How hard is it convert back to Diesel from WVO
 

I found a 1980 300sd that I am interested in purchasing and it is currently set up for waste vegetable oil. How hard would it be to convert it back to
Diesel? Thanks, Joe

You can leave the filters and heaters in place, clean out the tanks, then run all diesel.

expect to replace the injectors sooner than later.

Are you speaking from experience or just assumption/conjecture?

If it is a single tank conversion then nothing to do. If it is 2 tanks conversion then you can also leave everything in place, nothing to do as well. I would change the fuel filters, big and small, and leave it at that.

Your choice regarding what to do with the installed hardware.

As to the engine, order a few spare fuel filters, get twice as many pre-filters (small one) as main fuel filters as well as a few bottles of diesel purge and run those through the engine.

If you have access to #1 diesel (kerosene) plan on adding several gallons to your tank, you could opt for diesel kleen or the like, but it's mostly kerosene anyway, so use tge kerosene and save some $$.

You can also run a gallon of ATF mixed into a tank of diesel to help clean out the gum and coke deposits in your system. This will burn just fine in the engine, but the detergent effect may quickly clog your filters, so get plenty of those. Your call, I've done it myself with no issues.

The biggest challenge will be coke deposits in the prechambers and the injectors. As mentioned you may have to replace. Start with a frequent regimen of diesel purge cycles and filter changes, and you may be able to get rid of most of the residue.

Super easy to convert back to diesel. You walk away and find another car. Done.

Veggie conversion = hard pass, even if "free." That's like dating an ex stripper with three kids - even if she still looks good and has a normal job now, I'm not allowing that kind of headache into my life. Too many horror stories for me to even consider touching such a thing.

How about the flip side......not converting back? In one of my now retired cars I ran a two tank WVO system for 10 years and 150,000+ miles. Outside of normal maintenance expected on a 30+ yr old car.....it has ran fine. The key to it all was proper filtering of the oil, and switching to WVO only after the engine has reached operating temp. I have kept a log when I was using it. Price of car, $3500, regular maintenance, WVO parts, etc....$2500, Fuel saved $17,285 and counting. So basically the car paid for itself several times over, and the money I saved on fuel did not go into the pocket of a rich oil company, or some desert dweller hell bent on killing my fellow service members.

Where do you get your WVO? How long does it take, and what kind of filtration do you do?

I looked into this, but for me it wasn't even close to worth the effort and definitely not the time. I'll just go to the fuel station and buy dead dinosaurs.

No really fixed answers. At least in my mind.

Depends on quality of wvo used. Length of time wvo was used.Method of use or type of system. Current state of things.

How is engine running at this time?How easily does it start up? How much blowby?

I purchased a road kill 1984 300d that was on pure new vegatable oil.It unfortunatly cost him his car.

I could only assume it had been on the oil for not very long. He was on a long distance trip in really the coldest part of the year. At the time the local garages where changing out injection pumps frequently. From use of a bio diesel locally. So they were biased when his car was towed in. The last thing they wanted to hear was the use of any other fuel than diesel.

He had burnt the starter out trying to restart it. The garage cautioned him it might need a new injection pump as well as a new starter. Just bad timing basically for him unfortunatly.

The real problem was the oil had promoted some form of growth in the vent line for the fuel tank I established.

There are a lot of mis conceptions about WVO.

1) WVO will not damage the IP. It has more lubrication than diesel. Why would it damage the IP?

2) Diesel engine runs more quietly with WVO. It is a fact, not fiction. It has more lubrication.

3) WVO will not damage injectors, period. If you think it will, think again.

4) WVO could cause more coking of rings. It is a possibilities if it is over dispensed by injector or cold starts. The fact is coking happens with diesel as well otherwise cars running on diesel will run forever. Once coking happens, nothing or any solvent can remove it. So get over it.

5) WVO polymerization with air and "gum" up everything. It is true but there is NO air in the fuel system. If there is air then car would not start. It may gum up in the fuel tank but not inside the IP or injectors.

I would not run away from WVO cars. I would take them anytime if the price is right. So you don't need to remove anything to run diesel unless you don't like the extra hardware. Change the fuel filters and drive on. Good luck.

I've converted numerous vehicles to/from grease. There are a lot of different ways to run on grease, so it's hard to answer without knowing more details. In all but the worst conversions, the veg oil gets heated before being injected, and you usually want to make sure that doesn't happen to the diesel. If it's being heated by electric elements, make sure those are disconnected electrically. If it's being heated with a hose-in-hose, hose-on-hose, and/or tank heater, you'll want to shut off the coolant supply to those.


The bottom line is that it's pretty simple to go from grease to diesel, but the details depend on your specific setup.


I agree with the previous posters who mentioned carrying spare filters and being prepared for several filter changes after the changeover.



I'd be curious to hear about your setup. Single tank or multi-tank? If multi-tank, what changeover valves were used and how were they controlled? What heating methods were used? Etc.

Thank you all for the insight. I did a little more research on the car and it has a Love Craft conversion. After doing a google search of Love Craft and Mercedes conversions, it pulled up a lot of negatives about this brand of conversion. I've never owned a converted car, but am willing to wait to find the right car that won't be a potential basket case. Joe

You're doing the right thing. Nothing wrong with a good grease conversion, but Love Craft was among the worst.



Happy hunting.

Not to hijack the post...
 

But I bought an SD last night that was used to burn WVO. I’m going back to diesel with it. Anyway, the guy I bought it from said he has close to 1,000 gallons of WVO he wants to get rid of since he no longer owns a diesel. He’s in Summerville, SC if anyone is interested.

Its so refreshing to see nuance in WVO posts. 10 years ago it would have been much more vitriolic.
My quick advice: If it runs, its likely fine. If it doesn't run you should get it cheap because if folks ran bad WVO through it, and then let it sit for a long time, things can get pretty gummed up in the IP and it will take a lot of work to get things moving through the pump again.
I have been running one tank WVO blends and home grown biodiesel for 15 years now.

I always felt that not dewatering wvo properly. Could be extremely problamatic. Typically damaging injectors and injection pumps.

Bio became the craze locally. Sold by a large chain here as well with their regular fuels. WVO use died out quickly here.

The base of the bio we were told was fish oils.Whatever it was wasted no time at all in destroying injection pumps. I assume the company paid all the claims. As there were hundreds if not thousands of them.

I am reasonablly satisified the newer diesel engines really preffer premium diesel. Not available in America.

I was in hurry one morning and put a tank of regular diesel in the wives car. For a long trip. Millage was down for certain. Power I could not be certain as there is usually so much unused on tap.

It is the wrong time of the year for me to see if the older diesel likes it as well. They get better diesel fuel over there and some reports on the older diesel engines fuel milage there. Seem to be better than what we can achieve on our regular older diesels.