I have Personal experience of running an OM-617 N/A engine for over 80 K Miles on straight veggy, all year round, with just a little RUG in very cold weather, to ensure quick and easy starting, with little 'cold-smoke'....

Thats over 6 years of motoring, day in day out....

I used WVO, Well filtered and de-watered, and tested.

Its all in the preparation of the Engine, and the WVO.

The only time I had an issue, It was my fault, due to poor WVO filtration prior to fuelling car. The vehicle filter blocked....

Yes, There have been disasters with Direct-Injection engines, such as land-rovers and some toyotas, VW TDI types, but the design of the Pre-Chamber M.B. engine overcomes significantly the issues of ring-gumming present in the large open chamber of a Direct-Injection engine.

(Pre-Chambers ROCK!)

First things first. The engine must be in Good Condition to start with. Any issues relating to the fuel-system or Compression deficiencies Must be sorted out first--Important!

My engine had done 300 odd K Before I started using veggy, and is Still running well, at 390 odd K-(Although the Car rotted away round it )

-I keep it as a 'spare' even though its a bit old and 'loose at the seams'

Before removing it from the rotten car, it had been standing for a year or so, and it was the middle of Winter when I needed to strip the car. It started believe it or not, first time, no missing or messing round, and drove to my 'dismantling area' perfectly.

I regularly checked the compression pressures/leak-down, and found they did not alter appreciably over the years, maybe just a gradual trend downwards, which is expected on such a high-mile engine. (It was well worn when I bought the car, (280's to 300 in test-pressures) but good maintanence and Preparation for veggy prevented any possible issues.

Preparation of a OM-617 for veggy should include these-

Timing Advancement by 4 degrees--Important!.

New Injection-Nozzles, (Your choice but I found DNOSD261 work Very well for my n/a, and I'm currently testing some 265's which look promising) and set to 10 bar Below standard Maker's setting--Important!.

Larger diameter fuel lines from fuel-tank, and the tank gauze-filter gauze replaced for one with 1.5mm cross-hatch pitch-(prevents air being drawn in when fuel-level low)

Replacement engine 5 micron fuel-filter (large), (upgraded to a 1 micron later) and a small H.E. prior to fuel-filter to prevent tallow-fat filter plugging--which shouldn't happen anyway if the oil was properly filtered when cold....
You may not need the H.E if you always use fresh unused Rape-oil.

'Pre-filter' scrapped--too restrictive for the more viscous fuel, causes starvation at high-speeds

Engine Lube-oil changed at 3K miles regardless...

The preparation of the Oil is perhaps much more important than Any engine-mods...

Crud and moisture are THE Biggest killer of Any diesel fuel-system Regardless of fuel

It must be WELL filtered while Cold, de-watered and properly Dried, by heat and lots of air--Test Every 'batch' before it goes anywhere near the car...

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http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...0TDnoplate.jpg

Alastair AKA H.C.II South Wales, U.K. based member

W123, 1985 300TD Wagon, 256K,
-Most recent M.B. purchase, Cost-a-plenty, Gulps BioDiesel extravagantly, and I love it like an old dog.

W114, 1975 280E Custard Yellow,
-Great above decks needs chassis welding--Really will do it this year....

You linked us to a VW TDI website complaining about WVO...that really proves your arguement.

I'm sure it will not take you much time to find a link to a thread that has firsthand complaints about WVO in MB Diesels.

I'll read that once you get it linked. Please don't link to a Lovecraft hating thread...his stuff is pretty much universally hated as junk.

-Jim

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1995 S350D, Green with black leather interior.
Bought January 2008 w/ 233,xxx miles.
I did 22,000 miles during the first year of ownership.

Its only one of the more high-profile ones I've come across. I only linked to it because people won't find it only searching through this forum.

and ELSBETT where is your proof on that?

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2005 SL65
1999 E300
1995 E300
1994 SL320
1988 560SL
1987 300TD
1982 300D
1955 300SL

They are nothing special over any other "conversion" selling company, they just happened to build an engine a long time ago.
The information in post #61, excpet setting the pop pressure lower, is all they do more than others.

GOOD. Now that Rich's childish game is over after 6 days of his trolling the thread can finally get back up after being dragged down to his sewer. Wanna delete my post???? Delete these!

.

Day one.

No links to any kind of evidence that veggie harms the OM61X engines.


RichC

.

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

AND day one of ONE person having done 100K on veggie; and Alstair's well written 80k on veggie in second. Note he doesn't say pour it in and go, there are a few caveats.......

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Terry Allison
N. Calif. & Boca Chica, Panama

09' E320 Bluetec 77k (USA)
09' Hyundai Santa Fe Diesel 48k (S.A.)

remapping ECU, longer glow plugs that stay on after the engine has been started, timing etc

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2005 SL65
1999 E300
1995 E300
1994 SL320
1988 560SL
1987 300TD
1982 300D
1955 300SL

For the record:

I've been running WVO for over 5 years, and have logged almost 210k miles on my converted VWs & am up to 10k miles on my e300d.

