First Long Trip

[Cross4]

2600 miles 127gal. of Wvo 20gal. of diesel and one fuel filter. I took the Dodge from Bend, OR to Denver to pick up my new truck camper and then visited some friends. I left Bend and drove all day and stopped at a truck stop at around 3am in central WY. I passed out in the cab for a few hours. It was cold (about -15). I woke up and the truck started but it ran rough for the first few minutes. For the next hour I could not switch over to WVO. I could hardly get any heat in the cab for that matter. The news said it was anywhere from 10 to 20 below zero not including a wind chill. I stopped and made a home made winter front from cardboard and this helped a ton (although I thought I might lose a couple fingers in doing so.) I switched right over to VO and ran at temps of 150-155. These are about 10-15 deg colder than normal highway temps for me but still just fine. I made it to Denver in the morning dropped on the camper and was on my way to Loveland Pass for some Snowboarding. Above 9000ft I saw a slight loss in power on VO versus diesel. I don't ever notice it any other times though. The next morning it was very cold again. I put my camping stove under the engine bay for about 20 min. The truck started right up without even cycling the grid heater. I know some may not approve of this method but without a plug in or a webasto it's what I had to work with. I traveled to Park city for a couple of day's. When starting after a couple of day's sitting I tried something that Jeff on this board had brought up. In my new camper I have two Trojan deep cycle batteries and a inverter. I pluged the block heater into this and let it go for an hour. The truck started right up and off I went home. On the Oregon boarder I plugged a filter but since I was down to empty I switched to diesel and cruised into town.
I learned a lot about cold weather VO use on this trip. Had a lot off fun. Sorry about the rambling post but if someone learns something it's worth it.
Shawn

[}{ead$hot Zod]

Excellent...........

[new2VOfuels]

Where is your WVO tank if you are carrying a truck camper? I am interested in getting a truck camper also but that won't happen if I've got a 90 gallon tank in the bed.

[dana linscott]

I have used tanks which fit in front of the wheel wells leaving the "working" 4'x8' center of the bed free of obstruction.

These would allow a camper to be used though a fill neck or system woudl have to be set up since acccess would be harder to add VO with a camper covering their tops.

[new2VOfuels]

Tank capacity becomes the issue then. I can't imagine a tank in front of the wheel wells would be large enough to hold much fuel. I like the idea of having 90 - 100 gallons and thus about 1500 mile range to go on a trip and return without having to run on petro. With a truck camper, i can still pull a trailer and carry extra barrels of VO along with i suppose.

[Omar]

Any problems with your Heat Exchanger? How was the powder at Loveland Pass? Sounds like another veggie adventure! O

[Cross4]

Omar the HE saved my butt in WY. No problems with it except a little coolant leak at one of the fittings. I snugged it down some more and it's gone. The powder was OK but the boarding was still great. I did a full moon ski with a bunch of folks who just showed up where I was camping.
New2, I have a 55gal tank that takes up 11 inches of bed space. My camper is hanging out onto the tailgate 10 inches. I'm going to build a 45gal spare tire tank in the next month.
Shawn

[Omar]

you should post your story on info pop too:
http://biodiesel.infopop.cc/groupee/...1/m/6421006031

[bgkast]

Is that the heat exchanger he is using? How many plates does it have?

[Cross4]

Thats a picture of my truck. It is a 16 plate HE.