Diesel Secret?

you don't need an additive, you can just run the veggie oil

WARNING: NEVER USE 1800FLOWERS.COM They can't deliver as promised

Well, from all that I have read, you can't just pour the veg oil directly into your tank. You have to put in a second tank with heater and flip over switch...bringing the cost to around $1000. Diesel Secret claims you can just mix in their additive to a batch of veg oil and in 5 minutes, you have a usable diesel batch.

The need for the switch over system is at lower temps at which WVO will start to gel, while normal diesel fuel is good down to around 0F.

If you look at the Q/A section of the companies website, it says the fuel produced using their additive in the std concentration (46Cents gallon) works down to just below freezing. I'm not sure how much lower this is than just straight WVO. They do say that more of the additive can be added to get to the lower temp range of regular diesel, but it's curious that they don't say how much has to be added or what the cost becomes. If it takes 46c to get to just below freezing, it's possible it could cost a whole lot more to make this fuel practical in many parts of the country.

I guess what is most disturbing is they just avoid this whole discussion, which would seem to be very critical to what the product really can do.

Also, there seems to be widespread agreement that WVO will cause many regular fuel hoses to dissolve and leak, requiring them to be replaced with ones that are impervious to WVO. I find it hard to believe that their additive avoids that, yet they claim that absolutely no mods are necessary.

Having read their q/a section, it seems that one additive that is needed is petroleum. I have a 320cdi engine and when the car was approximately

1 year old I accidentally put 1 litre of petroleum in with the diesel. Some time afterwards the injector pump started to disintegrate and shed metal particles into the injectors making the engine run rough. I had to replace the tank, pump, injectors and fuel lines. Mercedes said it was a consequence of the petroleum eating the lining of the pump. Of course it is possible that Mercedes was covering for a faulty pump.

Well I am here in Southern California where it is very rare to get below 40 F, although it is possible. I've read that even at room temperature, WVO is too thick to run straight from the tank so that's why the heater is necessary. Diesel Secret seems to focus on "thinning" out the WVO to make it capable of running straight from the tank without the heating...which if true, would make it easier and cheaper for me.

I apologise for this becomming off thread topic but MB's contribution is useful to me. I really think a Mercedes car should be more robust than to break with such a small contaminant in the fuel. After all, I thought nothing about it because my previous car *recommended* putting a small amount of petrol in with the diesel in cold weather. I am really suspicious of Mercedes trying to pin the blame other than on their choice of fragile pump.

Going back to topic, I would like to know whether the petrol is actually present in Dieselsecret's converted oil or whether it is removed. Has somebody actually tried it and can tell of the process involved in conversion?

Have a look at some of the discussions in the Citroen section. Veggie oil is discussed at length. I have a friend with 1981 250d (i think) who uses nothing but veg oil in all weathers (UK)but in Devon so it doesnt often drop below freezing point but if it does he just adds white spirit. The biggest problem is not how well the car runs but what happens if ther police/customs & excise find out! By the way DONT use veg in an HDi, the "old style" diesels are much better

"Nihil" wrote in message news:yVBhg.82344$ snipped-for-privacy@text.news.blueyonder.co.uk...

