Does vegtible oil harm diesel engines?

Question

Does vegtible oil harm diesel engines?

Answer 1

No not at all, the cheaper and thiner the oil the better.

Answer 2

Straight vegetable oil (SVO) will clog fuel injectors after about a month. Same with waste vegetable oil (WVO).

You can convert your car to run on SVO/WVO or you can turn them into biodiesel which will not clog anything.

Answer 3

Actually, it is the other way around.

Answer 4

we used it at work in our wagons the ivecos were alright with a bit of power loss but it knackered up the pump on the MAN

Answer 5

Why do so many people confuse biodiesel with SVO and waste oils.  Biodiesel is not just refined vegetable oil but chemically transformed into an oil which will (a) mix with fossil diesel fuel and (b) will not harm most engines.  Vegetable oil on the other hand will harm many modern diesel systems, whether it is the pump, injectors or seals.  Some old normally aspirated and non common rail diesel engines will run on straight vegetable or filtered waste oils with little harm but they are not very efficient in the first place nor are they low emission engines.  Most users of SVO and waste oil are trying to escape fuel tax.

Answer 6

yes and no

diesel due to its low viscosity at high temperatures has a low self lubricating effect. Adding 10% of raps-methyl-esther has a positive effect on it.

only vegetable oil might clog in the winter your injection system (change into wax).

It is really not recommended to start (and to stop) your engine on biodiesel. And I would personally add a preheater to 70°C to get the right viscosity to the injection channel. Modern TDI inject at 2000 bar and a too high viscosity would then harm the injection noozle. A way to decrease this viscosity is this preheating.

Your vegetal oil needs off cours to be refined. Not to mention that some rubber parts (seals) on older models are not suited to the high acidity of biodiesel.

Answer 7

If refined and pre-warmed it works fine in older diesels.  The new low-emission diesels have problems using pure vegetable oil, so they mix it with petroleum diesel fuel.

As long as you have a thin vegetable oil, which will remain liquid at sub-freezing temperatures, or can keep it above freezing, it makes a good fuel.  Pure vegetable oil can be burned in a forced draft burner just like furnace oil and produces less pollution than if used in a diesel internal combustion engine.  The heat from the burning oil can very efficiently make steam to run a small steam engine to power a generator.  The generator charges the batteries in your plug-in vehicle while driving to keep the charge up when unable to stop 6+ hrs to do a plug-in recharge.