Is it true that you can put used cooking oil from restaurants into a diesel engine intead of gas?

If so, what is the downside? What's the mileage like? What about attracting bugs?Is it true that you can put used cooking oil from restaurants into a diesel engine intead of gas?
Yes, but simply pouring it in your tank and driving will kill your vehicle. First, you need to filter the oil down to at least 2 microns. A micron is 1/100th of a millimeter. Running oil through a sewn shut leg of good jeans should work, you can also buy washable/reusable filters from biodiesel supply websites. Then you need to let the oil sit, usually about 2 weeks. This is to allow any water that may be in it to settle to the bottom. Water will damage diesel fuel injectors. Skim off the top of the container of oil, leave the bottom few inches alone. Now you need to use heating equipment such as inline fuel line heaters or a flat plate heat exchanger to heat the oil to a minimum of 160 degrees Fahrenheit, 190 is considered ideal. This is so that the oil flows smoothly and can be burned efficiently without clogging up your injectors or coking your pistons. The cleaner the oil is to start with the better. Thai and other Asian restaurants often have the best oil, places like McDonald's and KFC have the dirtiest. A great place to go to learn more is ';biodiesel.infopop.cc';





Good luck!





Oh yeah I forgot about actually answering the rest of your question: Mileage is almost the same. Often it is slightly less but sometimes more. The downside is that it can be time consuming hard work collecting and cleaning oil. But well worth it if ya ask me. Bugs: waste vegetable oil (WVO) is food and it can attract insects after time. Bacteria can consume it and break it down, but I have not heard of this being a problem for anyone I know who uses it. It should be kept in a sealed container always to keep out rain, dust and debris anyway.Is it true that you can put used cooking oil from restaurants into a diesel engine intead of gas?
Diesel engines run on diesel fuel not gasoline. That being said you can use any vegetable oil to run a diesel engine and it works great, same mileage and no bugs. As for downsides you can't just pour old fryer grease into your tank, it at a minimum needs to be filtered and even better processed to get all the undesirable gunk out of it.
you dont put gas into a diesel engine, you put diesel. And yes you can make cooking oil into Biofuel (below). And your tailpipe smells like french fries!
I have read you need to filter it pretty good and the mileage I think is good, that would not matter much if you were getting it for nothing. Dont think bugs are a problem.
A local restaurant chain is doing that here in Ottawa. I think the owner said he had to process the oil in some way before he could use it. He brought in some kind of equipment from Texas to do it.