I currently live about 4 miles from my job. Two or Three times a month I have to commute about 100 miles round-trip. Other than that, my wife and I drive here and there, grocery store, etc. All fairly close to home.

My question is; how far do you have to drive to make WVO worth it?

WVO would be OK for the 100 mile trips but it's hardly worth the bother for a couple of miles here and there, if you have a 2-tank system and have to go through the switch-over process at each end of the trip.

If you live in a very warm climate, you may be able to get away with using WVO in an unheated system, using only the heat from the flames that are about to envelop me from the members of this forum who strongly disagree with abusing a diesel engine in such a manner.

Another possibility would be to mix the WVO with regular diesel fuel, either petro-or bio-. Use a 50-50 mixture if the weather is not too cold (you don't say where you live). BTW, what kind of a car are we talking about?

A third option would be to turn the WVO into biodiesel yourself, thus eliminating the need to modify the fuel system. If I had a good supply of WVO I would do that myself.

Jeremy

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"Buster" in the '95

Our all-Diesel family
1996 E300D (W210) . .338,000 miles Wife's car
2005 E320 CDI . . 113,000 miles My car
Santa Rosa population 176,762 (2022)
Total. . . . . . . . . . . . 627,762
"Oh lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz."
-- Janis Joplin, October 1, 1970

Driving 4 miles each way you would only be using WVO for about 1/2mile each way.

Stick with Diesel or find some BioDiesel.

I agree with Forced. Go with D2 or bio. 4 miles is not worth it. Seems like making your own bio-d would be a good option for you.

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'79 300SD
'82 Chevy Chevette diesel

I thought about doing a conversion when I bought my first 300D. When I figured out the price of a quality conversion, and a system for filtering and preparing the WVO. It would have taken me 4 years of running on "FREE" WVO to break even. Your results may vary. In the summertime I ride the Harley and the car sits.

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'83 240D (for sale)
'84 Harley FXRT
'85 300CD Turbo (Sold)
'85 500SEC (for sale)
'04 Dodge Dakota Quad
'06 Harley FLHTCI
'97 SL320

Exactly! LOL!

I've been running WVO blend in North FLorida for almost 2 years now on my 240D, and so far so good. Doesn't seem to be taking a toll, seems to be running better than when I first got it. Admittedly, it could be coking the rings and all that stuff and I wouldn't really know would I? But I paid less than $1000 for the car and have done about 60K miles on it saving at least $2 a gallon, so I'm in the black on that one!

But, for you, turnbase, I would definately go for Biodiesel. All that short driving with WVO will not do your engine any favors. I do 42 highways miles each way everyday and that gets to burn of the stuff well. 4 miles you'll hardly have warmed up.

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1983 240D Silver/Blue "Sadie", unknown miles. 100k miles on WVO single tank, converted to 2 tank about 10k miles ago, FPHE, Injector Heaters, Aux Fuel pump. Alcohol/Water injection. Frantz oil bypass filter
1992 300D 2.5 Turbo Green/Tan "Jade" 267K miles Stock.
1992 300D 2.5 tan/tan "Rocky" on 2 tank WVO. Pressure actuated Turbo "rat's nest" surgery completed. 197k miles

Work up a good two tank conversion for trips and get a bicycle for work. After three years and probably 5000 miles on WVO, I figure I am approaching the break even point. In the usual mix of city/highway use, I am burning about 50-50 WVO and diesel. Muliple approaches exist to reduce dino fuel consumption and using WVO in an old Mercedes is one of the more high maintenence options, but a great hobby.

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1983 CD
1958 Studebaker Packard (being resuscitated)

Forced, you feeling okay?

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1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)

I think you would destroy your engine in short order with a 4 mile commute on WVO.....it'd destroy it even faster than a longer commute would.

An 8 mile round trip in these cars currently costs about.... $1.20 - $1.30 in fuel.....thats not much....an engine costs $5000.

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-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

Lets put it this way, my brother use to live in the nearby town and drive out to the little community where my parents live to work, about a twenty five mile trip one way, and he used a two tank wvo system. He moved to that town and now his new job is less than five miles from his house so the car is mine and he rides a bike. I'd say you'd need at least a twenty mile and twenty minute or so commute to make it worth it without doing damage to the engine.

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Seth

1984 300D 225K
1985 300D Donor body
1985 300D Turbo 165K. Totaled. Donor Engine. It runs!!!
1980 300SD 311K My New Baby.
1979 BMW 633csi 62K+++? Dead odo

I drive about 8-9 miles to work each day. In the winter, my coolant doesn't reach 180*F before I get to work (that's usually when I switch). In the summer, it only takes 2-3 miles. So, needless to say, in the winter I'm only on VO for road trips.

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1985 300TD-euro 352,000 mi
1974 240D (1?)52,000 mi - has a new home now

agreed. 50 mile trip to work = veg

around town on short trips diesel.

It takes me ~3.5 miles in <35F temps and ~2 miles in >60F temps to be able to switch to veggie w/ a 603 motor.

Sounds like you bio is a better candidate for you.

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82 300D....went to MB heaven
90 350 SDL....excercising con rods

I have a 35 mile commute. WVO paid for itself in less than 6 months. But a short commute would just cause issues.

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83 300SD Dark Silver Dark brown inside

.

Hello

Blending is working for me also.

Mix the veggie oil with diesel, gas, or acetone etc...

Enough of a solvent to keep the oil thinned out.

No problems so far.

Thanks
Have Fun !
RichC


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When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.
Jimi Hendrix