The most popular post by far on the Vegwerks Blog is Which Diesel Should I Get for a SVO (WVO, VegOil) Conversion?
Not surprisingly, it’s also the most common email (and phone call) question that I get.
So, loyal readers, here are my top three choices for SVO trucks:
- 1994-1998.5 Dodge Cummins 5.9l 2nd gen 12 valve
- 1989-1993 Dodge Cummins 5.9l 1st gen 12 valve
- 1983-1994 Ford International 6.9/7.3l pre-Powerstroke
Now, here’s the details:
Straight Vegetable Oil (SVO), even when heated, is still thicker than diesel. You need a truck with an injection pump than can withstand the added stress of SVO.
The strongest injection pump out there out there is the Bosch inline P7100, found on 2nd generation 12 valve Dodge Cummins trucks.
The best SVO truck:
1994-1998.5 Dodge Cummins 5.9l 2nd gen 12 valve
Other good candidates for a vegoil conversion are pre-Powerstroke 6.9/7.3 Fords with the regular Stanadyne injection pumps and 1st generation 12 valve Dodges with the Bosch VE rotary pump. Personally, I convert a lot of VWs with the Bosch VE pump, and have good luck with them, so I would prefer a Dodge, but they are harder to find than the Fords. In early 1994 Ford made a turbodiesel version of the 7.3 IDI, it’s the newest, most powerful of the old-style pre-Powerstroke engines.
Common, easier to convert diesel trucks:
1989-1993 Dodge Cummins 5.9l 1st gen 12 valve
1983-1994 Ford 6.9/7.3l IDI
Halfway through 1994 Ford switched from an Indirect Injection (IDI) engine to a Direct Injection (DI) system with a Hydraulic Electronic Unit Injection (HEUI), a type of Common-Rail system, instead of a regular mechanical injection pump. These are very common, but the fuel routing issues cause purge times to be almost 15 minutes with a standard conversion. With the extra modifications to reduce purge times, these can run vegoil very well, but may cost $1000-$2000 more.
Common diesels that may require more complex, expensive conversions:
1994.5-1997 Ford Powerstroke 7.3l 1st gen
1999-2003 Ford Powerstroke 7.3l 2nd gen
GMC/Chevy trucks have a very sensitive injection pump that is known to break when running straight vegetable oil. I don’t recommend converting these trucks, although there are a few local GMC fanatics who are running SVO.
The Dodge VP44 is a radial-piston rotary pump, instead of the axial-piston VE rotary pump, and that makes a lot of difference. Basically, the VP44 is a sensitive pump that breaks easily on straight vegetable oil.
Not Recommended:
1982-2000 GMC/Chevy 6.2/6.5l
1998.5-2002 Dodge Cummins 5.9l 24 valve
Yeah, but what about the newer trucks? Ummmmm, they’re newer. All have Direct Injection (DI) engines with some sort of common-rail injection system, and would require at least as much additional modifications as the 7.3l Powerstrokes. We can convert them, but consider converting them experimental and expensive.
And what about Isuzu, Toyota, International, and other early 80’s trucks? Well, most of them are pretty good candidates, but info on the rare trucks is beyond the scope of this piece, although I’ve happily driven an old VW pickup for years on SVO.
Tags: best, conversion, diesel, SVO, truck, Vegoil, vehicle, WVO
April 1, 2008 at 9:27 pm
[...] Vegwerks has answers this question thoroughly here. And the winner [...]
May 26, 2008 at 4:37 pm
I was just wondering if you had to pick a new truck what would it be? I have looked for 1994-1998 dodge 12 valves but they all seem to have alot of miles and be used hard. I would love to know what you think about anything 2003 or newer. Thanks alot.
June 1, 2008 at 5:58 pm
I have an 04 Dodge that I have converted to run on svo. I ran about 15k on it then have had two injector problems. I have switched back to diesel and bio D. and have been afraid to run svo again. The Mechanic I went to is adament that my truck will not run w/o problems. I have to make a decision soon as to whether I need to alter my truck or buy an older model that has a more forgiving fuel delivery system. Any suggestions?
July 6, 2008 at 1:54 pm
I’ve looked at the results of veggie (soy) oil tests of engines that where run on dynos at ISU ( Iowa State University) in the 80s,( remember that OPEC issue ?), I saw LOTS of Coking from “Veggie oil” on the inards of agricultural/ industrial diesel engines; including cracked rings due to this build-up. There was heavy coking on the injectors and coking and burning near the valves. No hype here, I saw it! Looked at the torn down engines. One with cracked rings only had 400 hours on it!
The glycerine or glycerol contained in the triglyceride, (veggie oil), is the culprit, it causes coking when it burns.
Moral of the story: Use Bio-D instead.
The process of making Bio-D from any veggie oil or animal fat removes the glycerol. With Veg oil (SVO or WVO), the engine damage is eminent, it WILL happen it’s just a matter of when.
Methyl-ester or Ethyl-ester ( bio-d types), are great. They contain no glycerol to produce carcinogens or coking……yes burning the glycerol portion of vegetable oils or animal fat triglycerides, produces a carcinogen. Every time you fire up that SVO or WVO burner, you put us all at higher risk of cancer. As if we didn’t already have enough to worry about right? I’m sure there are some folks who are so convinced that SVO or WVO is “the way to go” that they will vigorously disagree with this but facts and reality must prevail over opinion in order to make the world a better and safer place.
Don’t just take my word for this, verify it. There are a lot of good sources of info on-line and published in a variety of books written by very credible people.
Bio-diesel is much better and typically requires little if any modification to the engine or it’s fuel system. I have a Cummins diesel powered Dodge Ram truck that has been running Bio-D for over two years with no problem at all. My wife has driven her TDI VW over 50,000 mi on blends of B-50 to B-100 without a glitch.
I firmly believe that Bio-D is the best current alternative fuel available at this time.
Howie
May 10, 2009 at 1:00 pm
As far as I know, the injection pumps on ford 6.9 and chevy 6.2 are almost the same pump,except for rotation direction.
May 11, 2009 at 8:49 am
Yep, I don’t know what’s different inside since they seem to be practically the same. I haven’t had a Ford pump blow from SVO, but have lots of GMC pumps failing when running veg. Are there any pump-builders out there who can help explain this?
July 7, 2009 at 11:19 am
Vegistroke system in or 2003 Excursion works great (7.3L)! It runs off its own pump and filter. Completely separate from the stock system. If it stops working for whatever reason it automatiaclly switches over to diesel without interuption. The fully “auto” feature is nice too. http://www.dinofuelalternatives.com