A person I became acquainted with while trying to sell The Defaint (1983 300D) is considering purchasing another '83 close by. The seller has ran the car on Veggie oil for a long time, and claimed the car is doing fine.

The problem: He said he would change the oil before the new owner drives home to make sure there's no veggie oil in the engine oil. The seller seems to think that small amounts is acceptable.

I said this was a huge red flag, and that its not normal for anything outside of engine oil to get down there, no matter how small.

I'm going to email him the link, and I'm hoping other posters will corroborate from their experience with these cars and Veggie oil.

Thanks.

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1985 500SL Euro w/ AMG bits 130k
1984 300SD Turbodiesel 192k
1980 240D Stick China 188k
2001 CLK55 AMG 101k
2007 S600 Biturbo 149k Overheated Project, IT'S ALIVE!!!

Yeah...I ran a couple tanks of 50/50 WVO/D2.....proper filtering was essential; and I ran it in a cautious manner: Started the car on 1/8th tank of D2, got it hot, filled the tank with the 50/50mix; then drove the car 600 miles nonstop, and filled with D2 at destination. Started cold once on 50/50, 80*F outside, in the sun....and it started much like it does in the winter. Not good!

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$60 OM617 Blank Exhaust Flanges
$110 OM606 Blank Exhaust Flanges
No merc at the moment

It's inevitable that any diesel running any type of fuel will get trace amounts of it, along with the by products into the engine oil. That is why you never go extended drain intervals on your oil if your running veg, the oil cannot handle it.

As long as the PO has been careful in filtering, dewatering, running a two tank system, proper oil changes and good compression, it should be fine.

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1983 123.133 California
- GreaseCar Veg System

Fuel in the oil is a BIG problem. Diesel leaves trace amounts, mostly soot, but raw fuel that you can smell is a huge red flag.

Blow-by introduces fuel into the crankcase. You're supposed to be able to see this when you do shop-manual chromatography (put a drop of oil on a piece of paper-dark inner blot is oil. Lighter D2 is transported further by the paper, that's the outer ring). I'd say an amount of VO that is detectable by other means than a lab is a no-no. Stuff gums up sumpin nasty given half a chance.

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CC: NSA

All things are burning, know this and be released.

82 Benz 240 D, Kuan Yin
12 Ford Escape 4wd

You're four times

It's hard to

more likely to

concentrate on

have an accident

two things

when you're on

at the same time.

a cell phone.

www.kiva.org It's not like there's anything wrong with feeling good, is there?

I probably wouldn't buy a car that had any signs of veg use period. Unless the engine had already died and I was buying the car to swap in a new motor....

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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)

The VO people send a sample of their engine oil to Blackstone for oil analysis (http://www.blackstone-labs.com/index.html). If he's concerned, he could send a sample, tell them what he's worried about and see what they say.

Did the current owner say how he's running the VO? Two-tank or one? Does he know how well its heated or know the fuel temp?

Its a big leap of faith to buy a car that's run on VO. I'd do it if I knew the previous owner well enough to know his VO habits/use. Otherwise, I'd be wary. Unless you don't need the car to run for years and years.

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

I'm with PizzaChef on this one. Although I'm a big fan of bio and the two tank WVO system, I would be very hesitant to buy a car from anyone else who ran WVO. I know that I take every precaution to do it right, plus I'm saving $ by doing so. But unless I absolutely knew that the PO did it right, I'd be wary.

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John Schroader
bio burnin' 83 300D, '83 300 SD, '79 240D
"I've never met a man who was good at making excuses who was good at anything else" Ben Franklin
"You cannot permanently help a man by doing for him what he could and should do for himself" Abraham Lincoln

X3 what PizzaChef and John Schroader said.

Having made my own biodiesel .....from various types and "grades" of UVO and having spent a lot of time over at http://biodiesel.infopop.cc and some time over at http://www.burnveg.com/forum/ , I would be very cautious of buying an old mercedes that had been run on UVO or biodiesel.

Biodiesel as most of you know is produced by a chemical process called "estherfication" that chemically alters the UVO. Biodiesel also needs to be properly "finished" before being acceptable to put in fuel tank. This includes washing, drying, and filtering. Excessive soap and\or moisture content in biodiesel is harmful to diesel engines, too.

I would ask to see someone's UVO filtering system when I went to look at the car. I'd probably have more questions about their UVO filtering system than the car.

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daw_two
Germantown, TN

Links:
Sold last car --- 05/2012 1984 300D Light Ivory, Red interior
Cluster Needles Paint
New Old Stock (NOS) parts

Past:
3/2008 1986 300SDL "Coda"
04/2010 1965 190D(c) "Ben"
& many more

As a noob I'm interested in learning more about waste veggie oil use in my diesel (85 300D).
Lets assume I filter the heck out of the used oil, and process it well to remove all the water content, would I be ok mixing it 50/50 with regular pump diesel and just run my car as normal?
I live in california where it doesn't get cold, during the winter I would just run straight pump diesel.

I cannot speak from experience, but the possible problem with this method would be cold thick fuel on startup. Once everything is warm, probably no real problem. The specific gravity of your fuel should be appx. .82. This should keep the viscosity within decent parameters. Last year I was driving an E350 (12mpg) a long way and didn't want to spend the $ to fill up (diesel was $5 / gal then). I did a little test of mixing well filtered and dry WVO with 20% gasoline. Viscosity was good. Poured test strips of different mixes on the ground (D2 -- bio ---straight WVO -- and assorted blends) and set them ablaze. The 20% mix burned about the same as D2. I drove a long long distance on pocket change. Seemed to work just great, but I feel that I was taking a chance of engine damage. Wouldn't do that to my MB, but the E350 had a total cash value of little more than a couple of tanks of fuel.

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John Schroader
bio burnin' 83 300D, '83 300 SD, '79 240D
"I've never met a man who was good at making excuses who was good at anything else" Ben Franklin
"You cannot permanently help a man by doing for him what he could and should do for himself" Abraham Lincoln

Not for long.

Its not worth it. I think Frybrid recommends 10 or 15% max. I think good oil at 5%, maybe 10% would be good for the injector pump as it will help lube it. Not sure if I'd even do 5% in the winter. And don't used partial hydroginated crap.

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Currently driving a very clean 1985 300SD from the West Coast.

You are suppose to change oil at 3000 miles with veggie use.Or buy the new vegetable motor oil in Europe.It has something in it to pervent gummy engine parts.Please use other forums or groups.Most of these people hate veggie use.

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1999 w140, quit voting to old, and to old to fight, a god damned veteran

It is perfectly acceptable to run WVO if it is de-watered and filtered well. I am in San Diego and I run 100% WVO in the summer and 80 WVO/20 Diesel in the winter. I would not be turned off by some who would never use WVO at any price.

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Not MBZ nor A/C trained professional but a die-hard DIY and green engineer. Use the info at your own peril. Picked up 2 Infractions because of disagreements. NOW reversed.

W124 Keyless remote, PM for details. http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/mercedes-used-parts-sale-wanted/334620-fs-w124-chasis-keyless-remote-%2450-shipped.html

1 X 2006 CDI
1 x 87 300SDL
1 x 87 300D
1 x 87 300TDT wagon
1 x 83 300D
1 x 84 190D ( 5 sp ) - All R134 converted + keyless entry.