Adding Injector Cleaner to WVO

[Toadmire]

I recently read the Lubricity Additive Study Results and it caused me to wonder.

1) Do I have a lubricity problem running wvo? I assume yes, as you can't get much lower sulfer in fuel than wvo.

2)As the additives are added into the diesel tank, I won't be running much of it through my engine running on wvo most of the time. So should I add it to wvo?

3)I recently pulled my intake manifold off and saw a little bit of coking on one of the valve rods. Not able to do an injector replacement right now, so I am wondering if I should add some injector cleaner to the fuel system. If so, then what about question #2?

4)Will it cause problems to add such an injection cleaner to wvo? If not then what kind? (I already know to stay away from alcohol based cleaners used for gas engines.)

These questions may have been posted before, but after 2hr looking, I couldn't find them, so here they are (possibly again).

[SunWizard]

Originally Posted by Toadmire

1) Do I have a lubricity problem running wvo? I assume yes, as you can't get much lower sulfer in fuel than wvo.

No, even 2% VO has outstanding lubricity. There have been numerous studies showing that VO lubricity is better than anything available See:
http://www.burnveg.com/forum/viewtop...ight=lubricity

2)As the additives are added into the diesel tank, I won't be running much of it through my engine running on wvo most of the time. So should I add it to wvo?

3)I recently pulled my intake manifold off and saw a little bit of coking on one of the valve rods. Not able to do an injector replacement right now, so I am wondering if I should add some injector cleaner to the fuel system. If so, then what about question #2?

The additives haven't been designed or tested for use in VO, so I don't know the answer. You could add them to D2 and run on the D2 tank more than usual is the safest way.

[Toadmire]

Awesome response Sun. Thanks for the info.

I still think it would be wise to add an injector cleaner to my fuel. It would be best to add it to my wvo since that is what I am mostly using.

I have a Frybrid system on a 98 Chevy 6.5 3500.

[Patches4]

I use a cleaner/additive with my VO, but I also run and mix of #2 and WVO. I have never had a problem while using it, but never had one before using it either. Let's put it this way, I have not found a reason not to use it!

[xyz12383318]

Plug injectors? Injector cleaner + vo = polymerization!

[Motown Fire]

Originally Posted by xyz12383318

Plug injectors? Injector cleaner + vo = polymerization!

Why would mixing injector cleaner and WVO cause polymerization???

[michael30.06]

If you feel the need to clean your injectors why not remove the inlet and the return lines from your injector pump and put them both into a 1 litre bottle of shellite. Then start your engine the Shellite will run your engine just fine and cleanout all the injectors and your pump at the same time. I run a 1985 4cyl Nissan 720 on SVO with about 10 per cent ULP to thin it down a bit. I wanted to do a quick injector kleen but was only recommended to use Naptha. Took about a week to find out it's called Shellite over here in Australia.

[john_galt]

The diesel fuel blend my truck burns consists of ULSD, canola VO, Acetone, Turpentine, + jet B which contains Kerosene, Naphtha, Hexane, Cumene, Trimethylbenzene, Napthalene, Ethylbenzene, Benzene, Toluene, Cyclohexane and Xylene.

Injector cleaner and viscosity reducer all-in-one... and it's free.

[mixelpix]

Toadmire,

Most additives for conventional diesel fuels contain a dimer acid (di-mer, poly-mer...) corrosion inhibitor. This reacts very poorly with vegetable oils. Just look up the material safetay data sheets (M.S.D.S.) of anything you can buy with the hazard classification symbol and that will tell you a lot. U.S. products have the NFPA 704 color diamond and products from "across the pond" have the EU system. It is good to know both!

Originally Posted by Toadmire

I recently read the Lubricity Additive Study Results and it caused me to wonder.

1) Do I have a lubricity problem running wvo? I assume yes, as you can't get much lower sulfer in fuel than wvo.

It is the process of removing sulphur which cause ULSD to be far less lubricious than previously available constituent blends of LSD, low-sulfur diesel or regular old SD which no one would ever call "sulfur diesel." These terms, however, are a little more like saying "biodiesel" to refer to any of the many vagaries of esters which qualify, ASTM or otherwise. Home heating oil would qualify as a "sulfur diesel" (as would some off-road diesels) but please don't fuel your passenger vehicle with it !

Otherwise, VO is plenty lubricious! Just make sure the WVO doesn't have any lye or other caustic agents left over from grease trap cleaners. I agree that the 2% SunWizard talks about should be plenty to lubricate the dryer ULSD fuels I own a 1978 300D and the manufacturer, Mercedes-Benz recommends a lubricity additive when fueling with ULSD because the older pumps were designed to receive lubrication to the top end components which ULSD is unable to provide. ASTM B02, for example, or more commonly available B05, would suffice in my ride.

Thanks for checking the archives :-) I have a super slow modem and it takes a while to do all the background checking I like too :-(

Originally Posted by Toadmire

2)As the additives are added into the diesel tank...should I add it to wvo?
3)should add some injector cleaner to the fuel system.
4)Will it cause problems to add such an injection cleaner to wvo?

Yes, adding injector cleaners to your VO tank could cause polymerization or other problems. If I were you, however, I wouldn't add anything to the fuel already in your tanks other than what you need to get it to flow. If you want to clean the injectors, you will be better off performing a diesel injector purge. This involves disconnecting the send and return lines and immersing them in around a liter of solvent like naphtha (or pure gum turpentine if you want to avoid fossil fuels.) Run the engine at varying throttle until the ancillary container is almost empty and note any returning particulates. Repeat every six months if it's yer daily driver but only use 500mL thereafter.

Look into pine tree resins like PGT and neat heptane for VO friendly additives which might help to clean out your system. You can also try misting water into the air intake on a hot engine. This will "blow out some carbon" for certain!

If you check out enough MSD sheets you will begin to get a picture of which substances are used to which end - such as anti corrosion, anti-gel, -ice, -static, etc. and a whole host of other things related to performance, safety and economy. Determining the functionality of conventional fuel blends and their respective additive options will give you a great framework from within which to evaluate and proscribe sustainable and non-toxic alternatives.

Aloha!