I was just browsing ebay, thinking about picking upa diesel wagon for a daily driver, and saw this.

Very interesting indeed...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=6330&item=2425757105

What do you think about this kind of thing?

I've never heard of a diesel running on vegetable oil.

Alon

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'92 300CE - Sold
2004 C240 - 744 - C7 Wheels - Android Radio
2002 C320 - 816 - Sport Wagon

Yes, it is very common!

A diesel motor is a very versatile device. It can burn many fuels - almost anything really - as long as it is injected as a warm atomized fluid and contains hydrocarbons. You can run diesel motors on the gasses released from compressing wood chips or human excriment. Its all a matter of delivery.

There are really two ways to run bio fuel:

1. Run "Bio-Diesel". This is a fuel created from vegetable oil. It is heavily refined and uses some house hold chemicals. You can brew it yourself in a 55 gal drum in your garage if you choose. Total cost comes to about $0.60 per gallon, assuming the veg oil is free. And the best part ... you can run it on a 100% stock diesel motor. No modifications to anything neccesary. Just pour it in and go.

2. Run "Greasil". Greasil is raw waste vegetable oil. You can get it from greasy joints around town. Sadly, you need to do some modifying to run it in a diesel motor. You need to install a second fuel tank, one for the grease and one for diesel, because you need to start your motor on diesel, then switch over to the grease once the motor gets hot. This requires valves and line running. You also need to install filters for the grease. And finally, you need to install a heater to heat the grease fuel, so it can flow through the lines as a liguid (grease becomes solid at low temp). Total investment, if done yourself, is between $250 and $600.

Personally, I would brew the biodiesel. It is easier and ultimatly, a better fuel.

Whatever you decide, you should pick up the book ""Vegetable Fuels".

Don't bother with biodiesel. The MBZ IDI diesels will run quite well on plant oils without having to do any estherfication. However, low temperatures can create problems because some of these oils will solidify below 40deg F.

Do a search in the diesel forum on any or all of the following terms:
SVO, WFO, bio, waste, crisco, grease, fry

Plus, there is an entire forum devoted to the use of waste plant oils as fuel:
http://biodiesel.infopop.cc/6/ubb.x?a=cfrm&s=447609751

The biggest drawback to using WFO (waste fry oil) is that it is a mess to deal with.

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

I've run filtered waste peanut oil from my turkey deep fryer in my old 300SD. Usually about 1 gallon per tank or so. Never had a problem.

I do this only as this is a better way to dispose of the old oil than putting it in the trash.

I probably go through about 10 gallons of oil a year, and using the waste oil as fuel offsets some of the cost of the oil initially.

I think I get about 5 gallons (labeled 35 lbs) for about $22-$25.
So it's about $4-$5/gal. when new. If I can use it later in my fuel tank, I'm saving about $1.5/gal, which helps somewhat.

Of course, I couldn't do this in the winter, as the oil would solidify. It's strictly a summertime deal. Then again, I don't use my deep fryer much in the winter, as it's too cold to be outside messing with it. :)

I'm tempted to run the waste peanut oil in my recently acquired 92 300D 2.5 turbo, but haven't done it yet. Maybe I'll throw a gallon of oil it it tomorrow, as I'm heading to Chicago and will blow through that tank quickly.

Chris

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?postid=365161#post365161

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

I'm in the process of doing a veggie oil conversion right now. THere are many folks on the biodiesel.infopop site who have been running 50/50 veggie oil and diesel. TEhre seems to be no porblems with this set up as long as you filter the veggie oil very well, down to approx 5-10 microns. I have purchased ASTM (?) biodiesel froma commercial source, it made my car run better, quieter, and I felt better about the fact that it was a diesel because of the pollution reduction. HOwever, it was very expensive, 2.71 per gallon. That was a $50 fillup. BUt I wanted to try it, and I knew that the manufactured stuff would have all of the glycerin removed. With homebrew, I understand that there is a learning curve to go through before you can produce top quality bio-d. ALso, you need to use harsh chemicals inthe process, so I'm leaning more towards veggie, as it fits my reasons for wanting to go down this road a little better. Actually, that is why I bought my Benz a few months ago, but now I'm addicted, even with the porblems...
ANyway, grease for fuel, love our diesels, save the world for our children and all children around the world to be able to live to enjoy.

I've brewed biodiesel off and on as I've had time. I like the idea that I'm not supporting OPEC when I'm running the stuff. I only wish that I had more time to play with it.

I have converted my 93 ford f250 to run on Waste Vegetable oil. I am currently in the process of converting my 82 300td to run on veggy. Supposedly the pre 86 benz engines are some of te best to convert. they have been know to cold start on Straight Vegetable oil.

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1982 300TD

I have run several tanks of Bio-Diesel through my SDL and SD and I like it. Here in Maryland, there is a rebate going on of 50% of the incredibly high cost ($3/gallon) of the fuel. I just sent in my first rebate request last week. Everyone has noticed the different smell - some prefer it, some actually prefer the dino-diesel smell. I believe it runs a bit smoother on the fuel, and I know it has cleaned out the system. I really got some gunk in the fuel filter with the first couple of tanks, but that has quieted down.

We just bought a place outside of Ocean City and I have plans to start making biodiesel from WVO out there in a bit. It almost looks like fun...

- Ted

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1987 300SDL 265,000 mi.
1982 300SD 325,000 mi. (and holding)
1956 Packard Clipper 150,000 mi.