can i burn ...

[homelessduck]

I have access to 100 gallons of used motor oil/hydraulic fluid/ transmission fluid and GEAR OIL.

Why do people recommend staying away from gear oil? Is it just that its really thick? If that's the case I would think as long as its cut down to a proper viscosity it would be fine ...


Thanks guys.

 

[AcIdBuRn02ZTS]

In my research, Ive heard of quite a few people who run it (up to 90wt) without any trouble... however most are blending with RUG or K1 to thin everything down anyways. Is it all mixed to gether I assume? If thats the case, I wouldnt be too concerned about it as the hyd. oil and atf are thinner then wmo... and unless they do a LOT of diff/manual trans work, I would think the gear oil will be at a minimum compared to the others...

Anyways... my 2 cents
-Chris

 

[subway]

i have jammed up my truck with gear oil and had to drain the whole fuel system. i had not planned on the extra thickness of my mix and it was to late by the time i found out. if you can thin it out enough ahead of time it would probably be fine. i just avoid it overall since it requires more thinner that costs more $$$ making it a harder to use fluid that is more expensive to run.

 

[Kalashnikov]

Burn it. If the viscosity of the mix is like WMO you should be good. Just takes a little common sense to figure out a decent thickness.

 

[homelessduck]

I haven't checked the viscosity yet. I have a wanted ad on Craig's for used oil and a guy called offering this mix. I guess I will just tell him it depends on how thick it is and I will go see if it's close to wmo viscosity. I do plan to cut it with rug or k1.

As far as it possibly having brake fluid in it ... do you guys just take the suppliers word that it doesn't have any? I'm going to try to secure a consistent trans fluid source to avoid it as soon as possible.

 

[AcIdBuRn02ZTS]

I doubt a little brake fluid in a 55gallon drum would hurt things... Its pretty nasty stuff but in small amounts, I would think it would be "watered down" enough to not cause any issues. Unless their primary work is brake jobs, I dont see it being an issue.. and in all honesty, most brake fluid from doing brake jobs ends up on the floor.. not in the drain pans unless flushing the whole system and sucking the master cylinder dry with a siphon

Anyways... I'm new to this so take my advice with a grain of salt...

-Chris

 

[Dieselcrawler]

i have ran some in my crawler. had a mix of WMO, ATF, hyrdro and gear oil in at the same time, cut about 50 percent with number2. never had an issue. but i had a 33 gallon tank on the truck at the time, so it lasted a while in that rig.

 

[Kalashnikov]

x2 on brake fluid. Brake fluid is flamable but being that it is not petroleum based and asorbs water I tend to avoid dealing with it. Even a gallon in 50 gallons is such a small amount.

You could por a gallon of water in the mix and it may help it settle if you are really concerned about it. This also helps anti-freeze settle out of oil.

 

[homelessduck]

I just spoke to him again. He says there is 10-15 gallons at the most of gear oil in it. He said it's a pretty thin viscosity. I plan to cut it with 30% rug. That should leave me with 10% gear oil with 15 gallons of it, or 7% gear oil if there is 10 gallons.

Do you think that should be fine?

I'm hesitant because I think I remember reading that 5% was the most you should run.

 

[subway]

Set up a viscosity test like mentoned in the other thread. Basically just a container with a small hole in the bottom. Measure how long it takes your mix to drain vs diesel to get an idea if it will truly flow fine.

 

[homelessduck]

Good idea! Thanks!

 

[leswhitt]

When I burn gear oil, I see a marked increase in smoke and definitely smell; people complain about driving behind the truck because of the obnoxious odor. 30% RUG sounds pretty heavy, I'm curious what your drain time (viscosity test) ended up being...

 

[homelessduck]

I haven't picked it up yet. I ran a viscosity test on my wmo which drained in 1 minute ( I used less than 64 oz) . I'm going to bring the bottle with me and test his oil. If it's much thicker I will leave it ad I'm aiming for a 70%wmo mix or more. I also plan to use the front take for starting and shutting down on straight diesel. When it's warm I will switch tanks.

 

[leswhitt]

Rather than leave it there, you might want to get another container and use it just for your "heavy" oils. Mix in 10 gals per 100 gals of your "regular" oil and you'll have a nice supplement. I've done this in the past with questionable oil and it allowed me to use 75 gallons that I otherwise would've left behind.

I haven't picked it up yet. I ran a viscosity test on my wmo which drained in 1 minute ( I used less than 64 oz) . I'm going to bring the bottle with me and test his oil. If it's much thicker I will leave it ad I'm aiming for a 70%wmo mix or more. I also plan to use the front take for starting and shutting down on straight diesel. When it's warm I will switch tanks.

 

[homelessduck]

Great suggestion. I will do that as long as it isn't super thick.

Are you starting and shutting down on your mix or do you have two tanks? I'm wondering how heavy I can go if I warm up and shut down on diesel. I have read that a warm engine will thin the oil adequately, is that true?