I was curious about using vegetable oil as the engine lubricant as
well. Apparently it has been looked at and the lubricity is great
but the oil breaks down quickly at high temperatures.
There are good vegetable oil engine lubricants, especially in
Europe. Try these:
http://www.sterlinggrade.com
http://www.renewablelube.com
http://www.gemtek.com/
http://www.terresolve.com/
http://www.soypower.net/
http://www.lubegard.com/
http://www.renewableoil.com/
Thanks for the links, Keith. I've also been thinking about
replacements for petroleum-based motor oil lately. I maintain the
cars for a small intentional community (13 people, 4 families). We
currently put about 70,000 miles on our three cars each year. Two
years ago, I switched one of them to synthetic oil with a drain
interval of 25,000 miles or 1 year. (I'm actually doing 20,000.) The
main advantage this has for me is that I save time changing the oil:
once instead of four times in 20,000 miles. I spend slightly more on
the oil, but the time savings easily makes that up. I've been very
happy with the results and have recently made the switch with our
second car and plan to switch the last car in the next few weeks.
As I understand it, the base stock for synthetic oil could come
from rotting vegetation. However, I have not found anything that
indicates that it actually does. My impression is that they use the
lightest gases from the petroleum refining process and work from
there. Thus, while I have cut my use of petroleum motor oil to a
quarter of what it was (and gained the performance advantages), I
have not stopped using it entirely.
Just the other day, I spent some time looking for a plant-based
motor oil. The only one I came up with was Agro Management Group
(http://www.agromgt.com/). They seem to have a 4-cycle motor oil, but
they don't sell it on their web site. I have not gotten a response to
my query. However, they recommend a 3,000-mile drain interval. From a
time and materials point of view, they could be giving it away for
free and it would still cost me twice as much to use that product as
it costs me to use the synthetic oil because I would be taking the
time to change the oil six to eight times as often. Additionally,
while they emphasize the biodegradability of the product, I don't
think I would be pouring it on my garden when I'm done with it. No
matter what is in it when I put it in my engine, there will be toxic
contaminants in it when I take it out because the engine will add
small amounts of heavy metals from wear, leftover petroleum oil, blow
by, other lubricants, etc. This means I still have to dispose of it
responsibly, Also, I'd be getting rid of six to eight times as much
of the stuff with all of the associated environmental costs of
producing and delivering the product to my door. That does not seem
like the environmentally sound choice. It seems to me that the
vegetable-based products would have to come close to rivaling the
change interval I'm getting now before I would want to switch for
environmental or lifecycle cost reasons.
I looked at the web sites mentioned above, but none seem to have a
motor oil ready for 4-cycle engines. One (http://www.soypower.net/)
seems to have a hydraulic oil (for my backhoe) available, but not
through the web site.
John
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