i say fix all wear components then do your wvo mods!

Ive learned that the hard way myself, my 300D has needed alot of attention recently (mainly a suspension overhaul) Replacing all those suspension bushings, multi link arms etc. all take time and $$$ but will be worth it in the end.

Im still in the process of rebuilding the suspension as well as upgrading it to a AMG sport suspension (i like my cars to handle ) You can search in the perfomance paddock on my suspension failures as well as my plans on upgrading in the process of rebuilding.

As for the engine, make sure you have the updated vacuum pump installed. They are a ticking time bomb and when they go they take your engine with em.

here is the link on the replcing the pump.
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?t=106614&highlight=603+vacuum+pump

As for the wvo stuff, ive been running biodiesel because i dont want to risk anything on my jetta TDI. Once i get my 300D perfectly running and all the bugs worked out i might consider going wvo kit again but its time consuming for me to filter and collect. I used to make biodiesiel in my backyard but that is very time consuming as well so ive given up on it and just dished out the extra cash and filled up at the local pumps.

Availability in your case is the hard part about it, but i say if you have some free time to spare take a look into making your own biodiesel. But wvo kits arent bad as long as they are heated 2-tank, not 1-tank crap.

__________________
Current:
05 E320 CDI
07 GL320 CDI
08 Sprinter
05 Dodge Cummins
01 Dodge Cummins

Previous
2004 E55 AMG
2002 C32 AMG (#2)
1995 E300
1978 300D
1987 300D
2002 C32 AMG(blown motor :[
1981 300SD
1983 300SD
1987 300SDL
2002 Jetta TDI
1996 S420
1995 S500
1993 190E 2.6
1992 190E 2.3
1985 190E 2.3 5-Speed

oh man, rich, thanks for the link!!! i was reading that at work last week, but closed it out b/f bookmarking it! that scott dalalin guy sounds like he knows what he's talking about. i did have a chance to exchange an email or two with him, so that was nice that he responded.

like the toyota forum, there's a lot of regurgitated opinions from people without the first hand experience. that is not to say that the opinion is not valid, but i tend to listen to those who have gone through the experience. hope no one takes offense to that little bit

that said, i did about an hour's worth of research on making biodiesel and i just can't see myself building even the smallest of small things in my already cramped garage. however, i am still going to keep an open mind and keep researching *both* options. thanks to all for their pro-bio diesel feedback and opinions.

edit: oniondip: thanks for the post. that is a good perspective that i did not consider re the "work" on the outside making the biodiesel vs the work that might happen to your engine if you're not careful.

on another note....not that my wife drives my decisions, but i think she'd be aghast if she saw converted water heater tanks w/ a burner underneath one of them . the nice thing though, is that she's totally behind the project. and i have the luxury of time and gas mileage savings on my side as my truck only gets 16mpg. not bad, but not great either.

well tomorrow, i am off to the dmv to register this. Ah, the dmv i should be getting some parts from the dieselgiant guy as well as rusty this week in time for the big maintenance weekend. I'll be researching more on the tensioner issue and i'll try to find the ones that are relevant and piggy back on the existing threads.

thanks all,
bob

ah ok. no harm, no foul

Welcome Bob, congrats on the '87.

You'll find there are plenty of veggie oil converters on this site as well as bio-d folks. There's a lot of good info here, along with plenty of people who don't want to see these beautiful cars hacked up and destroyed - which is completely understandable since this is chiefly a Mercedes enthusiast site. Although, my car was well on its way to the scrap yard when I saved it from the P.O. to run grease.

I converted my 87 myself, so feel free ask if you have any specific questions on our model.

__________________
1987 300D - Frybrid - sold
1985 300SD

I've also converted an '87, except using the Greasecar kit. Bear in mind that if you are going to filter your own WVO it will take up space in your garage. Not as much space as it takes to produce Biodiesel though...

