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waste thinner for fuel?

kkbodyshop

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anderson sc
i own a body shop and i have alot of waste thinner laying around. i was wondering if anyone has evey ran it or could you cut waste oil with it and run it with out any problems. i know you would have to filter it real good.
 

M813A1

Member
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Location
OKC, Oklahoma
I would think you could !! But be careful to mixed with something heavier !! Thinner like acetone will eat away the and rubber and neopreme seals in the fuel system
 

patracy

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I'll run just about anything in the diesels I own. But I shy away from paint thinner, methanol, and ethanols. Course if you like chasing leaks...
 

paulfarber

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Gordon, PA
Most of the chemicals in thinners are the exact same chemicals in the cleaning agents people dump in their tanks to clean out the fuel system.

It all depends on the ratio. I would not go more than a few % and only on a mostly full tank.
 

pmramsey

Active member
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Location
VA
I cut waste oil no more than 50-50 when the nights remain above 50 F. Otherwise, I run 75-25 petrol to waste oil. Careful with the thinners. In addition to the seals and leaks, the stuff washes down the cylinder walls far to much. I want all the lube there I can get. The waste oil runs quieter in the engines and the darn starting issues with the CUCVs disappear while using waste oil.
 

wreckerman893

Possum Connoisseur
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Akenback acres near Gadsden, AL
I used to work for a waste recycling firm...they sold reclaimed laquer thinner for a little over a buck a gallon so I bought a 55 gallon drum and mixed it with my usual concoction to run in deuces.

Despite claims by my detractors the deuce I ran it in never had any complications from running it. I sold it to a guy and the last time I talked to him the deuce was still going strong.

I still have some of it in the drum but I use it for cleaning parts rather than for fuel.....until it gets real dirty and then I filter it and mix it with the other slop I use for fuel.

People say it is bad for the rubber parts in the system but my thinking is that the cleansing properties would be more likely to cause you trouble by cleaning all the gunk out of the system and sending it through the filters.

If you use it go 75/25 oil/thinner so there will be plenty of oil to offset the dry quality of the thinner.

There will be a very strong odor from the tank......if you get stopped by the DOT and they dip the tank you may have some splainin to do.

Just my thoughts for what they are worth.
 

GoinNutts

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Los Angeles, CA
Sounds like we have a guinea pig. Dilute it and don't park it, run it out. Meaning don't fill your tank with what ever mix and drive it a hour or two and then park it for a month or 2 with that mix in the system. I can't remember ever seeing acetone, laq. thin, xylene in plastic bottles always metal so that might say something about the plastic fuel lines. I bought all the Eaton plastic lines and fittings for my fuel system and have not built up enough steam to tackle it because there are a ton of plastic lines and fittings. If you decide to try it please keep us posted.
 

panshark

Member
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Idaho Falls, ID
There will be a very strong odor from the tank......if you get stopped by the DOT and they dip the tank you may have some splainin to do.

Just my thoughts for what they are worth.
Tell them it's a science experiment, you're trying to distill some vehicular Rotgut! That's why your stack's a-smokin!:lol:
 

AMX

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Walland tn.
I too owned a body shop for many years. Thinner is very volatile and evaporative. A spark could make your day.
 

steelypip

Active member
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Location
Charlottesville, VA
Thinner into WMO or WVO would probably work really well as a viscosity adjuster. I think I'd be careful about too much thinner with high outdoor temps-explosion hazard in the tank - so save the stuff up until fall, then use it to thin your too-heavy fuel. Likewise, avoid adjusting the viscosity too thin - If you run a body shop, you know what a cup viscometer is. Make one out of a can or something and time #2 diesel running through it, then get your fuel blends to close to the same number.

As for chemical compatibility, the big worry is generally leaving the stuff sitting in the lines. As somebody earlier said, if you run the stuff out and replace with pump diesel before parking it for three months, you avoid a lot of the possible problems with thinner either eating parts of the fuel system or having some unpleasant chemistry with parts of the fuel system and gumming up.

Old-school diesels are really very tolerant of varying fuel blends as long as a) the viscosity is about what the injection pump expects, b) there are no particulate contaminants (filtration is everything) and c) you don't leave something that isn't an aliphatic hydrocarbon sitting in the lines and pumps for months or years. Oh yeah- and avoid excessive amounts of cyclohexane...

There's some finer print involving avoiding certain chemistry combinations and entrained water, but that's the basics. Things get pickier if you start worrying about low temperature starting (viscosity and RVP start to matter more), or non-hydrocarbon fuel components (avoid chlorohydrocarbons).
 

bgekky3

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Location
Huron, Ohio
Before I moved from El Paso to Ohio, I dumped all my waste hydrocarbons in my tank. I made the trip, but I would use the thinners to cut a heavy oil.

My dad owns a body shop and when I was a kid I had to clean all the bondo off the paddles with thinner. It made my hands crack. I am smarter and have a degree in chemistry now. I use gloves when I paint and clean up. I am sure it does the same thing to my hands as it will to the seals and O rings.

I don't paint too much anymore, but I take all the free oil from the guys at work. In the end free stuff isn't always free. It might work as a fuel stretcher, but as a fuel maybe not.
 

m-35tom

Well-known member
Supporting Vendor
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eldersburg maryland
as long as you remember that the fuel is all that cools and lubricates the pump plunger that is going up and down at 7500 strokes per minute at 2500 rpm. if it wears a few microns it is finished.

tom
 
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