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Running a diesel on Kerosene


series3100

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Just wondering does anyone run their diesel engine on kerosene (heater fuel)... Forget the legalities of it, does it work? Are there any/many detrimental effects? The engine I'm really considering is an Isuzu 4jb1t if that makes any difference.

Just want to hear your thoughts really.

Cheers, Brian

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I have a 30kVA generator which has a 2.4L Ford straight six diesel engine (basically, a tractor engine). I run it on heating oil, aka 28 second burning oil or 'kero'. I put 1 percent engine oil in with the fuel, although the rated spec for the engine is that it burns 0.5l of sump oil in 12 hours of running so I suspect in fact it does not need the 'upper cylinder lubricant' added to the fuel. It smokes a bit when first starting up and when changing load, but it runs fine. I've probably done about 50 hrs with it like this.

I have smaller diesels (Kubotas) and I run them on red diesel only. I doubt they would be as tolerant of non-standard fuels.

Nick.

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No and it is a bad idea unless the injector pump is designed to run on it - kero does not lubricate as much as diesel so the pump will eventually seize up. Some military engines are designed to be "common fuel" and run on Jet A1 (chopper fuel) which is basically a good grade kerosene. If you put kero in a modern engine like a Td5 or a Puma it will almost certainly kill it very quickly.

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hi there kerosene can be. as when the fuel shortages where happening we where running are case quadtracs on it as we had plenty in the agrain dyer tanks although i cant honestly say whether it causes long term issues with the deisel engine. a landrover is slighlty more refined then a hungry 12.9L 600 horse motor made to sit singing it heart away at 2200 revs lugging cultivation equipment burried up to a meter into the ground at least 18hrs a day i know we had no problems i was considering this my self as kerosene is a lot cheaper then cherry diesel to buy and u wont be suspected as much for cheating the tax man (LOL):-P

sorry cant give u more of a decent answer

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EDIT:... Is Kerosene heater fuel? My dad's just started confusing me even more than usual!

kerosene is also known a JETA1 & Aviation turbine fuel [aka AVTUR F34] I wouldn't use it in a road vehicle, no lubrication addituves as mentioned above

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It will work, in fact many old bus owners ran this with a mix of used engine oil, but it will have a detrimental effect on your injector pump. Over here the things they try to run diesels on is a bit unbelivable..........

Newer diesels do not tolerate kero well...........

G

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a few years ago I was working on a site, with a 360 excavator,( french one I think, name something like pacman) and it had an air cooled deisel, might have been a deutz or even a VM as it had seperate cylinder heads. Anyway there was a tank of heating oil that had to be moved at some point and the contents were no longer required, so obvious answer. BUT after a few hours the engine started to play up, missing, low on power, so the mob mechanic came outand the filters were full of a thick jelly like substance. cleaned em out and carried on. Used the whole tank over about 2 months, and the mecanic came out about 6-7 times. It never did run properly again, always sounded rough, and spluttered even on red long afterwards. so beware!

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Guest noggy

I knew a lad that siezed up an 200tdi running on 28 second oil, personally i wouldnt do it.

Its heater fuel because it burns at a higher temperature!

Put normal white diesel in a space heater then try it with 28second oil you will see which kicks out more heat!

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lets hope no one from VOSA or customs and revenue access this forum :ph34r:

we used to put a small percentage of paraffin in the diesel in the winter as it eased waxing at low temperatures, as stated above it burns at a much higher temp and would cause the exhaust manifolds to glow white, god knows what it does to the exhaust valves :o

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If I remember correctly, one of the mags had an article about the USAF Disco IIs.... they were running them on Kerosene! :)

I was told once that "certain US military organisations" operating Land Rovers in the Gulf region used kero (or rather avtur) in their various Land Rovers during the Gulf War but did so on the basis that it was cheaper to fix the engines afterwards than it was to supply a different sort of fuel to the middle of nowhere probably by helicopter!

At the end of the day it is a bit like using cold start to get your engine going in the mornings, yes it works, no it isn't a very good idea to do it regularly :)

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The simple answer is yes it will run, not very well and will damage the engine if used for a long time. You can add engine oil to it as a lubricant that will help it a little.

If you are looking for a less expensive way to run an off road vehicle I suggest you use Red Diesel as this is the same as white with a colour added to it and less road duty, but DO NOT use it on the public highway, unless you wand a large fine of a visit to one of her majesty`s hotels!!! :unsure:

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Some interesting points and reading there thank you, I wasn't expecting anyone to put there hand up and say yes I run on kero for obvious reasons! :unsure: If there's one thing I'm not going to do that's put red in, I knew someone who used to use red then they weren't dipped but someone actually grassed him in! In short he doesn't drive that landy any more, in fact it no longer exists :o !

