How do they run on alternate fuels?

I know in theory that a diesel will run on many fuels.

Lets say that for some reason Diesel was not available. I dunno an earthquake. And you gotta bug out and get out of Dodge now.

How do they do on say a full tank of motor oil? Kerosene etc.

Kerosene will run just fine. It's the same as #1 diesel, basically... Just slightly less BTU per gallon than #2 diesel.

Engine oil would run, but you would probably want to thin it a little, especially if it's cold out. In the middle of summer it should work with no issues.
Mind, I'm talking /clean/ motor oil. Waste motor oil needs all the particulates filtered out of it before running, or you'll end up destroying the precision parts inside the IP.

Plenty of people can and have run vegetable oil in IDIs(and newer engines); the key is to make sure that it's a liquid(either separating out the heavy stuff and making biodiesel or simply getting it hot enough), removing any water, and keeping it well filtered.

Heck... You could run a mixture of gasoline and engine oil if you needed to. Go look up what the military instructions for doing that are.

The only issues you do want to worry about when doing this sort of thing long term is that some chemicals will degrade seals of various types.
There's rubber in the tank pickup, tank switchover valve, IP, filter etc. You may have to go through and replace all the hoses and O-rings with Viton and such.

I have 2 fuel filters. A 12 micron one thats also a water trap. And the stock 6.9 one... not good enough for used oil?

chris142 said:

I have 2 fuel filters. A 12 micron one thats also a water trap. And the stock 6.9 one... not good enough for used oil?

Click to expand...

I'd say... No. Plan on at least a 2-micron filter like a 1r-0749/1R-0750.
Also, I'd slap a whole bunch of magnets on it, too. You really don't want steel dust getting into the IP; I've seen the inside of an IP where a bunch of steel shavings/dust ended up just bunching around the fss solenoid(electromagnet).

Honestly, if you have a source for the stuff and intend on running it constantly, get a centrifuge setup. That will filter out most of your contaminates, so you don't go through filters nearly as often.

Running waste oils is a gamble with these engines. They will run on just about anything, but for how long is uncertain. Really depends on your filtration setup.
I ran my truck on filtered WATF for about a year until bad things started to happen. It eventually ruined all my injectors and coked up the precups with rock hard carbon so bad that the injectors wouldn't even squirt anymore. Had to use a small chisel thru the injector holes to break it all up. Also had issues with gunking up the injection pump. I had a 2 micron filtration setup.
Long story short, it's cheap short term, but a pita & expensive long term.

This can sometimes become a controversial subject so I'll say upfront this is simply my experiences and I don't dispute some of the horrible things others have experienced........

I've burned a lot of used motor oil, vegetable oil, kerosene, home heating oil, transmission fluid, hydraulic oil, and yes even old gasoline. IMO, the success or failure you experience burning these alternate fuels depends on several things.
-Percentage of alternate fuel & regular diesel is a big factor. I never exceed 50% alt fuel in the mix and prefer closer to 67% diesel / 33% alt fuel.
-All filtering and mixing must be done before it's dumped into your fuel tank. Some folks simply dump unfiltered & unmixed used motor oil in the tank which is bad news. If you have the luxury of time, natural settling is your best friend. Simply let gravity do the job prior to filtering & mixing.
-Only use in vehicles with two fuel tanks. Mixed fuel is kept in one tank, straight diesel in the other.
-Always start & stop the engine with regular diesel and never introduce mixed fuel to the engine before it reaches normal operating temperature. I also never use mixed fuel on short runs. Most of the mixed fuel I've burned occurred on 100 + mile trips. Again, starting and shutting down with regular diesel in the fuel system.
-Last & probably one of the big ones, engine condition plays a huge role regarding your success or failure burning mixed fuels. Engines in poor condition will burn less efficient and become problematic quick.

Ok how about new oil? Say I had to bug out and cant get fuel. But i can get gallons of new oil. Would that get me a few hours away?

Yeah, just fine.
Same with a mix of gasoline and oil, to thin it out.
If you need to do it, you can.

The other thing about carbon coking is not running the engine hot enough. As it is, these engines aren't pushed very hard unloaded. Maby for a few seconds while accelerating, but it's not enough to get things hot.

If you are running an alternate fuel, make sure to 'work' the truck every so often - Put a big heavy trailer on it and load it down. Get the EGTs and engine temps high for a few minutes at least, hopefully hot enough to burn off most of the deposits.


...Of course, the easiest thing to do overall is just get a 55 gallon drum of diesel fuel. Keep it dry and mostly sealed, change it out every couple of years and you've got a nice bug out supply, something that you don't even have to think about.