Salad Oil

[Crumm]

There was a story in the local paper the other day about a group that is making a trip down the 15,500-mile Pan-American Highway using alternative fuel. The picture in the paper showed them dumping straight salad oil in the tank. The article talks about how the oil is mixed with diesel in the car or they can run on straight bio-diesel. They were apparently only running 20 percent salad oil and 80 percent regular diesel fuel up here because of the cool temperatures. I suppose when they get down in your country they will be running a higher percentage. Anyone hear of mixing diesel and salad oil on board rather than making bio?

Complete Story.

I might have contributed to there trip.

The convoy was already a half-hour late reaching Fairbanks because of a flat tire, one of three blowouts they had to contend with, along with two blown struts and cracks in all three windshields..

Before the article came out in the paper there adventure had been well underway. When they drove the Dalton going North to begin there adventure they were driving like a bunch of idiots. They were flying along at high speed showering all the trucks they met with gravel. Once word got up a down the road about these cars with stickers all over them slinging rocks the trucks quit slowing down. Meeting a truck going 50mph in a boulder patch is a little hard on windshields. When I met them going south they pulled over and stopped. Seemed like they must have got a bit of a education when there windshield ended up looking like a map of a large city. I have a ding in my windshield from when they headed North and I am sure I left my mark when they were heading South

Anyway question is. Can you just dump salad oil in your tank and go? I am guessing salad oil costs more than Diesel but I was just curious..

 

[JOAT]

Some use new vegetable oil as a lubricity additive. You can pretty much blend it at any ratio you want, but as it gets thicker it won't combust as clean if it's not heated. If you search at some of the bio-diesel sites for "blending", you'll find all kinds of mixtures people use, with Diesel-Vegoil-Gasoline blends being the most common. Some have tried to profit off their variation. "Diesel Secret" being an example.

Blending WVO is somewhat risky. Many have done it no problem, while others have had wierd separation issues or reactions that caused fuel system damage.

Funny about the windshield situation. Some people just have to learn the hard way