Thanks again,

Brian

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I asked Land Rover the question once with my day-job hat on, about whether using Avtur in an engine would affect the warranty and the answer was basically kiss it goodbye immediately. Not an issue now as any Td5s are now out of warranty but the manufacturer isn't keen anyway! Some folks here that run quite a lot of green ones were keen to know whether they could go single-fuel in certain places around the islands.

I wonder what the EGTs would be like running on kero? There isn't much leeway when on diesel between normal running temps (600C ish) and melt-a-hole-in-a-piston temps (often quoted as about 750C).

Slightly OT but an interesting aside while we are talking about using the wrong fuel ... motorbikes apparently go like stink on 100LL Avgas, anybody ever tried it in a V8? I think you usually burn a hole through the piston fairly quickly but it's apparently good while it lasts! :)

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back when I was a automotive design engineer kero was used to accelerate component wear on the test rigs(high speed) The td5 discoverys found favour with usab personel due to its tolerence of kero.A customer of mine eventually destroyed both his 2002 landcruisers injector pumps(two cars not two pumps!)with the stuff

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  • 10 years later...

Have been running colt 2,8 non turbo for 2years ,2 nissan yd25 s bmw 330 d using pariffin and 2,5 % lubricant aditive in Lesotho no problems, actually the 330d seems to be more on the ball, had a bearing go on one of the nissan np300, did a complete overhall sent the diesel  pump for service ,was sent back 100% still good that is after 375000kms 

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On 6/19/2010 at 1:44 AM, BogMonster said:

No and it is a bad idea unless the injector pump is designed to run on it - kero does not lubricate as much as diesel so the pump will eventually seize up. Some military engines are designed to be "common fuel" and run on Jet A1 (chopper fuel) which is basically a good grade kerosene. If you put kero in a modern engine like a Td5 or a Puma it will almost certainly kill it very quickly.

If the engine has a mechanical pump and separate injectors fed via pipes, then as a rule, it will run on Paraffin/Kero/JetA-1. A liter of engine oil or 2 stroke oil per tank will do for the pump.

Common rail engines don't like it at all.

I ran a Mec 240D on JetA-1 pumped straight out of the bowser at work for nearly a year with no side efects, and the company had an old Ford tractor and a Toyota forklift that both ran on JetA-1 for their entire lives of almost 20 years with no ill effects. They start harder in the cold and don't have the same power due to the lower calorific content of thefuel, but they run fine. A colleague ran his Hilux pickup on fuel drain samples for over 10 years, too.

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On 6/21/2010 at 4:04 AM, BogMonster said:

Slightly OT but an interesting aside while we are talking about using the wrong fuel ... motorbikes apparently go like stink on 100LL Avgas, anybody ever tried it in a V8?

I ran my 1275 Mini and my Rover P6 on the old spec 120 Avgas on occasion, and it didn't do any harm. I once called the local refinery and spoke with a chemist there who said that as long as the engine is over 9.5:1 CR and in good condition, Avgas wouldn't be a problem.

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10 years later...

 

On 4/14/2021 at 6:47 PM, EBCALITZ said:

Have been running colt 2,8 non turbo for 2years ,2 nissan yd25 s bmw 330 d using pariffin and 2,5 % lubricant aditive in Lesotho no problems, actually the 330d seems to be more on the ball, had a bearing go on one of the nissan np300, did a complete overhall sent the diesel  pump for service ,was sent back 100% still good that is after 375000kms 

Holy thread revival Batman. lockdown boredom strikes again!

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I was chatting a couple of years ago with one of our engineers in Glasgow about it.  At the time, he was using JetA1 that had been removed from aircraft at the airport for whatever reason in his Tdi 110 and had been doing so for a few years with no apparent trouble.  JetA1 is a high quality kerosene with anti fungal and anti-freeze additives to prevent waxing down to -47oC.  It is in widespread use all over the world, except Russia, which has its own similar fuel TS-1 with similar additives and even better anti waxing, and the US, which uses JetA, only good down to -40oC, so fine for ground vehicles but not so good for aircraft.  Those fuels are for all turbine engines, not specifically helicopters.

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9 hours ago, Snagger said:

I was chatting a couple of years ago with one of our engineers in Glasgow about it.  At the time, he was using JetA1 that had been removed from aircraft at the airport for whatever reason in his Tdi 110 and had been doing so for a few years with no apparent trouble.

Not vehicle related, but I remember a good few years ago someone was caught stealing avgas from Aberdeen airport to run his central heating on. He was caught due to part of his house not being there any more...

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