Booyah45828
Full Access Member
We burn all our wmo in the oil furnace at the shop, my goal is to burn wmo as a road fuel, but the only diesel vehicle I have is the school bus, and I'm not about to daily drive that. Eventually I hope to build/buy a diesel powered car/wagon or truck, anything that's shorter then the bus. Because of that goal, I've researched a lot about wmo as a fuel the last few years. With that said, the following is all my opinion on the matter, argue or correct if you want.
The best scenario for using WMO as a fuel is oil distillation, as that removes 100% of the impurities from the oil. It also removes 100% of the additive package from the oil as well. Distillation makes for a super clean product, which rivals or beats pump diesel itself. Centrifuging can do a good job, so long as you make enough passes, or do it slow enough. I've seen guys fuge enough to get a pretty clear end product. Settling and filtering can work well, but won't be as good as distillation or fuging. Filters can only get so small before their flow rates dive. At a minimum you should remove all entrained water from the oil, as that will cause lubrication issues, ruining a pump in a hurry.
How clean of a product do you actually need, and how will it effect pump life? That all varies. I know of guys that dump their motor oil straight out of the pan into their tank, and I would not recommend doing that. I'd prefer fuging at a minimum, and running it in an IDI based engine. Burning wmo in an IDI shouldn't create injector cooking issues like it can/would in a DI engine. I do know certain shops won't accept an injection pump as a core if it was used with wmo or wvo. Unless you're distilling, pump wear will for sure go up running wmo, whether it's significant or not depends on how clean you get it. Head and rotor wear for sure goes up as they are super close tolerance units and any contamination will cause wear between them. Same with the advance piston and bore, because that's the lowest point in the pump and subject to collecting anything that settles out. Does all that mean you'll only get 50k miles out of a pump vs a typical 100k+ miles out of a pump? I'm not certain. But pump life will certainly be negatively effected. Even engine life is negatively effected due to soot in the motor oil. That's why bypass oil filters are a popular option on HD engines, and are becoming standard on some of your newer designs (paccar mx13).
Also, fwiw, I read somewhere that the military found out in Iraq that burning wmo in their generators negatively effected piston ring life, due to the depositing of the oil's extreme pressure additives on the cylinder walls when the oil was burned. Supposedly those additives caused the rings to scuff and wipe out cylinders in the process. I'm not sure if the IDI with a prechamber would have that problem, but it's something to keep in mind when filtering/burning wmo.
The best scenario for using WMO as a fuel is oil distillation, as that removes 100% of the impurities from the oil. It also removes 100% of the additive package from the oil as well. Distillation makes for a super clean product, which rivals or beats pump diesel itself. Centrifuging can do a good job, so long as you make enough passes, or do it slow enough. I've seen guys fuge enough to get a pretty clear end product. Settling and filtering can work well, but won't be as good as distillation or fuging. Filters can only get so small before their flow rates dive. At a minimum you should remove all entrained water from the oil, as that will cause lubrication issues, ruining a pump in a hurry.
How clean of a product do you actually need, and how will it effect pump life? That all varies. I know of guys that dump their motor oil straight out of the pan into their tank, and I would not recommend doing that. I'd prefer fuging at a minimum, and running it in an IDI based engine. Burning wmo in an IDI shouldn't create injector cooking issues like it can/would in a DI engine. I do know certain shops won't accept an injection pump as a core if it was used with wmo or wvo. Unless you're distilling, pump wear will for sure go up running wmo, whether it's significant or not depends on how clean you get it. Head and rotor wear for sure goes up as they are super close tolerance units and any contamination will cause wear between them. Same with the advance piston and bore, because that's the lowest point in the pump and subject to collecting anything that settles out. Does all that mean you'll only get 50k miles out of a pump vs a typical 100k+ miles out of a pump? I'm not certain. But pump life will certainly be negatively effected. Even engine life is negatively effected due to soot in the motor oil. That's why bypass oil filters are a popular option on HD engines, and are becoming standard on some of your newer designs (paccar mx13).
Also, fwiw, I read somewhere that the military found out in Iraq that burning wmo in their generators negatively effected piston ring life, due to the depositing of the oil's extreme pressure additives on the cylinder walls when the oil was burned. Supposedly those additives caused the rings to scuff and wipe out cylinders in the process. I'm not sure if the IDI with a prechamber would have that problem, but it's something to keep in mind when filtering/burning wmo.