Trust me, they lied to you. My wife put a half tank of gasoline into her '81

300D and drove it more than 50 miles before she suspected something was wrong. In fact at that point the car simply wouldn't go much past idle. I took my car carrier to the donut shop where it stopped, started it up and drove it onto the trailer. Got home, pulled the fuel filter and noticed a small problem....gasoline in the fuel! After explaining to my wife that a green nozzle at the service station doesn't necessarily mean diesel, i drained all the gasoline out, poured in 10 gallons of diesel, changed filters, pumped the hand primer pump for about 5 minutes, started it up and it has run perfect for more than two years now. Also, I now burn altered veggie oil in both my 240D and 300D and they both run perfect. I tried the formula sold by Diesel Secret but discovered all the secret turned out to be was fuel stabilizer. Here's what you do: To your filtered waste veggie oil add 10 percent low octane gasoline, 5 percent kerosene, about 1-1/2 ounces per gallon of Diesel Kleen (Wal-Mart) and about 1/4 ounce of fuel stabilizer (also Wal-Mart). Make sure you let the veggie oil settle a couple of days to get water and other debris to the bottom of your container(s). Draw off the good oil on top and do your mixing. I have a 55-gallon drum with a large funnel-shaped bottom which I made and welded into place with a valve at the bottom to drain the junk. After mixing your veggie oil and the additives pump it through three filters, two of which are simply water filters you get at your local Lowes or Home Depot. The first one needs to be about 15 microns, the second 3 to 5 microns and the final filter is a water trap. You can actually pump this mixtire directly into your vehicle. I know there are going to be people who say you need to go through the lengthy process with lye and acid....and you can if you wish. That does remove a lot of stuff that some think are less than good for your engine. However, I hasten to remind the naysayers that Dr. Diesel designed his engine to run on pure peanut oil, and that it works fine. A couple of other things to take into consideration. Be prepared to change your glow plugs after going through a tank or two of this mixture. Also, if you live in a cold climate you might consider a two-tank system allowing you to start and stop on regular petrol diesel. Whenever I face an early morning cold start I just shoot a small amount of starter fluid into the intake of the air filter. Some will think you crazy for doing this but I was raised on a farm and we always used starter fluid to start our tractors in the dead of winter even though we used nothing but petrol diesel. Other than that recognize that veggie oil is a much better solvent than standard diesel and will clean your fuel system like crazy. Keep spare fuel filters on hand during the initial tank or two. Been doing this for some time now and everything works fine. Good luck.

Just a note to Ernesto to say that I think the pump in the CDI engines is very different to the older engines he describes and that it is quite possible for the cdi engine's pump to be damaged by petroleum, or at least that is what I have been told.

well, I have a'79 MB 240d w 200k miles.

The distributer put gasoline in the diesel tank at the gas station. I filled my tank, about 1/2 gas and diesel, and drove about 70 miles before it died and wouldn't start.

The mechanic said the old pump saved the engine, since it would not pump the gasoline, too thin.

Gas station paid for towing and all repairs.

Actually runs better w new filters etc.

j.

your tank.

Oh crap, and I been driving on straight canola oil from the supermarket. Works fine. Engine should have good compression as veg oil flash point is higher

cp

Up to 30% gasoline in cold weather.

cp

You may very well be correct. I do have a friend who burns the same mixture in his '87 6-cyl MB diesel and it runs fine but I'm not sure this is the same pump of which you speak. However, I also have two other friends using the same mixture, one in a new Chevy diesel truck and the other a 3-year-old Ford Power Stroke diesel and, aside from the Chevy owner having to change fuel filters after a half-tank of the veggie mixture, they both run fine.

I'm sure this works fine. However, in cold climates (not like here in S. Cal), you might have to boost the cetane rating a little. If I lived in a cold climate I'd simply hook up a second small tank with straight petro diesel to start and stop the engine although a warm engine should start fine.....like after a run to the grocery store, etc.

I joined the secret society with no regrets. While I'm not convinced the "secret" additive is neccessary, I'm glad thw product got me thinking of reactor/methanol/lye - free biodiesel. The "Secret" looks like gasoline & smells like naptha. Here's the receipe: Kerosene (10% of the amount of oil you're using) Regular Unleaded gasoline (5%) Diesel-Kleen+Cetane Boost(0.63%) "Diesel Secret"(0.16%)

e.g: 5gals. filtered waste oil + 0.5gals. kerosene + 1quart unleaded gasolene + 4oz Cetane + 0.8oz "secret.

That's right, less than an ounce "secret" for 5 gals oil. Residing in California, I stopped using the secret 10k miles ago, & don't watch portions carefully. Generally, I batch veggie oil to DinoDiesel about

5:1. If batch is too thick, she chugs a bit, so I add diesel or cetane & all's well. No matter what anyone says, handling/filtering/tansferring oil is messy, even under the best conditions, but it's definitely worth it.

MB wrote:

Doesn't sound right to me. Older MB diesel manuals state that in extreme cold conditions you can run up to 50% gasoline mixed with diesel fuel.

Yes, but that was a vehicle that was intended to be able to handle starting fluid, many diesels are. MB diesels ARE NOT and one day you or somebody will crack a pre-chamber by doing this. And when that gets sucked into your engine or turbo it'll be one of the worst days of your life, ever.

When MB says you can use ether, you can. To date, they never have and warn VERY STRONGLY agaist it. Sure you're getting away with it right now but you're doing just that. Sadly your luck will not last forever.