'99 Benz veggie conversion - flipped the switch!

[notfarnow]

Originally Posted by PBH

At -15C each night my wife put a priority on the repair. And so did I after I drove to work Monday AM.

I just gulped and bought the parts. If it was any other season I'd be looking around.

I yi yi... that's no good.

Mrs Notfarnow is pretty patient, and WAY cheaper than I am. She'd wear two pairs of socks and 3 sweater before she's allow me spend $750.

But then again, anything's an improvement over the Samurai. You need a raincoat on INSIDE that thing.

[Porsche_monkey]

You don't live in Oakville.

[legion]

Originally Posted by notfarnow

Anyway, I know some of you don't care or the biofuels scene. I tend to agree that growing crops of fuel likely causes more problems than it solves. However, I use waste oil that I get from a restaurant for free... for me it is more a question of taking advantage of an unused resource.

I think this is the key.

This supplements its primary use, not replaces it (as ethanol does).

[notfarnow]

Originally Posted by PBH

You don't live in Oakville.

Ha! No I live in Rothesay, and for the most part they don't take kindly to wingnuts storming around in $chitboxes. I can't help it though, it's my nature

Originally Posted by legion

I think this is the key.

This supplements its primary use, not replaces it (as ethanol does).

Exactly. There is no "magic bullet" energy source, but there are lots of interesting opportunities to take advantage of waste.... be it solar, geothermal or even garbage.

We're just not desperate enough to go through the trouble, that's all. I've built a system that makes it quick & easy. Now that I'm setup it only takes 5-10 minutes a week, tops. Not bad for 2-3K yr in savings.

[notfarnow]

Just when things are going great, some SOB cranked their door into mine in the parking lot... no note. There was a blue Honda beside me this AM, it's there pretty much every day. I'm going to check for a black mark on their door tomorrow morning.

If there IS one, I'm going to slash all their tires and burn their house down. It's the only reasonable response

[Porsche_monkey]

If it's a Honda the black mark is not important. Just do it.

[dewolf]

Ok, please excuse my ignorance, but why can't you just filter the vegie oil and drop it straight in the original tank and drive away? I know little about diesel engines, but I'm planning on ML diesel shortly.

[notfarnow]

Originally Posted by PBH

If it's a Honda the black mark is not important. Just do it.

True enough! The fact that their car starts every time they turn the key, day in, day out is enough to drive me crazy... that was especially true when I was driving my Regret-a-Jetta

Originally Posted by dewolf

Ok, please excuse my ignorance, but why can't you just filter the vegie oil and drop it straight in the original tank and drive away? I know little about diesel engines, but I'm planning on ML diesel shortly.

There is a a lot of evidence that injecting vegetable oil into a cold engine will do damage over time. Even if the oil is heated, if it gets on COLD cylinder walls it causes coking on the piston ring landings and eventually stuck rings. It'll work, but it's frowned upon.

Some people do what's called "single tank" conversions. They use heated filters, injection line heaters and special injectors. They'll work in some warmer climates, but I don't know a whole lot about them because I couldn't get away with one in my climate. There's an outfit in California that does really sketchy one-tank systems: Lovecraft. They are the MotorMeister of the veggie conversion world. That's the problem... lots of peopel have cobbled-together systems that they think work GREAT because the car runs. A diesel will run on turpentine and horse pi$$, but it's not good for it.

Some people also run a 50/50 diesel/veggie mix, or even 25/75 gasoline/veggie. That seems to work great in warmer climates, and Mercedes seem to work well with blends like that. VWs, not so much.

In my case, I have a parallel fuel system for vegetable oil, and can just switch fuels once the car is up to temperature.
I switch back to diesel before turning the car off, and for 2 minutes I'm in a "Purge" cycle where the vegetable oil is being flushed out with diesel, going back into my veggie tank. Once the "purge" is done, I'm I can switch the car off. It's got 100% diesel in the system so it will start fine.


After some minor "tweaks", I should have that down to 1 minute in the winter, 30 seconds in the summer.

[Tobra]

Didn't old Otto design that motor to run on peanut oil?

I like the idea, would do a truck like that

[notfarnow]

Originally Posted by Tobra

Didn't old Otto design that motor to run on peanut oil?

I like the idea, would do a truck like that

Actually I think the first diesel engine ran on coal dust. Imagine that! But yes, the first ones ran on a variety of fuels, including peanut oil. The idea was to make a compression ignition engine that could be run on whatever fuels were on-hand. We're just coming full-circle.

FWIW, the best oil I have EVER run was peanut oil from a szechuan restaurant in Montreal. Car idled 200 rpms higher and went like the blazes. Never understood why.

As for trucks, the dodge cummins are the BEST to run, as long as they aren't the 98.5-2002 engines with the VP44 injection pump. As long as you buy one before or after those years, they are the best trucks to run veggie. Some say the Cummins 12v 5.9 is the BEST engine to run on veggie, car or truck. Ford Powerstrokes are great too, but the Chev 6.2, 6.5 and 6.7s have injection pumps that are REALLY sensitive to heat & viscosity.

[Porsche_monkey]

Originally Posted by notfarnow

FWIW, the best oil I have EVER run was peanut oil from a szechuan restaurant in Montreal. Car idled 200 rpms higher and went like the blazes. Never understood why.

MSG?

[VincentVega]

Great job

I've been looking to do this on my truck and you write up might be the motivation I need.

[notfarnow]

Originally Posted by Chris Martin

Great job

I've been looking to do this on my truck and you write up might be the motivation I need.

What kind of truck?

You can buy complete kits for just about any diesel vehicle. There are 3 main reputable companies: PlantDrive, Frybrid & Greasecar.

I try to steer people towards PlantDrive. They use excellent components and their product support is unparalleled. Craig Reese runs the US side of the company, and he is a great guy.

For more info, here are a couple forums:

This one has been around the longest:
http://biodiesel.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/frm/f/159605551

However, it's become cumbersome and poorly moderated. A few of us just started a new php forum that is picking up steam:
http://www.burnveg.com/forum/

Either way, PM me if you have any questions, Chris. I'm headed out on vacation but will be back in 10 days.