What is the opinion of the board on buying WVO cars?
 

Found a decent looking 84 SD (turbo diesel)that I would probably make an offer on with the exception of the fact that is a WVO conversion. I don't know who converted it but judging by the jubilation of the board when lovecraft foundered I am thinking WVO may be more ideology than anything else.

If it turns out to be nice, can I just leave it alone and run diesel or ???

Thanks.

If it was a properly installed 2 tank system that heated the oil to the desired temperature prior to sending it to the IP, the setup will be fine.

If not, then you gamble on how long it was run under less than desirable conditions.

Of course, you can cease all WVO operation from this point forward, should you choose to purchase it.

I never thought the economics vs. pita factor made sense for me. I drive about 12,000 miles a year. Say I average 30MPG in my 190D (Maybe it's a little high, but so what.) At $2.65 / gallon for diesel, I spend $1060 a year. If I switched to WVO I'd still need to spend something on diesel (for warm up, on long trips where I couldn't get WVO, when life gets in the way of getting WVO), so let's say I'd spend $260/year on diesel. I'd be saving $9.62 a week, not including amortization of the WVO system cost and any associated maintenance and repairs. It's just simply not worth the hassle. I'll bring lunch to work one day and make my coffee at home instead of picking it up on the way.

I guess it would get interesting for me if I put on maybe 30,000 miles a year and had a good reliable source for WVO.

So I can run pump diesel without doing anything? How about bio? I have ready access to that.

#2 diesel or biodiesel will work fine.

Thanks Brian!

It sure would be nice to have a compression test. 2 concerns right off. 1) Injectors carboned up with poor spray pattern. 2) Low compression which may be hard to detect from a cold startup in Arizona.

It would be interesting to see what the oil fill cap does when loosened and the engine is running.

I will try it, to much pressure = bad?

The more someone you don't know tweaked it, the more chance he/she screwed it up. NO WAY would I ever buy a current or ex-WVO car. Then again, I real stickler for originality.

If its had WVO/SVO used in it, run away. They are usually selling it to get rid of their problem.

If it has injector line heaters or a vegtherm (in-line fuel heater) then you should disable those (or just make sure not to switch them on) when running diesel. These types of electric heaters are sometimes used on two-tank conversions, so they should only be on when you'd be running from the second tank. But on a single tank conversion, they'll likely be on all the time. So you need to find out a little information about your conversion.

Also, some kits have automatic switchover (to the second tank) when the coolant gets up to a certain temp. If that's the case, make sure the whole VO system is turned off when running straight diesel.

too much trouble. if you want to do wvo i would install/build the kit so you could fully understand whats going on in the system. who knows what you're getting

So is it a Lovecraft system or does it have a Frybrid or Greasecar system. You should do a search on blow by and the fill cap to draw your own conclusion.

Check it out the way you would any other MB diesel.....
Start it cold and check for smoke.

Running B99 will clean out a ton of gunk, and if it has a 2 tank
well just think of it as extra range.

If it is a good running car, no need to run away.

never been a big fan of using alternate fuels since if not used correctly will cause a lot of problems. i usually run away from cars ran on wvo etc