Desert Dually

How critical is the exact viscosity of diesel fuel? I am assuming that on the older, positive displacement pumped engines, its not so big a deal. But on my Common Rail, I am pretty sure it is. What I am trying to determine here is, how much "alternative fuel" (like WMO or even new motor oil) can I dilute the #2 in my fuel tank with, and not cause damage to the CP3 or other related micro-tolerance components? Is there any way to measure the viscosity of fuel once you have added oil to it to make sure it is not too thick? Or conversely, too thin even?

DiezelSmoke

The problem isn't the cp3 pump, it will actually pump any viscosity fuel, the weak link is the supply pump & filter and the supply pump & filters ability to get the thicker viscosity fuel too/out/through to supply the cp3 with enough fuel. I see your in the south and you can get away with alot thicker fuel than we can in the nort.

Desert Dually

Diezelsmoke, thanks for the info, I did not know that! So far, I haven't had any issues with running up to 4½ gallons of "alternative stuff" per full tank of diesel. I have the Baldwin 5 micron drop in fuel filter to better protect the injection system against fuel-borne crud. I guess I can expect that to offer a little more resistance to flow than the stock 7-10 micron rated filters, but how much precisely?

What would happen if the viscosity was too thick? Would it starve the Cp3 for fuel? Would that damage or destroy the Cp3? Or would it just make the truck run poorly enough to let me know that the mixture was too thick and not to run that heavy of a blend in the future?

Baja

you can go to "BurnVegForum.com" and a member, Sunwizard has done a bunch of viscosity tests using different mixtures of oils. The one thing to remember is just because the truck starts and seems to run fine, that does not mean it is good for long term. If your truck does not start well, you are way too thick, think of a windex bottle trying to spray butter, that is what your injectors are doing. There are lots of posts on blends, read them. As far as your Cp3 or other components, all I can say is that the older (12V) seem to like the alternative fuels better.

DiezelSmoke

Yes, anyone of the following!