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Warm weather WVO
I live in Guam where the ambient air temperature is never lower than 70 degrees. Usually, the lows are around 78, and the highs around 88 to 90.
I intend to convert my 1983 300SD, 126 chassis with 5 cyl turbo to burn WVO. Am I safe to not pre-heat the WVO? I'm thinking that since the outside air temperature never gets lower than 70 degrees, I shouldn't even concern myself with the flow of the fuel.
I do plan to filter the WVO through three stages, finishing with a 5 micron filter before putting it in the tank. Also, I will install a supplementary fuel filter, Kent's Stanadyne FM100 filter, to filter and separate the WVO before it reaches the OEM primary fuel filter.
Keep up the Good Work!
Hi Kent and Kaia, I finally got around to getting a couple of shots of the 560. (my Daughter has d... Read More
Warm weather WVO
I guess that no other forum members live in a tropical climate, as I do. Not to worry. Just to be safe, I bought one of Kent's copper coil heaters to add to the FM 100 filter. I know that it won't hurt to have the oil heated. I will install it this weekend. Who knows? Someday, I may move to a place with a colder climate, such as Hawaii!
Warm weather WVO
Sorry I just picked up on this thread, I may be a little late but wanted to offer some anecdotal WVO stories from fellow veg-heads here in the SF Bay Area. I know a couple of people in the temperate climate here who run a 50/50 blend of biodiesel and SVO, with NO modifications, and they've had no problems for some years. I think in your climate, the viscosity of the SVO on its own will be consistently low anyhow, which is the whole point of the SVO mods. Without mods though, one would have to pay partcular attention to the type of oil used - i.e. one with a low natural gel point, like soy. Of course, adding the mods anyway as you seem to have will likely greatly reduce wear on your injection system.
I live in hawaii
Well I live in hawaii and I am going to convert my 83 300d to fun wvo. The temps here are just as you describe in GUAM. hot and sticky most of the year. currently we are at like 88 average over the last week or so.
As I understand in our climate it is still important to heat the oil right before the injectors for proper atomization. I have injector line heaters to install, I have a twin glow plug heater block purchased off ebay, This will be installed shortly after the fuel tank outlet. I have a very large filter/water separater out of a CAT engine vehicle. it is over 1 foot long so I will probably install it in the trunk after the rear heater.
I will let you know how it goes. I have run waste engine oil (filtered) in my cummins her and other than the smell it did work, about 15 gallons of waste filtered engine oil to about 20 gallons of diesel. I don't plan on doing that anymore. very bad for the environment and exhaust stinks like an old chevy with burnt rings, but to my surprise very little smoke unlike that old chevy.
good luck
Keith
Warm Weather WVO
As an update to my first post in April, I converted to 100% WVO in May. I have installed the Stanadyne FM 100 filter with copper coil heater, both courtesy of mercedessource.com. Have also replaced the fuel tank filter screen, which was chocked full of gunk! It was so clogged up, it took more than 3 hours to drain about 4 gals of fuel from the tank before I could remove the filter screen! Replaced all injector return lines with viton. Three of the five braided rubber(?) injector return lines were leaking, I presume from veggie oil deterioration.
My '83 300SD is running better than ever. Since July 1, it has become my daily ride! Living on a small (216 sq. mile) island means that usage is low...only 1200 to 1400 miles a month. However, I have not purchased any fuel since May!
Many thanks to Kent for his technical knowledge and his great manuals. Thanks to Kaia for support, advice and lots of hand holding
Aloha,
Brion Kanda