Newton’s Prometheus

[Joe Marroso]

Gentlemen,

4 years ago I bought a 1985 300SD. To my astonishment the car had ABS brakes and one air bag.

I planned on converting the car to run on WVO.

As luck would have it, a local enthusiast pointed out the diesel things that needed immediate repair and fearlessly helped me convert to a 2-tank system. Other than replacing the solenoid valve, the WVO kit has never been a source of concern or repair. During the latest smog test, the opaquity was .1%. 2.5% is street legal. That should speak to the alleged harm WVO does to a 233,000 mile engine.

I just filled up the diesel tank today after 1078 miles. 7.5 gallons. 143 miles per gallon, if you don’t count the WVO as fuel. Add a couple diesel gallons to account for the energy spent during capture and refining the WVO and the mileage is still a robusto 113 miles per gallon. Crummy city miles in Las Vegas where every traffic light is continuously glowing red. Not bad, but such a car requires an enthusiast’s commitment.

I encumber myself with this WVO bargain because our great nation imports too much oil from the treacherous Mid-East. Quislings here in North America disingenuously dismiss alternative fuels so they can wring out every last dollar from the homefront while our soldiers fight and die to subsidize the petroleum addiction.

I never expected to fall in love with the SD, but I did. Every day I can’t wait to drive it again! Realistically, though, it is one major repair from the crusher. Even if my SD was a cherry, a unibody car is really not restorable. So our time together is dwindling but no less precious. I am even buying $100 seat covers because I can’t find leather seats better than mine at the Pic-A-Part.

In J.D. Rockefeller’s time 100 barrels of petroleum could be realized from the energy equivalent of one barrel. Now, one barrel gets the energy of four. I am using recovered energy to propel a 3700lb hulk seemingly in defiance of Newton’s 1st Law and 21st century market forces. History’s greatest genius might be amused by such a claim, but I am sure he would ultimately approve.

In closing, I want to encourage every tinkerer and dreamer to look at alternative energies including converting an old Mercedes diesel. All of the admonitions by the diesel purists regarding WVO are true to some extent. However, proper design and maintenance does, in my experience, mitigate polymerization of crankcase oil and carbonizing of the combustion chambers, the 2 WVO mortal sins. Sure, the 613 is sophisticated machinery that was NOT designed to run on vegetable oil. But it does, quite well, thank you; and to discourage the adventurous souls amongst us against doing a conversion is a great pity. But, let me make this very clear and unambiguous, these are 25 year old cars that are worth less than 2 or 3 thousand dollars. What is the big deal? To hear the caterwauling, you think the National Mall was being desecrated.

I purposely left out any mention of vendors and manufacturers because to do so invites angry (territorial?) responses. Anybody interested in a conversion and WVO refining can contact me through email.

Joe Marroso