil is pretty good in diesels with simple pumps. Super high pressure common rails?, maybe less so, but old 2.5DI Ford Transits with the Bosch mechanical pump run just fine if you add two stroke oil at around 100:1 for lubricity. Mind you, that engine/pump combo would run sweetly on just about any light oil. Waste engine oil can work. Oil from diesels needs filtering to 2 microns. Car oil filters are not up to it, but commercial vehicles ( lorries ) with bypass filters fitted get filtered to 2 microns. It'll need cutting to get the viscosity down a little. Diesel/kerosene/paraffin/light hydraulic oil work as an adulterant. Again, a little two stroke oil for lubricity doesn't hurt. I ran my Transit on used hydraulic oil when I could scrounge a 50 gallon drum of it. Never missed a beat. No excess smoke, no cold start issues either. I've only read about used motor oil being used, never tried it myself.

[@mindaugas.k]

Jimbo, LPG guy, again 😊. With this you can test and lpg... About veg oil - its good stuff. My old w210 with om605 with no problem runs on used veg oil even then -10 - 14C outside. Deadline -15 and more... Im using 80% veg oil and 20% gasoline mix.

[@robotcantina8957]

Thanks for the tips!

[@PapiDoesIt]

Otto Diesel designed the engine bearing his name to run on vegetable oil. Petroleum wasn't his first choice. Transmission fluid, tiki torch fluid, lighter fluid, hydraulic fluid, motor oil, and even coconut oil all work, however.

[@johnlease2369]

I purchased one of them there little diesel engines for a back up generator. Thanks for the test run. Oh when diesel was 1st designed it was meant to run on vegetable oil.

[@Omri.Collects]

I’ve been running WVO(waste vegetable oil) and other waste oil mixtures in my diesels for almost 20 yrs. As long as you filter the oil well and heat your fuel tank (use a coolant heat exchanger), you’ll get great results.

[@stevenfrazier8939]

We run our 5,000 watt Diesel generator on cleaned and blended Waste Veggie-Oil to charge our 28 kilowatt LiFePO4 battery bank when it is cloudy. Jimbo, I can share photos of our process if you are interested.

[@jimmystikx]

Another common practice is to mix veg oil and gasoline to about 70/30, or 80/20, respectively. Generally dependent on the temperature. The gas helps thin the veg oil to diesel viscosity and can help in burning the glycerin in the veg oil.

[@michaelbrinks8089]

I'm pretty sure it'd be better to use kerosene but of course kerosene costs more per gallon at the pump from most gas stations.

[@k20mad67]

Great video as always. Love the little diesel engine. A struggle to find something like that cheap here in the UK. I used to run vegetable oil pure in my old diesel landrover as it was cheaper than diesel at the time but not anymore. I have used old engine oil, power steering fluid, gearbox oil, brake fluid. Run perfectly fine in the indirect injection engine.

[@landonhillyard]

This video is awesome. Do more like this!

[@RandoCalrissian1]

50/50 ethanol /biodiesel mix. Note that the diesel fuel must be biodiesel to provide emulsifiers for proper blending. Limits for ethanol biodiesel blend should be 20 percent biodiesel 80 percent alcohol blend. Don't go leaner than that with the biodiesel.

[@rubitracks]

You can distil motor oil basically same way they make moonshine. Will leave you with an amber fuel very close to diesel in composition. Essentially thats now diesel is made it just won’t have the additives. I’ve done it with a paint can, propane burner and copper tube. Pretty simple.

[@peterwarden7471]

I drove 6 years my Royal Enfield Diesel Motorbike from 2001 with Salad Oil. Runs well, smoked white, usage is gone up from 1 Liter diesel for 100km to 1.5 Liter for 100km, starting wasn't easy, smelled like a burning Fish&Chips shop. In Europe cost in this time salad oil half as diesel. Today cost salad oil more as diesel.

[@adamlipsky8010]

2003 Seat Inca SDI engine (direct-injected VW). Can mix 1:20 in normal weather, 1:10 when it's hot, otherwise pump starts whining. Cheapest oil is rapeseed, contains about 10 percent less energy so adjust the price when comparing to diesel - if oil costs €1.37 it's like diesel is €1.50. No side effects, still runs and starts as normal

[@garrettglenewinkel7366]

Garage 54 over in Ukraine tested all kinds of fluid in a van. It ran on everything from brake fluid to parts cleaner. I was thoroughly impressed. I would love to see numbered results for brake clean!

[@CondoreComputing]

Love that you are playing around with one of these cheap Chinese diesels. I have one that i'm building a little 400 watt generator from but need to keep it at constant RPM for frequency stability.

[@shawnstillman736]

You should setup an exhaust system so you can run the engine inside i bet the heat generated from the resistors would feel nice inside.