Question for Rusty

[David M.]

Rusty, knowing that you are in the Petroleum industry, this is a question that I've wondered about for quite a while. Is it possible to blend gasoline into used oil to make home made diesel? I don't know alot about the refining process, but, in a pinch is it feasable? I know we burned some kerosene years ago in a diesel tractor, and added clean motor oil just to help with the lubricity. Today's diesel is low sulfur or ultra low sulfer, which is hard on older diesel engines. Just curious. Thanks, David

[CJD]

David,
There are a number of solutions to the low sulfur and ultra low sulfur fuels. Most of the diesel additives that you can buy at WalMart or auto parts stores have lubricity additives. My personal favorites are the Stanadyne products. Unfortuately, these are a bit harder to find locally, although I have seen them at a Napa store. For very old diesels, you would probably want to use more than what the instructions recommend. Another option is to add two cycle oil to the fuel. Obviously this would be good for the lubricity, but may tend to be somewhat smoky at the exhaust end. I have not tried this myself, and am not sure how much to mix per gallon.

[West Texas!]

Rusty, knowing that you are in the Petroleum industry, this is a question that I've wondered about for quite a while. Is it possible to blend gasoline into used oil to make home made diesel? I don't know alot about the refining process, but, in a pinch is it feasable? I know we burned some kerosene years ago in a diesel tractor, and added clean motor oil just to help with the lubricity. Today's diesel is low sulfur or ultra low sulfer, which is hard on older diesel engines. Just curious. Thanks, David

Not to answer FOR Rusty, but he, like me, is in the Human Resources/Safety side of the industry.

[lazer128]

There's a great forum you can go to to read about all sorts of fuels.
Check out Powerstroke.org

You can start with this thread:

http://www.powerstroke.org/forum/bio-diesel-alternative-fuels-supplements/

The biggest problem you are going to encounter with some of these homemade fuels is messing up injectors. Impurities will sand blast them open beyond spec. In this case bigger is not better!

[David M.]

Yes, I understand the need for filtration on any blended fuel, but in a pinch, or to maybe store some fuel, I was curious. Hopefully it will never be a issue, but I do have some "clean" and I use that term loosely, used motor. I'd like to have a use for it.

[Ulath]

I'm not an expert but I have worked in refineries for some years. Gasoline is

made from crude oil by breaking down the crude into smaller molecules by

means of catalytic cracking and distillation. At that point the molecular

structure of Gas and motor oil is different. They will seperate in the tank.

Basicly the gasoline will seperate and burn out your injectors. Someone help

me if I am wrong in my understanding. I hope that helps.