Help me, I am lost somewhere. Here I am, driving about 25,000 miles in the 79 300D every year and trying tou use alternative methods to power the car. I live in Los Angeles, with a myriad of resources on waste oil.
What I want: to have a simple filtering station in my garage in my house, minus the mess, deliver the barrell, I hook up, I run the station and then into the tank.
What else: I do NOT want to pay political prices on Diesel, shich should cost much less than regular gasoline.

What I don't want: conversions to my car. I want to pump the stuff into the tank and GO
I don't want links to complicated and overthreaded forums but a layman's list of options to get out of the commercial pump. All what I've read are complicated sites with overpriced kits almost impossible to amortize. I do not want to alter my car since often I drive out of state and need to pump there No. 2 Diesel
Who can help me out on a SIMPLE way to get my plans going I am renovating my house and garage this may be the time to do somthing.
Searching within the forum does not get me anywhere

__________________
"Schwarzbraun ist die Haselnuss":

1979 300D 234.000 Miles "Brownie"
daily driver,
1979 6.9 Sundays to the Tavern
and car shows "Big Brownie"

I share your frustration but what you seek is called the Holy Grail. Mankind has been searching for it for years.

Sixto
95 S420
87 300SDL

What Sixto said. I'm about as frustrated over this as you are, particularly with the "complicated and overthreaded forums".

But, I don't think it's possible to run straight vegetable oil in your car without modifying it so that the fuel tank is heated, unless you want to risk engine damage. And, even then, you'll have to run on #2 diesel until the tank's heated sufficiently.

THAT SAID, I think you can find a way to turn the tank heating off, and then run regular diesel in your tank. This is what I plan to do when I convert my truck...

Another thought would be to mix the vegetable oil with regular diesel. I don't know the proper ratio (another source of frustration for me), but there's a certain percentage you can safely run.

I wish I had more to offer, but I'll be watching this thread as well...

You need to rethink what you are asking. The only way to safely run WVO through your car without modification is to process it into biodiesel. This means you get to deal with that mess you don't want, and play with nasty chemicals.

Otherwise, you need to install an auxilliary tank in the vehicle, and perform the required fuel delivery system mods, and switches in the car. Unprocessed, cold oil will not flow properly, starving your injection pump of lubrication in the fuel delivery side of the pump, and damaging it, as well as coking the injectors with unburned oil from poor atomization. You will also have to install secondary filtering systems to the second tank to insure that every bit of food matter is indeed removed from the waste oil. 5 microns seems to pop into mind.

Sorry, but if you want to go from $2.50 per gallon fuel, to free fuel, you are going to have to make some concessions somewhere along the line. As they say, there is no free lunch.

Here is one way to look at it: You drive 25K/yr. MPG? I will use 25mpg to make the math easy. 25000miles/25mpg=1000gallons of fuel used 1000gallons of fuel at $2.40/gallon?=$2400.00/year fuel costs. Now most of the WVO kits I have seen cost $600-$800 dollars for your application. A competent DIY can handle the install or maybe you have to pay $200-$300 to have a knowledgeable mechanic install the kit? The modifications to the vehicle are minimal with the exception of cutting some small (2inch) holes to pass the WVO/heater lines into the trunk for the WVO tank. Collecting WVO can be a challenge but many have successfully coerced restaurants into simply putting the WVO back into the convienient "cubee's" that it came in making it very simple to transport. Used 55gallon drums, you will need 2 can be had for free or a very minimal fee. Most filter bags will last 50-100gallons for each $5 bag so figure one bag per month? Possibly you would want/need a WVO transfer pump to make collection, fueling, etc. easier and they can be had for $100-$200 with hoses and filter. Figure on using 10% of your normal diesel total as you still have to start/shutdown on petro, so 100gallonsX$2.40gallon=$240.00/year Okay so heres the breakdown:

Conversion kit w/install $800-$1100
WVO barrells, pump, etc. $300max
Filter bags $5/month $60/year
Diesel fuel $240.00/year

Total first year cost max.@ = $1740.00

The second year is where it really shows:
WVO system=paid off.
Filter bags=$60/yr
Diesel fuel=$240/yr

Total=@$300.00/year

Any way you slice it the WVO is much cheaper than diesel. Sure its more effort than pulling up to the pump. What you have to decide is if the convienience of pulling up to the pump is worth $2100/year to you. Thats like a small raise. It puts less money in the oil companies/arab pockets. Its pays for car insurance. That new hobby you wanted to start. etc. RT

__________________
When all else fails, vote from the rooftops!
84' Mercedes Benz 300D Anthracite/black, 171K
03' Volkswagen Jetta TDI blue/black, 93K
93' Chevrolet C2500HD ExCab 6.5TD, Two-tone blue, 252K

In that climate, you really wouldn't have to do a whole lot to run filtered WVO
To do it right, it would be a good idea to get a heater like the veg therm that the Neoteric folks sell ( about $120 with the relay and install goodies ), but I wouldn't worry about the whole kit)

In arkansas, even this week I ran 90% wvo 10% diesel blend in my '82 300sd with no modifications . I am going to install a veg therm and a heated filter soon, it will get cold here eventually.

Easy filtering setup. I gather ( I was using an expensive electric pump, but I found that a $13 hand crank barrell pump works faster) into 15 gal plastic drums, get it home and pump it into a 55 gal drum with a pipe fitting about 6" up from the bottom. Let it sit a week to settle, then open the valve, it goes through a 10 micron water block filter first , then through a 2 micron spin on filter , then into the25 gal storage barrels, where I have another barrell pump. Strap the barrel to a dolly, roll it to the car, and watch the gauge as I fill it up to leave enough room to go to the station and top it with diesel to thin it out a bit ( when I get the heated stuff on , I'll be able to skip that last part in the warmer months)

---------Robert

I plan on running 20 - 25% VERY filtered WVO. Highest place in the US to buy diesel. Sometimes it gets as low as 60 degrees in the winter on Maui

Los Angeles might get into the high 30's for a few hours in the winter so I'm thinking a similar mix would be good there too.

__________________
You can get farther with a smile and a gun than you can with just a smile.

1984 300D
1985 300CD
1980 300SD
1993 SL500

While I understand the rationale for a "partial" conversion or simply running a fuel heater to allow a heavy WVO blend or straight WVO in the tank in warm climates it doesn't give the user complete flexibility. While I don't know the intended use of the vehicle being in Kalifornia does have the benefits of access to great mountains for skiing and snowboarding in winter. With the possiblility of use in such variable climates it would seem beneficial to go with a full heated fuel system, would it not? I suppose you could just burn diesel on the winter ski trips but that would negate some of the advantages of WVO. RT

__________________
When all else fails, vote from the rooftops!
84' Mercedes Benz 300D Anthracite/black, 171K
03' Volkswagen Jetta TDI blue/black, 93K
93' Chevrolet C2500HD ExCab 6.5TD, Two-tone blue, 252K