oldestof11 wrote:Something to think about.
My grandfather worked in the main mechanics shop in Notre Dame for Studebaker. They had a guy come in and ask for their old oil. The guy poured it straight into his engine after he emptied "dam near new oil" according to the old man. They laughed at him and told him to buzz off. About 30 mins after he started his engine, while running it above idle in front of the shop, he called the guys back. Opened the oil drain and out came new oil. My grandfather was very inquisitive and asked if he could see what did it. Opened the hood to find the oil coming out of the oil pressure gauge had a T. The copper wire was run around the exhaust manifold and went through a sediment filter "like they used on the old tractors." After that it went around the manifold again before going through 2 filters.
Something about heating the oil really hot separated the oil from the sediments. I don't know how that will affect synthetic though.
In theory, if the oil is heated hot enough, the particulates suspended in the oil base become heavier than the oil and settle out.
The problem is, by heating the oil to that point (which is close to it's boiling point), it also removes many of the beneficial additives in the oil.
Regrdless of any additives lost, as long as it didn't affect the lubricating attributes of the oil base and if any non-ferrous (non-magnetic) materials were filtered out, then it could be a feasible motor fuel.
But you're talking a lot more time to process than WVO into Biodiesel.
It just doesn't seem worth the hassle or risk.
Another neat way to filter oil is by pushing oil through processed cotton fiber (which would be moderately packed into a cannister), similar to how the '30s-'40s cars used to filter their oil.
Mark.