Are you running filter WVO?
How long have you been running it?
I've never heard of long term success in running WVO in a 6.5
Holy cow, I've been running it for almost 10 years now. 10 years. I'd say that's pretty successful. It's always interesting how misinformation gets proliferated on the internet and this is no different. Somebody will try something, it doesn't work so they report that it won't work as the only conclusion and never even consider the possibility that they did something wrong.
I did have an issue with the first set up I had. As most know, you use heat to thin the oil for the injectors to be able to atomize the fuel, so getting the fuel hot is the main issue. I had a component in my system called a Veg-Therm that is a good product but it seemed to get my oil TOO hot from what I can tell. My IP seized and sheared the shaft. All I know for certain is that I took off the Veg-Therm and have been running it ever since. I could have stopped there, reported with the rest that it doesn't work and moved on but I knew the theory was sound and there was no reason why it shouldn't work.
The only other things that can be attributed to the veg is...
1- If I let the truck sit for several months (doesn't happen often at all), the oil can form a coating on the inside of the lines and break off, plugging the lines. A frustrating but minor issue solved by cleaning out the fuel pick up.
2- When I put the optimizer in last year, I had the injectors gone through and they were chewing my ass out for them being so crappy after only 60,000 miles when they found out that I run veg (they weren't really too bad and I run WMI now so that should be the end of that issue). I told them that with the money I save in fuel costs, I could afford to put a brand new Bosch set in every year and still be way ahead. And on that note...
Years ago when I converted the truck, I was highly motivated. I was in apprentice school for IBEW local 48 and didn't make dick for money. I was going backwards fast. With the distances I was driving to get to jobs, I was spending over $600 a month just for fuel. It was my single largest bill in my budget at the time. After the conversion, my fuel costs dropped to about $100 a month. By my calculations, that's $6000 a year in my pocket. Now admittedly, I'm just a union hand so I could be off on my math there but that sure seems like a heck of a lot of money. As a matter of fact, I can even add up for the last 10 years and figure that I've saved $60,000 in fuel costs. Even if I take into account that I don't always put that many miles on my rig and cut it in half, that's still $30,000 I've kept in my pocket. Waaay more than the ~$8000 I just put in her for the Optimizer and new transmission. I figure I got those for free. And btw, the truck needed a new motor before I started running veg.
At first I used a paper element filter that did a good enough job but was pretty manual-effort intensive. A couple years ago I invested in a centrifuge system and love it.
As for the bio-diesel option, I sure don't look at is as one better than the other. The forgetting to switch is a very rare occurrence and a minor issue at best (except when I'm being a boob and don't even notice in this case). My buddy that designed the initial system and I looked at both options and decided that the process of making the bio wasn't something we wanted to get into at the time. Essentially, you have two options... Convert the fuel, or convert the rig. If you convert the fuel, amongst other disadvantages, you're stuck at home for the most part. I just towed my fifth wheel across the Rockies 1300 miles and had all the fuel I wanted just by pulling up to a country cafe and filling up with their oil (I have a portable filtration system). I will likely look into bio later though as It would be pretty cool to start the rig on my own bio and then switch to my own veg. That would be the ideal set-up, cold weather notwithstanding.
jrsavoie, I'm glad you asked the question. I didn't know people were unaware that veg really does work. I'll work on starting a thread going into a little more detail than here of my system and results.
