Burning hydraulic fluid in diesel engine?

[Swawpy]

Just looking for a few opinions about this.... I came across a couple barrels of new (sealed bungs) hydraulic oil. One is Chevron ISO 32, the other is labeled D.A. Weargaurd 20wt non-detergent. I couldnt pass up the price- FREE!!!

My thoughts were to save a few 5 gal buckets for my crawler if not two heavy, and add as needed into my hydraulic reservoir. My 40c has just been drained and filled with hygaurd, would this be OK to use?

And my second question/idea was to mix at about 15-20% with diesel and burn in my truck.

Also whenever I change fuel filters on my diesel engines I have always filled the new filters with ATF to give the injectors a straight dose of ATF to keep clean (per Grand-dads instructions). I have done this for many, many years and have never suffered any consequences. So I figure it must really work and just keep doing it, if nothing else in honor of ol' Grandpa!

Any thoughts welcome!

Thanks, and Happy New Year!

[Swawpy]

Well I thought this would spark some interest... Is nobody mixing thier waste engine oil or other fluids with diesel? How about the ATF cleaning injectors and pumps? There is a lot of discussion elsewhere about de-watering and filtering of used oils to burn in diesel engines. I have not burnt much waste oil to speak of, but every now and again I clean off the shelves of partial quarts and buckets of whatever and mix with diesel fuel. I add a quart of ATF several times per year into all my diesel fuel tanks to keep injectors clean.

Bad idea? Stupid? Waste of good oil? Lets hear it!!

[cow50boy]

Well the atf trick is something i do all the time, it has been doing good for me i add atf to the filters anytime i change the fuel filters. I have done this for the equipment and trucks.
I havent heard to much about adding used oil.
any one else have any idea.

[Swawpy]

cow50boy- Good to hear, I was thinking I must be the only one.

As for the used eng oil- I have read and heard of many people burning it with success. I am a little nervous about used old, but I cant see any reason not to dilute most any new fluids. Seems a waste to burn 100 gal of new hyd fluid, but I just dont have any other use for it.

I have mixed a small batch at 10% and have driven about 170 miles in my truck. I cant tell any difference, runs just fine, no smoke. Next tank I will mix at 15% and stay there- I dont want to push my luck! Unless someone else chimes in and can confirm running a richer mix with no probs!

[shinnery]

My question would be what color is the hydraulic oil? The oil police cannot claim you are burning off-road diesel can they? If your fuel even shows the slightest red color they tend to get real happy and start writing.
Bryce

[Swawpy]

Thats a good point. Both barrels are light gold in color, but I do add a quart of ATF now and again. I consider the ATF to be an additive...not sure how that would work out! I am sure they have heard every excuse in the book. I have heard that several local logging outfits around here have been made examples of for running #2. I believe its up to a 10k fine.

[Lavoy]

I guess my thought has always been that if in the outside chance it did not work, the money saved by doing it will not even start to pay for injection work. I have about $1500 into pump and injectors on a poor old 1010. At $3 diesel, I would have to use 500 gallons of fuel to break even if there was a failure due to adding someting in excess. I will be adding some oil to the fuel, but it will be TC-W3 two stroke oil, and only a pint per tank. John Demaris posted an excellent article on YTMAG about lubricity and ULSD in these old engines. Turns out that boat motor oil is a great lubiricty additve, and that almost everything else, including used motor oil and some high priced, big name additives are not. I had been running Marvel Mystery oil in the fuel, never again after reading that report.
Lavoy

[2010OWNER]

On the recommendation of an old "grandpa", I've been putting a quart of ATF in each 55 gallon drum of diesel I buy.

Should I be putting 2-stroke oil in the drum instead?

Brian

[CELSESSER]

Brian,
If you go to the late model page and check out the Lubricity log it looks like biodiesel is the hands down winner even at a 50;1 ratio.
I have a friend who cooks his own biodiesel from frier oil and runs it in his tractor and Chevy 6.5 turbodiesel at 100%. His mechanic can't get over how much quieter this old beater chevy diesel runs than other 6.5's (not his favorite engine!) He ran it at 100% with no problems until it got down to the mid teens then had some jelling, went to petrodiesel. Now it is so cold he is having gelling on petrodiesel!
It is kind of a messy process and you do have some biproducts that you have to dispose of and that is kind of a pain. Also bears tipping over your frier oil barrels can make a mess!!

Chuck

[Lavoy]

Brian,
Hard to tell, ATF was not tested, it might work as well. But, given that TC-W3 is probably no more money than ATF, I guess I would switch.

Another problem they have been having up here with the Biodiesel is if it sits too long, it grows. Friend of mine stopped in the other day, and some guys he knows had to drain their entire tank, cut a manhole in the side, and go in and shovel the crud out. They got a 30 gal drum of sludge out of the tank. If you are using it up quickly, it is not an issue, but many farms up here are buying tanker loads, and for some, it sits too long before it gets used up.
Lavoy

[CELSESSER]

Lavoy,
That sludge that collects at the bottom is the soap, water and residual glycerin that was left after the "washing" of the reacted methylester(biodiesel). You actually use water to wash the impurities out of the biodiesel and let it set to stratify. the soaps and glycerin and water settle to the bottom and you decant the cleaned bio off the top to storage. Even in storage it continues to settle and clear, just don't suck fuel off the bottom of the tank. The large commercial operators use centrifuges to seperate the heavy waste but the minumum standards they have to meet don't appear to be real tight. If it is growing algie, you can use inhibitors just like in fuel oil.

Chuck

[Tigerhaze]

Can someone post the link of the discussions on the YTMAG site? I spent a while yesterday looking for them and couldn't find the exact ones discussed on here, particualrly the article by Jdemaris.

Thanks in advance.

[Lavoy]

John just posted it in the Late Model board.
Lavoy

[Ray III]

Waste engine oil I would never mix in with fuel because there is just too much toxic stuff that I wouldn't like going through the injection pump and injectors. Clean hydraulic oil I can't see a problem with, but I also don't see the cost savings being worth the hassle of blending.

If you know someone with a fuel oil or waste oil burner that is short on fuel around this time, they might give you a little money for that oil.

When running biodiesel and it gets too cold I would just go to kerosene from there. Diesel fuel of any origin is not worth screwing with in the wintertime if you don't have to burn a lot of it (kerosene costs more).

[Swawpy]

Well, I have run 3 tanks that were mixed about 15% with the hyd oil. Seems to run great, possibly even better. Minimal smoke, starts the same, and a 2mpg increase!

I agree that saving a few bucks is hardly worth the chance of injection repairs, but with guys burning biodiesel, veggie, and bio blends, why not. I believe the original diesel was run off peanut oil. And remember this is clean, new fluid.

My test truck is a 81 vw rabbit diesel pick-up, so not a whole lot of value there! The value is in that for 262k miles this little truck has averaged 47mpg!!! The last tank figured 49.6, but time will tell.

Would I burn this in my new Duramax ? Not yet.