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Car Forum / Mercedes-Benz Cars / May 2005300SD biodiesel conversion
Hi, Yet another quick question: I got restaurant connections and can get about a million gallons of peanut oil right NOW. I've learnt it is NOT the same as biodiesel fuel AND you have to filter the oil yourself, possibly convert your car. Diesel being 30 cents more expensive than gas, I'm considering 'burning canola'. Anyone with experience? Thanks. Mia 1984 300SD Try www.greasecar.com, tell them Bryan sent you. Bryan Bryan, While the product on GreaseCar site looks wonderful, it costs 800 bucks. Considering the price of these Mercedes diesels, it's a solid chunk of change in comparison to vehicle price AND added maintenance. I was thinking along the lines of purging my system of diesel, dumping canola into the tank, and driving. Maybe I'd pay a hundred bucks. Not more. Mia The only way that you can guarantee the car will start up every single time is to start and shutoff the car with diesel fuel... vege oil tends to thicken and that will plug up your fuel line. You must use two tank for your reliability purpose. There are cheaper system... just search for SVO conversion. Correct me if I'm wrong ... Can you plug up the injectors with chunks of french fries in peanut oil? Because fuel needs to be atomized, is added maintenance (checking & replacing filters more often, inspecting injectors, cleaning banjo, etc) worth using peanut oil at all? > Correct me if I'm wrong ... Can you plug up the injectors with chunks > of french fries in peanut oil? Because fuel needs to be atomized, is > added maintenance (checking & replacing filters more often, inspecting > injectors, cleaning banjo, etc) worth using peanut oil at all? Hi Mia, I haven't ventured into this yet, but would you be interested in adding the filtered veggie oil to a tank of diesel? I haven't gone to the trouble of looking for an oil supply and I'm not interested in fiddling with my car to do the Greasecar/Greasle thing, but I might be inclined to strain and dump some oil into a tank of diesel fuel. Does anyone know how much oil you could get away with? 20%? 40%? (and still have your car start!) Thanks, Tim Delaney '84 300SD 217,000 km Interesting idea ... I still don't understand how you can manually refine canola so well that it doesn't plug up your system. Heat and time so all sediments goes to bottom of the barrel. Then you draw the top of the oil and filter it further before it get to the car. The gravity filter they used to clean the oil traps 5 micron particles... takes a while to filter the oil along with black barrel so heat builds up in daytime. > Interesting idea ... I still don't understand how you can manually > refine canola so well that it doesn't plug up your system. What is it in veggie oil that can possibly plug up a system, unless it is taken straight from the deep fryer and dumped in the fuel tank? I know people who simply filter the cooking oil and dump it in the tank. Some mix it 50/50 with ordinary diesel and some are now running on straight veggie oil. I do know that some people have had to replace some of the fuel lines, especially the flexible "bubble" return line hose on the driver's side of the 300D. Other than that I simply don't see how pure canola oil would plug anything. Maybe checking viscosity with a good meter would tell you if you needed some additives to thin the oil to a more reasonable viscosity. Veggie oils can be considerably "heavier" than ordinary diesel fuel. BTW did you know you can "stretch" a tank of diesel in emergency situations with regular gasoline? Don't mix more than 50/50 and avoid driving more than 100 miles or so. Have done it myself with virtually no negative results. Simply filled the tank with diesel when I reached a station with diesel fuel. > Does anyone know how much oil you could get away with? 20%? 40%? (and > still have your car start!) My 300d (in need of a severe tune up) starts right up in a mixture of almost all canola oil. cp "My 300d (in need of a severe tune up) starts right up in a mixture of almost all canola oil." Which ain't saying much, cause there's a big difference between it starting in Florida as opposed to upstate NY in January. > "My 300d (in need of a severe tune up) starts right up in a mixture of > almost all canola oil." > > Which ain't saying much, cause there's a big difference between it > starting in Florida as opposed to upstate NY in January. Here in BC it's warm as well but that's beside the point; looks like the lady was worried whether her car would start on pure cooking oil. cp >> "My 300d (in need of a severe tune up) starts right up in a mixture of >> almost all canola oil." [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > Here in BC it's warm as well but that's beside the point; looks like > the lady was worried whether her car would start on pure cooking oil. Actually, he's making a very legit point. In a cold climate like Edmonton or calgary, or god forbid, Medicine Hat, your car won't start in the winter, without more elaborate systems. Marty "Actually, he's making a very legit point. In a cold climate like Edmonton or calgary, or god forbid, Medicine Hat, your car won't start in the winter, without more elaborate systems. " Yes, and if CP doesn't know about that, one can only wonder how much, if anything, he really knows about using vegetable oil in a diesel. There is a ton of information out there to help you convert your diesel to run on waste vegetable oil. It is not a conversion to be done lightly however as there are variables that need to be taken into account. If you live in a very warm climate, it is possible to run without diesel at all and just start your car at any time, but most people need some sort of two-tank system in order to start (and shut down) on regular diesel, get the car up to operating temperature, then switch to WVO and then purge the engine of WVO before shutting off. It sounds more complicated than it is. One of the best information sites on the Web is frybrid.com. This guy who runs it has designed two-tank systems for a variety of cars and has installed tons of them. He is so busy with doing that that he hardly does regular servce anymore, that's how popular the concept is and how well it works (and how tested it is). You should also check out biodieselnow.com For those of you concerned about the cost at Greasel (or frybrid for that matter) think of it this way, for an investment of $1000, and a bit of time, you get the advantage of free fuel and you help the environment. This is the SOLE reason I just purchased an 84 300 d turbo diesel. > "Actually, he's making a very legit point. In a cold climate like > Edmonton or calgary, or god forbid, Medicine Hat, your car won't > start in the winter, without more elaborate systems. " > > Yes, and if CP doesn't know about that, one can only wonder how much, > if anything, he really knows about using vegetable oil in a diesel. CP lives in a mild climate, so it's really not an issue for him. Marty > > "Actually, he's making a very legit point. In a cold climate like > > Edmonton or calgary, or god forbid, Medicine Hat, your car won't [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > Marty Yes, and I can't tell you how thrilled I am that some people want to occupy those frigid territories. I'm from Ohio......and stayin' that way! > Yes, and if CP doesn't know about that, one can only wonder how much, > if anything, he really knows about using vegetable oil in a diesel. I know very well, I just should have read the thread closer. Anyways, using unburned cooking oil is not a good idea in the long run, best to get used stuff and filter it. Or do the transesterification and turn it into biodiesel. The following book explains everything, I recommend it: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0970722702/wwwdataunlimi-20?creative=3276 41&camp=14573&link_code=as1 Also, if you buy it through the above link I'll make 27 cents! yay! cp > Actually, he's making a very legit point. In a cold climate like Edmonton or calgary, or god forbid, Medicine Hat, your car > won't start in the winter, without more elaborate systems. yeh, I had to reread the thread... :-) Hey, that's alright - another month and we won't have to worry about frost in sunny NS. Thanks for the comment, cp! Tim |
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