Diesel Engine Conversion to Frying Oil

[Further-ing88]

Hello All,

I am new to the bus addiction!

I would like to know what stock school bus diesel engine would be best and possibly the easiest to convert to multi-use diesel and frying oil.
Has anyone done this? If you have could you please help me figure out where to get some in depth information on this.

I would love suggestions on if this is a good or bad idea, should I go full frying oil, what is the cost to convert?

Thanks for the help!

[Iceni John]

Several folk on the Skoolie forum have done this (with mixed results . . .), so you should sign up there to ask for ideas.   While a few folk here have done WVO conversions, their experience may not be relevant to you because almost all engines here are different to typical school bus engines.

John

[kyle4501]

First of all, THERE AIN'T NO FREE LUNCH - somebody is going to be paying for it.

Look up the issues with biodiesel - which is much easier on an engine than used fry oil.

It is easy to find success stories about using fry oil on the internet, BUT . . . .

Finding someone who is still using it after several years of exclusive use & 12,000 or more miles per year on the same engine . . . that is a different issue.

After enthusiastically posting early success, most don't show the same enthusiasm for posting details of their failures.

In most cases, a veggie oil conversion will cost you more money than if you had just left it alone & paid at the pump.

Reasons are many & often subtle -
- costs of collecting the oil,
- costs of processing it - filters, chemicals, storage, waste disposal.
- costs of storing it.
- dealing with the 'issues' of cold starting.
- multiple engine  'issues'

If you can afford fry oil as another hobby, have at it & all the best wishes for success.

If you are trying to save money, this ain't the smartest place to look.

From what I found, a reliable source for used oil is more problematic than many wish to believe. Used frying oil has value & most restaurants sell it to recyclers/ processers for other uses like animal feed & cosmetics.

After dealing with all the extra crap in the used oil (water, salt, flour, meat, etc), it would have been cheaper for me to start with fresh new veggie oil.

Your mileage may vary.

[Further-ing88]

Interesting point of view! I appreciate it.

This is more of an option I would like to take after the initial interior transformation. That being said would any diesel engine work?

I will also check out skoolie.

Thanks for the feedback!

[HB of CJ]

Excellent answers given and thank you.  Like a lot of fish kissing and tree hugger wacko environmental commie ideas, frying oil in a kinda modern or even an older diesel engine just does not work out.  It it had, all the hamburger joints would have made a fortune.

Sounds good warm and fuzzy but fails in the real world.  Sorry if this rains on your parade.  Even the very old diesel engines do not like frying oil.  A friend tried it in his Old Crown Supercoach 743 Cummins diesel.  All it did was clog up the filters, pumps and injectors.

He spent a lot of time and money trying to properly prepare, heat, chop, spin, clean, and prep the hamburger oil.  Even then it had to be mixed with kerosene.

Another friend really tried with her old 1980 VW Rabbit Diesel car.  Very primitive injection system.  Same results.  We had to hang a new injection pump and fuel injectors, plus filters.  But ... her diesel seemed to run fine on it while it lasted. Hope this helps.

Not meant to be harsh.  Just realistic.  In modern high pressure computer controlled School Bus diesel engines, one would really have to work at preparing the frying oil to even run.  Even with that the modern injection process and the big fat molecules do not mix at all.

[kyle4501]

That being said would any diesel engine work?

Short liberal answer - yes

Short conservative answer - no


Fry oil tends to cause lots of carbon buildup - which can destroy a turbo impeller when the buildup breaks loose.

[pabusnut]

Ditto for most of Kyle's comments (from someone who has done it--ME!)

I did used WVO in my VW Jetta(that already had 190,000+miles on it).  I was driving 110 miles a day, so for me it made sense.  That was before the Gov't started requiring/allowing Biodiesel to "water down" Diesel, so the Waste Vegetable Oil was just WASTE and restaurants were paying for disposal.  It was a royal pain filtering the oil, but when diesel was over $4/gallon, I was saving a bunch, even though I was getting 45+ MPG.  

Two years later, my commute is only 44 miles a day, so the WVO didn't justify the pain and mess of collecting, and filtering.  

I would do it again, if I had a hog that really ate diesel, but was cheap to fix.
I definitely am not doing it on my bus, as I have too much to lose, especially when on my very limited vacation time out of my home area.

Steve Toomey
PAbusnut

[jackhanow]

My experience is, just don't do it. the detroits have a fuel chamber in the head that really doesn't allow for waste oil to completely flush out and the first night below 60 and the oil is lard. I tried it on my 8v71, and it ran good, had it all set up, and got cool, and the was it, so then I did the biodiesel route. Too much hassle. Just so you know, even if the restaurant owner gives you the oil, it still belongs to the guy who he has the contract to pick it up. Used oil is a commodity and they consider it stealing and some get irate about it.

[opus]

You're gonna pay for it one way or the other. Cheaper and more time effective for me to pay for the fuel than to fiddle forever with WVO.  Plus, I know that my fuel system is in its simplest form.

[Oonrahnjay]

Ditto for most of Kyle's comments (from someone who has done it--ME!)

     I did used WVO in my VW Jetta(that already had 190,000+miles on it).

Yep (except my experiment was "biodiesel".  Only cost me an injection pump rebuild).

I definitely am not doing it on my bus, as I have too much to lose, especially when on my very limited vacation time out of my home area.   

     I think the operative phrase is "once bitten - twice shy"!!!

[bigred]

As to the question of the best engine to look for in a Skoolie,I don't think you could go wrong with the 8.3 Cummins.Dependable, economical to operate and should be readily available.A lot of the pushers came With Cat engines and the school systems really had a bunch of problems with them.Don't remember for sure ,but I think it was something to do with the the air breather pulling moisture into the engines .What ever it was ,they got it fixed and most of them are still going 30+ years later.

[Oonrahnjay]

As to the question of the best engine to look for in a Skoolie,I don't think you could go wrong with the 8.3 Cummins.Dependable, economical to operate and should be readily available.A lot of the pushers came With Cat engines and the school systems really had a bunch of problems with them.Don't remember for sure ,but I think it was something to do with the the air breather pulling moisture into the engines .What ever it was ,they got it fixed and most of them are still going 30+ years later. 

    I'm in the process of putting an electronic version of the 8.3 Cummins into my bus.  I researched it a lot and many people with a lot of experience agree with your assessment. 

[TomC]

There are two versions of the electronic 8.3 ISC that are bad and good. The bad version has an electronically controlled injection pump, that when it goes bad (and it does) you just have to replace the pump for around $2,000. Then there is the good version that uses common rail fuel injection. Course the most reliable would be mechanical fuel injection using the inline Bosch type fuel injection pump. Good Luck, TomC

[Oonrahnjay]

There are two versions of the electronic 8.3 ISC that are bad and good. The bad version has an electronically controlled injection pump, that when it goes bad (and it does) you just have to replace the pump for around $2,000. Then there is the good version that uses common rail fuel injection. Course the most reliable would be mechanical fuel injection using the inline Bosch type fuel injection pump. Good Luck, TomC   

     Which one would be used in a bus built about December, 2003??

[jackhanow]

not the good one