CAT 3306 DI Buring waste Oil

[Tim]

I have a CAT 3306 DI Turbo generator set running on a blend of Waste Motor oil and diesel. I have blended up to 50% ratio and its fine for about the first 5 hours at 50% to 75% load. But then it starts smoking. By hour 15 I need too shut down and clean injectors. Which i do every day.

I have an Alpha laval MAB 103 centrifuge that I spent $12k on that runs 24/7 cleaning the waste oil prior to blending. I batch 200 gallons a day (100 gallons waste oil / 100 gallons diesel). The main fuel tank has a 10 micron bulk filter with water separator on the fill line. The engine supply line has a DAHL / 200 2 Micron filter water separator and the secondary filter is a standard CAT 2 Micron filter. I think I am pretty clean going in.

I have an inline water jacket heat exchanger that bumps the injection temp to about 135 F. Im not able to get more temp out of it and i dont know why. Maybe its too small but I have recently installed an electrical heater element from a hot water heater with a thermostat to assure me at least 150F or maybe higher injection temps. That hasnt been tested yet.

I also collect 100 gallons of cooking oil from KFC a week and am wondering if the animal fat contained in that oil that settles in the bottom are a problem. I can heat it till its clear so im thinking it should be ok just run it through..


My generator over heated last week and I found the rear manifold to be much hotter than the forward manifold. In the dark after shut down I saw the turbo was red and the rear manifold red.The forward manifold was dark and cooler. This was after a two minute cool down which was shocking.

I have a Fluke infer red heat gun but I didnt take measurements before the shut down on the manifold. Usually it runs about 600-800F. The turbo runs about 1000 F.

My fuel consumption on 100% #2 diesel is about 9 gallons per hour. When I run 50% motor oil the over all volume drops to about 6 gallons per hour. I am assuming because the waste motor oil contains more energy/power per gallon.

My problem with the over heating condition is a major issue and i havent gotten to it yet because i hurt my back shortly after the shut down. Im hoping its injector related. Advice on that would be appreciated. I eliminated the cooling system. Radiator, oil cooler and thermostat are 100% ok. Oil level is also ok. Im thinking valves or injectors.. Praying injectors. I have an injector test bench and can take injectors apart and clean. For those of you that are reading this with no experience and think you can do this ... dont. I am not a super mechanic but i am well equipped and have done this before. If you take an injector apart and dont know what your doing, be prepared to toss it in the trash when your done looking at it. You need a pressure test bench and proper facility to handle this. The internet is full of people talking about stuff. Most of it is crap. No different than a Bar room discussion.So please be careful when dealing with expensive components or engines with only things you read off the net. Im seeking advice here because I kind of know what im doing but want to hear from others how to do it better. I can sort out the bad advice because I know enough to do so. I hope that saves someone a lot of grief. I know how many people read these forums in hopes to find the magic solution to cheap fuel.


I want to run the motor oil. I have lots of it and have been doing this for 12 months. But daily cleaning of the injectors due to smoking is getting taxing on my time. Can anyone advise?

I dont care if i destroy an engine every 12 months. The money we save on fuel is worth it. But I cant keep baby sitting this thing daily and grow my company. I need some help.

I have another customer ready to go online with 4 times this power. But I cant do it until I get this one straightened out where i dont have to clean injectors every day.

Im also looking at burning coconut oil. I can get 30k gallons a month at a landed cost of about $3.00 a gallon. I live on a remote island in the south pacific called American Samoa. I am originally from PA. If anyone wants to get serious about this and help get me sorted out, I can help you get all the coconut oil you can handle delivered to your door step.

Tim Jones
President
Extreme Power Inc.
[email protected]

 

[towcat]

welcome-
"big rig tech" plays with kittykats iirc. he sould be able to help you with the diagnosis. how big of a genset is this? for some reason i'm imaging that this is a pretty good sized unit. coconut oil is something i have little to no background on, so I don't know how it burns in a diesel.
someone will chime in soon!

 

[Tim]

Thanks . Yeah its a good sized set. 225kw about 300hp. i have about about 20 gallons of motor oil to chew through so I definitely want to hear what everyone has to say.

Tim

 

[sassyrel]

the only reason i can think of why their clogging. the carbon black from imcomplete combustion is what makes the oil in a diesel crankcase black----and ive been told if you take a amsoil 1 micron bypass filter----with the proper adaptor on the side somewhere,and use that on a diesel engine--it will keep the oil clean. you cant use it as your main filter!!!!!!!!! apparently a 2 micron wont do it---and that could be the stuff thats building up on your injectors----as carbon dont burn---you change the 1 micron when the filter is cold--i/e, no flow---you have to put a .90 restrictor in the inlet side of this filter, as you need the flow to go slow---also--if you put a water mist system on the engine--that would steam clean the inside of the combustion chamber while its running--and you dont need a lot--------

 

[edelbrock1]

try heating.

I would be putting a heat exchanger on to heat the mix. I am running 100% WMO. But I run a 2 tank sytem and use heat exchangers to heat the oil before it gets to the IP. I have not had to change injectors yet.

 

[subway]

i also agree with heating the oil before it hits the engine.

this is also a guess as it sounds like you have far more expereriance than me but could it be retarded timing causing the engine to run hot. it might be right with diesel but i have been told to get more out of the motor oil the timing should be advanced a degree or two. it has a higher BTU content but also burns slower with a longer carbon chain.

i am also running 100 WMO in my rig so i am very interested in the results and solutions you find.

how far are you filtering your oil down to before poaring it in? i go down to i micron.

 

[french277]

I know it may be late in here but I do not know if the OP did got the issue fixed or not.,,

Here what the 3306 typically run neighbour range of 300-325 CV { HP }

But to burn 50/50 WLO { waste lube oil } / #2 that that catorgey it almost like HFO { Hevey Fuel Oil } simuair to like what #4 FO look like.

You will have to bump the timming at least 2° advanced due the burn rate of 50/50 blend WFO.

If this was 3306 PC then it will not affect much at all due diffrent nozzle set up.

Most of the diesel engine I work I run 20/80 blend the most anything more than that you will run into issue with injectors no question asked unless you got larger engine series that have HFO option then it will work fine.

Merci,Marc

 

[unclewilson]

running app 80 % wmo in 3208 cat 1086 motorhome french277 any comments your prevous was informative tks..filtering down to 10 micron. motorhome has a baldwin filter on it