My WVO filtration/storage setup occupies about one quarter of a single bay garage. I have three 55 gallon barrels and a similarly sized filtration apparatus in addition to a large pile of 5 gallon containers. Your nosey neighbors aren't going to like all that! My neighborhood has almost no rules whatsoever, so I'm lucky in that respect.

Converting the car itself means you lose some trunk space (or your spare tire) due to the extra fuel tank (assuming you do a 2-tank conversion). The conversion is do-able for a shade-tree mechanic, but there are often glitches and bugs to be worked out, and it can be frustrating and time-consuming. There is lots of support on the internet though.

Having said all that... I love it! I'm getting ready to convert my Ford F-250 next. Then to find a diesel van or SUV "mom-mobile" for my wife...

__________________
1987 Mercedes 300D ~200K (Greasecar & Biodiesel)
1993 Ford F-250 7.3 IDI diesel 165K (Biodiesel)
1996 Thomas/International Bus with DT466 engine

brewer and dan:

thanks very much for your offer. i will defintely have to contact you in the near future about conversion advice.

and speaking of advice, even though the climate of this board is biodiesel, it did force me to think some more about what is best for me and this vehicle. right now and starting tomorrow morning is going to be a long day of maintenance tasks:

Engine
- change out all tensioner parts and serpentine belt (thanks marshall at mbca.net)
- diesel purge (from dieselgiant)
- remove intake and clean out crap from prior years and purge

Fluids
- transmission + filter (from dieselgiant)
- coolant (deoil, de-calcify, and orange MB coolant)
- brake fluid
- power steering fluid (if my friend can get his vac evacuator back in time)

filters
fuel filter (prior to diesel purge and after---use 2 filters)
trans filter
air filter

Anything else anyone would like to recommend? im focusing on getting the engine working properly, then the fluids, then suspension bushings, and only after that, will i decide on the wvo vs biodiesel issue.

The misses said i got some manuals in the mail. i ordered the ones off the MBUSA.com site which i think is wht everyone else refers to so much here and on mbca.org. i also got a chilton-like manual (i forget already). i am still learning about all these parts.

i have not driven the car this entire week because of the serpentine belt issue. i'm ready to get back in the saddle after this weekend!

Thanks,
bob

i make and sell bio diesel for off road use for 2.25 a gallon and have run my 4 mb diesels on bio diesel for 3 years now and have not replaced any thing except filters and fuel hose with viton type. i also mix my fuel with no2 petrol for better performance

The damage to your IP was probably caused by water in the wvo, which can also happen with biodiesel. Most Ip failures are caused by water in the fuel including dino diesel.

__________________
'83 240D 264k on 100% biodiesel/ 31mpg
83 300D 217K the $800 gem
'82 300D 267K the new WVO project car finished and driving for free
International tractor B275 on B100
Ford 555 backhoe on B100
Sargent 25 ton Rough Terrain crane on B50

Off-road only, sure...

Please remember that you have no right to complain about road quality since you are evading your road taxes.

Forget the WVO conversion and forget the biodiesel, just put in straight WVO don't even mix RUG with it. Experience here roughly 40K miles,,, been through it all, Biodiesel, mixing with kero, mixing with RUG, and just straight WVO. well straight WVO is the way to go,,, little hard to start, won't work when it's cold (then add RUG or kero), you'll be surprised how well these MB diesel run on the waste fryer oil.

__________________
Closing the store
Benzbonz.biz on your smart phone or tablet.

I converted my '82 300D to wvo and run B100 in the stock tank. The system I have is made up from parts and pieces that I bought on Ebay. The total cost for my 2 tank system was about $700.
The main concern with wvo is to get your oil up to at least 160F before it goes into the injectors, to prevent coking of the injectors and gumming up the rings. I have several pics and will be glad to offer any assistance with your wvo conversion.
I have 3 mbs ,a tractor , backhoe and 25 ton crane that all run on biodiesel that I make in my garage . Bio has its place as for convenience and wvo is great for a long trip to extend your range per fillup.
Recently , my wife and I took a vacation that totaled over 2400 miles all on wvo and Bio. The car ran flawless on both fuels with an average mpg of 24.6 .

