Can my truck burn settled vegetable oil?

(2010-05-30 09:47:14)

1. GRAESYOLHOUNDAWG Says: I have a 1983 chevy with a 6.2 liter detroit diesel with a mechanical fuel pump that I drive regularly for work and I am thinking of experimenting with some used settled vegetable oil from a french fry fryer will it run ?will it damage it?what are your thoughts?

2. Kyle J Says: They make conversion kits just for that. Ideally a truck with dual tanks is your best bet, especially if you live somewhere cold. A heater core is usually placed in the one tank that the veg. oil is in to keep it from gelling. This lets you start driving on traditional diesel fuel then swap to veg oil once its warm. then it is recommended to swap back to diesel before shutting down to purge any veg oil from lines and injectors so that the veg oil will not gell up the lines.

3. Mark Says: You can buy a conversion kit to use vegetable oil. I'm not sure what the kit consists of, but a friend of mine drives a Suburban from the early/mid eighties and has his running on vegetable oil. He loves it since the local fast food restaurants save the oil for him, and all he has to do is filter the oil and pour it in. I believe the conversion has more to do with the fuel delivery system than the engine itself. If you just put vegetable oil in now, it will clog the fuel pump/carbs/etc. if I'm correct, but the internet will tell you exactly what needs to be done.

4. Michael Says: Yes and no - see the by-the-ways in the source. I have a friend who does it sometimes and his old Mercedes smokes like a chimney and runs very badly when he is ising vegetable oil.