Hugh,
This was absolutely fantastic. As of today I am in the market for an old diesel, so I can apply this knowledge. – D.D.
o o o
Hugh,
Felt the need to respond to this. The author mentions his emergency fuel, and it should be noted that it is just that– emergency fuel. However, it sounds like he is using this full time in his Cummins 12v and OM 617. (I have a Cummins and 616– a naturally aspirated 4 cyl little brother to the 617.) It is nice that he has tested the usability of his blend, but if he keeps that up his engine will be no good for the zombie apocalypse he is envisioning.
I used a blend of wvo and high octane gasoline in an emergency once in my Mercedes 616 to get me 5-10 miles down the road to the nearest station with diesel, when my lying fuel gauge stranded me on a long lonely stretch on I-95 at midnight. I had a quart of oil, a junk thermos in the trunk, and a credit card, so I was able to walk to a closed station with high octane and bring it back to my car and mix up a little over a quart of the stuff. I started with all the oil and kept adding gasoline until it felt like diesel between my fingers. It is worth mentioning that I used high octane gas, because it ignites at a higher compression and, theoretically, will make your mix less likely to pre-ignite in the diesel engine.
After that I was hooked on the idea of using a similar mixture as a year round diesel subsitute. To make a long story short, I have considerably less compression and fuel mileage than when I started, even now only using various petro and bio diesel blends like before. I’ve regained a little of what I lost with some TLC.
Another thing worth noting is that if one is bent on using a fuel that isn’t designed for the engine in non emergency times, then avoid using diesel motor oil. Diesel motor oil has additives in it that suspend the carbon (soot) that inevitably makes its way into the oil sump. The reason for this is so that the carbon doesn’t coagulate in the oil and cause consistency problems with the lubrication.
This is written in lay terms as much as possible and may need some editing, but I think it is very important for at least some of these precautions to be considered by the other readers, who may not have the experience or any sort of technical background, to guide them to more informed decisions. – S.C.