OT: kerosene in a diesel motor

totally off the wall question here, but i just overheard something on my CB and it made me think.

a semi on the interstate in front of me was smoking like crazy and another trucker said to him "what the h did you do, fill that thing with effin kerosene?"

so anyway it made me wonder, would a diesel motor run, albeit poorly, on kerosene? (maybe i should stop thinking so much!) seems like my wife tells me i don't think enough most of the time.

(quoted from post at 13:43:47 11/15/12) totally off the wall question here, but i just overheard something on my CB and it made me think.

a semi on the interstate in front of me was smoking like crazy and another trucker said to him "what the h did you do, fill that thing with effin kerosene?"

so anyway it made me wonder, would a diesel motor run, albeit poorly, on kerosene? (maybe i should stop thinking so much!) seems like my wife tells me i don't think enough most of the time.

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Short answer - they will run and run fine on kerosene. Kerosene and #1 diesel are basically the same thing with #1 diesel being a slightly heavier distillate (16 vs 12 carbon atoms per molecule) and a slightly higher cetane number. It is not uncommon for diesel engine manufacturer's (my Kubby for example) to specify kerosene or #1 diesel for extremely cold weather use and #2 diesel for summer use. Over the road fuel also has to conform to a number of EPA standards and most pump kerosene won't make the grade. Plus it isn't subject to road tax and using it as a motor fuel in over the road vehicles is illegal (and expensive if you get caught).

TOH

It depends on what color the smoke is coming out of the truck.
Black smoke can be good or bad. If he is passing everything on the road and blowing black smoke; he's got the fuel turned up on it for more power. If there is not a lot of black smoke and he is running OK otherwise; he may need an air filter. If he's being passed by most everything on the road and blowing black smoke; his turbo is gone and he is taking the chance of ruining his engine.
White-ish smoke is, likely, a head gasket blown and letting coolant into the combustion chamber

it was blue-white, and seemed to only smoke on acceleration. but when it was smoking, it was really pourin it out.

oldhokie, thorough and informative answers like yours are exactly why i love reading and using this forum. there are some extremely bright people on here.

Ioften wondered why the industry didn't come out with kerosene as the normal fuel for everything on the road. Only one pump needed at the stations.

Maybe kerosene would be the "fuel of the future".

Maybe turbine engines will be the engine of the future for every truck and auto.

The Wenkel engine was supposed to be able to burn kerosene. That was 50 yrs. ago.

Just my thoughts...... John,PA

ditto what TOH said.. #1 and k-1 are virtually the same.


#2 is road diesel.. etc..

I'm a retired trucker and up here in cold country our tanks are filled with 50/50. Fifty percent #1 and fifty percent #2. Diesel will get thick in cold weather but will still flow. But your filters will fill up with slush and will stop fuel flow.

I had a new 04 Volvo with a 500 horse Cummins,EGR valve would go bad about every 100,000 moles.That thing would blow black smokeso bad you couldn't see the back of the trailer.$1,ooo.00 would fix it.Richard in Poulsbo

whenever I fill my shop heater with kero,
I add some to my diesel Kubota in the winter.
cheaper than additives

I would us a few gallons per tank full (150 gal)of Kerosene to help clean the injectors, note that kerosene has less oil than diesel fuel.

(quoted from post at 20:01:09 11/16/12)
note that kerosene has less oil than diesel fuel.

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Well diesel and kerosene are both "fuel oils" so I am not sure what that is supposed to mean. Popular opinion has it that a lighter fuel oil (e.g kerosene) doesn't provide the "lubricity" needed for diesel engines. Here's a little comment from the Lucas diesel injector division on that conventional wisdom:

“[i:c1fd427de2]The lubrication of the fuel is [color=red:c1fd427de2]not directly provided by the viscosity [/color:c1fd427de2]of the fuel, but by [color=red:c1fd427de2]other components [/color:c1fd427de2]in the fuel which prevent wear on contacting metal surfaces[/i:c1fd427de2].”

The most notable of those "other components" is the sulfur content. Diesel fuel is not an engine lubricant - motor oil does that job - but it does function as a lubricant for the injection system equipment (injectors, pumps, etc). The new low sulfur formulations have to be supplemented with other lubrication additives to make up for the reduction in lubricity. So a higher sulfur content kerosene which is not refined to motor fuel standards is likely a better lubricant than the ultra low sulfur diesel (ULSD) motor fuel that became mandatory for all road use in the USA in 2010. In addition to reduced lubricity ULSD also has a lower energy content than traditional diesel making it very comparable to kerosene in that regard as well.