About 2 months ago I
finally gave up on my VW Jetta. I set about to land a new set of wheels, and managed a deal typical of the internet age.
I found a '99 Benz e300d in Montreal (~600 miles away). I got some advice on
mercedeshop.com, and then had the car checked out by an independent Benz specialist. Bought the car. I also managed to sell the VW to a guy from Montreal on a VW diesel forum.
So, back in January I drove up to Montreal in the Jetta after work on a Thursday, and drove back with the Benz on Sunday.
Since then, I've been plugging away after work and on weekends to get it converted to run on used cooking oil. There are only a handful of these cars converted, and some of the guys doing them are pretty tight with their info.... frustrating at times. So, I decided to document my conversion step-by-step:
http://jakesbenzconversion.blogspot.com/2008/01/index-of-updates.html
Some of you guys have emailed me with comments and questions, so I thought I'd post now that the "big moment" has arrived.
On Sunday night, I finally "flipped the switch":
It's been running like a million bucks since. No small feat, as these cars are pretty sensitive to air leaks and losing their "prime". Part of the conversion involves rearranging the fuel plumbing so that the fuel is PULLED through the filters instead of pushed... making it even more prone to air leaks. I changed all my fuel lines, and drilled & tapped the diesel filter housing to take barbed fittings. The car actually idles smoother and runs better than it did BEFORE the conversion.
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.
It's a waste item many restaurants LOVE to get rid of, it saves me thousands in fuel each year, and it gives lower emissions.
Either way, I thought a few of you might find some of the fabrication and figgerin' interesting.
Here are a few pics:
And as an added bonus, anyone familiar with these cars or the Benz om606 engine will know they are prone to seizing their glow plugs. Last week I decided to pull them as preventative maintenance... and had one snap off in the head! That was fun to deal with:
http://jakesbenzconversion.blogspot.com/2008/02/glow-plug-disaster.html