Attached Thumbnails

 

__________________
'83 240D 264k on 100% biodiesel/ 31mpg
83 300D 217K the $800 gem
'82 300D 267K the new WVO project car finished and driving for free
International tractor B275 on B100
Ford 555 backhoe on B100
Sargent 25 ton Rough Terrain crane on B50

Wow, that's some pretty bad advice!

.
Why do you keep commenting on something you know nothing about ?
How would you know unless you have tried it ?

I have and it works !
It has worked for about 1 year and 4 months of daily driving now in a 1981 300D and a few months in a 1982 300SD.

No second tank !
No heaters of any sort !
No extra anything, just bone stock Mercedes Benz !

But I do live in TX, and it is hot here.
And like others I mix RUG or Dino Diesel to keep the WVO from freezing when its cold.

That and regular maintenance, nothing extra !

But I do not suggest that anyone try the things I do.
I know I am experimenting.
That is what I want to do.

I know that people make real decisions based on the information they get from this forum.
I try my best to stay within the confines of my experience.
And to be as truthful as I can.

It is just sad that some people have to post misleading comments about things they know nothing about.

If you don't want to run vegetable oils, then don't.
But trying to convince people to not do something you know nothing about is just wrong.

Thank you
RichC

.

__________________

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

I would like to purchase this old pump from you.
Or I will pay for closeup pictures of the varnishing, and pitting of the pump.

Thank You
RichC

__________________

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

guys, GUYS! please, this post was more about to share my experiences as a noob repairing, restoring, and converting my new-to-me 87 benz. while i appreciate the lively debate, i'd really like to keep any further debate about wvo vs biodiesel some other time. i think i'd like to retitle my thread

warning: long read!

ok, having received a few boxes of parts this week, i got my hands dirty, literally. i drove over to my friend's house and wrenched in his driveway. as I said above, today's mandatory must finish tasks were the tensioner system/serpentine belt, coolant change, and the diesel purge. along the way, there were some problems, but in the end, we got most of them solved.

(disclaimer: i'm sure i'll butcher some part names )

Tensioner system
so after reading about a week's worth of posts about belt squealing, i found a thread where member at2 had the same exact problem i did: belt squealing and a seriously misaligned belt that was about 1/8" off the front of the idler pulley. i'll post up the link later.

we had no luck removing the fan clutch bolt w/ an 8mm bolt, even with using an extension and a 8mm socket. of course, we took off the fan shroud and hung it on the fan blades, but we just couldnt get the sucker off. so we ended up taking off the radiator. we spent less time taking that radiator off than we spent trying to get the fan clutch bolt out we checked the play in all the pulleys, spring, and the dampner. well, all were fine but the tensioner arm was shaky. we immediately knew what the problem was.

so after getting the radiator out of the way, it was so much easier to work. we loosened all the bolts and nuts and then used the tire iron to pivot the rubber lever left and right to get the spring off as well as the shock dampner. and then the belt just fell off, so we just got it out of the way. the belt was still in good shape. after that, we took off the idler pulley. the mistake we made was to try to remove the tensioner arm with the idler pulley, but the pulley would not allow us to remove both of them at once. So off came the idler pulley and then we removed the tensioner arm. make sure to keep all the metal bushings. i believe there were two.

i guess if i learned anything here was that the tensioner arm takes a lot of abuse. we got the bolt out of the old one and examined the ball bearings. there was some serious space in between the bearings! i definitely thing too that its demise was caused by the lack of the plastic (or rubber?) cover that protects it from dirt. i did not get one, but i'll have to order one soon.

putting everything together was a piece of cake. everything in reverse order. the tire iron was an invaluable tool. dont do this repair without it!
So it was at this point where we noticed two things: the rearmost injector was leaking from the top it was the first time i noticed it. also, the nuts holding down the coolant reservoir, one of the bolts holding the exhaust pipe (terminology?), and one of the valve cover bolts were missing. great. if there is anything i hate most is hunting down nuts/bolts