I converted my father's '83 300SD to a two-tank system in 2004. He's put on ~85k miles since then of daily, trouble-free winter/summer driving.

Yes, running WVO can ruin your engine. There is no question about it. But then again, running diesel can ruin your engine too, if you run crap fuel. Would you guys run old skanky diesel that has water in it? No, probably not... but some would.

It's the same with WVO... if you run crap fuel, or your car isn't properly modified to handle WVO, you will have problems. It may take A LONG TIME for the problems to present themselves, but it will happen eventually.

I would say that about half of the conversions I see in person or online are going to do damage to the car over time. There is a lot of junk out there, and a lot of hack jobs. But let's be realistic... many of the cars being converted are in their final years, and so deferred maintenance and outright abuse will more likely be the cause of death, not a bad WVO conversion. Kinda like my great aunt who took up smoking at 82.

I'll say this though, I think the WVO crowd sometimes fails to understand why they aren't always welcomed by the Mercedes diesel aficionados. These cars are cherished by them, and for ages it was a tight-knit group of people who loved and appreciated the cars. As a community, they'd help each other find, restore and maintain the cars. Then all of a sudden they find they are inundated with a bunch of hooligans who don't seem to have any appreciation for the make, they just want (seemingly) to use and abuse their cherished cars. I've seen some of the sadder cases, I can see why they react that way.

It's kinda like a bunch of drunken cowboys rolled into town and started boozing up and groping the farmers' daughters.

But really, some of us cowpokes ain't all bad... honest sir, and we got the best of intentions for yer daughters.

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Jake
1999 e300d PlantDrive WVO/SVO conversion
**note to self: oil changed at 268k kms**
1990 Toyota 4Runner FrankenDiesel swap

very well put ^^^
Mercedes are excellent cars and i must say that in my mind with this project that I undertook the VO came first and then the car, but for most of the people on the site it is all about the benz. The more and more I get to know my car the more and more I really do appreciate the QUALITY of the car. It was born the same year I was, is 23 years old and still has the power and spunk of a young car (just like her mom ).

I think you really brought the point home when you mentioned, like others have as well that PROPER MAINTENANCE AND GOOD FUEL are key to the survival of any engine no matter what fuel it is running on.

I like the comparison of VO users to cowboys

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1985 300D Turbo Diesel
(converted 7/20/08 single tank, vegmax, vegtherm, 100% WVO summer blend, running beautifully and cheaply)
http://www.plantdrive.com/
"You must be the change you wish to see in the world." - Gandhi

To help appease some of the "farmers", my intention is to leave the Mercedes' factory original. I have a lot of prior experience with GM and with Jeep, and appreciate the nuances that MB engineers put into these cars. I want to change my fuel, not change my car.

The reason the drunken cowboys descended on MB town is that MB designed the best platform for solving the world's petroleum problem.

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Mark in MA
05 MB E320CDI 402k Granite Grey Metallic
05 MB E320CDI 267k Black
05 MB E320CDI 232k White
05 MB E320CDI 209k Tectite Grey
99 Dodge 2500 Cummins 5sp 148k
62 Jeep CJ-6 120k

looks like the worlds petroleum problems have already been solved, only I missed the announcement!!

http://www.dieselsecret.com/

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96 E300d

Rolling eyes. Let us know how your 1 tank conversion runs in winter.

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http://superturbodiesel.com/images/sig.04.10.jpg
1995 E420 Schwarz
1995 E300 Weiss
#1987 300D Sturmmachine
#1991 300D Nearly Perfect
#1994 E320 Cabriolet
#1995 E320 Touring
#1985 300D Sedan
OBK #42

There is no ECU on a 617, glowplugs don't stay on until the engine/oil is warm and timing should be adjusted on any VO setup. Again, nothing special.

GOOD. Now that Rich's childish game is over the thread can finally get back up after being dragged down to his sewer.

I dont follow the reasoning behind running a single tank wvo set up. A good 2 tank kit will cost 1700 and and grand to install. You'll pay that back inside a year with these prices. A well thought out 2 tank system running bio-D in the main tank and wvo in the second tank all but cuts OPEC out of the picture, and allows you to run in any climate.

Maybe its just me, but I'd hate to drive something that may or may not work. With a single tank set up, you are really risking it, needlessly.

Im all for alternative fuels, however and Ive got 26k miles on my frybrid kit with a total cost of 2500 to date, and total savings over 3500 so far. I have had to replace glows at 25k miles, all 6 were dead. But then again I never reamed the bores before installing the new ones, and Ive heard thats pretty much recipe for GP disaster. Other than that, its been perfect. Ive got 276k miles on it, and I drive aggressive (80-90 mph) so this thing isnt being babied!

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Paul
Benz-less
I need an SDL !