Coolant Flush
As i've read, green means it has to go! the mercedes service and parts dept in my city was not open on the weekends geez, do they really make that much money on the cars?!?! ok, b##ching aside, this one was easy, especially since we took off the radiator and drained it. after finishing the tensioner system repair, we put the radiator back on, but in the process, i busted the plastic fan shroud. minor annoyance but i was not happy that i did that. so according to a procedure i've read here (or was it mbca?), you de-oil it with a liquid dishwashing fluid, then with a sodium citrate flush, replace the thermostat, and then a 50/50 mix of benz orange coolant. i added some water wetter b/c i've had great success w/ that stuff in my 4runner.

learning point: have a hose ready to plug into the side drain plug (perpendicular to the drain valve knob) to direct the coolant into a drain pan. makes life easier.

Diesel Purge
This was the fun one. I bought the kit from Dieselgiant and performed the procedure on his site. I have a word of advice for future noobs: make sure you have the right size bolt to plug the vehicle's supply and return lines prior to replacing them with your homemade ones. i dont even remember the size bolts we got, but at the hardware store, take your 5/16" fuel hoses and find a bolt there that fits. oh, and dont forget the hose clamps. luckily, my friend had some spares.

So the first thing we did was to remove the original lines and replaced them as described in the dieselgiant tutorial. then we filled it up w/ 2 cans of the purge fluid and kept So the problem we had was that we cranked the engine so many times, but nothing happened. The return line was emptying fuel back into the plastic catch can, but it did not appear that the purge was pulling into the engine. so after some trial and error, we filled our supply line w/ fuel and then carefully put the end back into the purge plastic jug. that worked like a champ

so my buddy gunned the engine at different rpms and we were really underwhelmed. at freeway rpms, there was some black smoke. but only when he floored it did the black clouds of soot come out. we did it for about 9-10 minutes and called it quits.

since he had to go to a ballgame, we tried to clean up as quick as possible. we noticed again that the rear injector was leaking, but more severely. while i am going to do alot of research tonight on the possible causes and the repair, can anyone tell me if the diesel purge made it worse? i know it was a pre-existing problem (not as bad), but it seemed to get really bad. in fact, on my drive back home, it was on the verge of stalling a few times when i was stopped at a few lights.

Headlights
I had to replace a broken hole in my passenger headlight. getting off the surround piece was not fun, its so much easier on my truck! anyways, contrary to the manual i had, the little valence piece under the headlight does not easily slide to the center after removing the screw. in fact, it is secured at the other end! i hate when that happens anyways, after pulling off the screws, pulling off that surround piece was a PITA too. we broke a clip, but three others remain. but after screwing off the headlamp, it was easy as pie after that

POST-REPAIR PROBLEM AND DISCOVERIES

1. Leaking injector- i'm going to research this tonight, but if anyone wants to add some insight why a post-diesel purge would make this problem worse, please post

I was actually disappointed because i thought the diesel purge and the tensioner repairs would help restore the power. but since the injector is having issues, i'll have to wait until it gets fixed to see if this engine can do 0-60 at 11 - 12 secs (which someone wrote is the norm)

2. Rust- seems that the part that has the jack holes that run along the entire length of the car is rusted. it seems worse near the back of the front tire and was gradually moving its way towards the back tire. Does anyone know if that entire piece can be bought? But even if i do, the rust has completely destroyed the jack point on the front driver's side. Its just gone. anyone have any advice?

3. Bushings are shot- i would say that the only bushings that have survived are the sway bar bushings. otherwise, the tie rods, the UCA/LCA, etc bushings are either hard or cracked. The end result is that the tires are extremely and dangerously worn on the inside. i definitely need to replace all of these before getting new tires. i'm gonna have to do some homework here, but does anyone know off hand how much those bushings cost? I have no problem replacing bushings as i have done so w/ my off-road vehicle.
Thanks for reading!
Bob