“The use of vegetable oils for engine fuels may seem insignificant today, but such oils may become, in the course of time, as important as petroleum and the coal tar products of the present time.” Rudolph Diesel, 1911
Updates/Notes/Misc Ramblings
August 21, 2008 : Long time no updates on this page. The car has been running flawlessly on WVO. I'm now using a Wix fuel filter on the WVO side and it works perfectly. No air leaks anywhere. I checked my log and saw that I have driven over 9000 miles since the kit was installed in mid March. Assuming 90% of those miles were on grease, that the car gets around 25 MPG, and that diesel costs an average of $4.20/gal (thats on the low side) since March means that I have saved $1360 in diesel costs. That is getting close to covering the $1850 cost of the wvo kit. Life is good.
Apr 19, 2008 : I bought Purolator fuel filter and re-installed VO filter/heat exchanger today. This filter doesn't leak at all (so far). Glad to have fuel filter installed on the VO side again but hope it does not develop air leaks.
Apr 7, 2008 : I removed the Frybrid VO filter/heat exchanger and ALL leaks are gone now. Need to find replacement filter element and re-install the filter/heat exchanger. How long can I run veg oil in car without using any filter before something goes wrong?
Apr 2, 2008 : I replumbed the fuel lines and bypassed the pre-heater. Most of the leaks from the VO side are gone. I hope I never need that pre-heater (but bet that I will on a cold winter morning when I'm trying to get to work. We'll see.) There are still small air leaks though. I have hunch that they are coming from VO filter.
Mar 30, 2008 : We got leaks! The fuel pre-heater (as it was described to me) has a plastic fitting that is leaking fuel (diesel or veg oil) big time. It leaked about a gallon into catch can over a 5 hour period today. This thing has leaked a little since Day 1. I'm wondering if it can be bypassed as the heated veg oil does not need any additional heating that this thing provides.
Mar 18, 2008 : SUCCESS! I'm burning veg oil in the Benz! Had to bleed veg fuel lines a LOT tonight before engnie would run on the diesel (temporarily) in the VO tank. Kevin T and I drove car over to Giant where I got 2 gallons of corn oil. We promptly poured it into VO tank and took off down Greenbelt Rd. It wasn't long before we smelled like a rolling deep fryer. Had one small setback .... the ground wire on return valve came loose allowing VO to be pumped into diesel tank (oops!). I noticed diesel fuel gauge FILLING UP as we drove the car and knew this couldn't be the case! It was a minor fix back at the garage.
Engine bay. White wire was used to manually switch supply valve between diesel and veg oil (for testing purposes)
closeup of veg oil filter/heat exchanger
driver's side of engine bay showing temporary switch
Chief Mechanic Kevin "juice me, baby" Tesler
closeup of feed and return valves behind headlight on driver's side
Mar 14, 2008: The greasecar lives (on diesel, anyway)! I finally got it started tonight after way too many days spent bleeding air from a lot of fuel lines. There was also tiny matter of failing to plug up the hole in the banjo bolt, but oh well. Hats off to Chris Goodwin from Frybrid.com. He baled me out on this.
Mar 3, 2008: Got the actual install done late last week. But I still don't have all of the air bled from fuel lines. Car still won't start (even on diesel). I sure hope air in the lines is the problem! If not, well, I will need good diesel mechanic.
Feb 28, 2008: KT got remainder of wiring done last night while I chopped up the diesel fuel lines (making HUGE mess on the floor). Now need to bleed air from fuel lines and configure frybrid system a bit. Hope to be done by weekend.
Feb 26, 2008: Got a lot of the frybrid wiring done last night. Also purged most (all?) of the air from coolant system using shop vac (Mr. T's great idea). Had warm coolant in lines in the trunk after car ran for a while and got fully warmed up. Life is good. I should have been taking pics all along ... too much text on this page now.
Feb 22, 2008: Last night, Kevin and I got the frybrid coolant lines connected to the car's cooling system. Ran the engine for a long time but it never got up to normal temp. I know there is air in the cooling system... need to purge it out. Good news is that there are no leaks!
Feb 19, 2008: made good progress Tues, Weds, and Fri of last week. Got hose in hose lines run from trunk to engine bay. Starting making bracket to hold veg oil filter. Managed to cause a leak in diesel fuel line that took about 15 mins to seal up again. Something somewhere is loose because engine keeps running after key has been turned off and removed.
Feb 12, 2008: Kevin T and I got to work on the car last night at the garage at work. Drilled holes in trunk of floor for the 3/4 inch hoses that run to engine bay. FINALLY, I've starting installing the kit! About time.
Feb 11, 2008: I leave Mercedes at work and hitch a ride back to Balto with Dave E.
Feb 9, 2008: Lots of progress today. Bought propane burner, heated 11 gallons of oil, made immersion heater, made page on filtration, and filtered a lot of oil!
Jan 25, 2008: Got email from Chris with DHL tracking num for the controller. It should be here soon. Last night, I used gas grill on deck to warm up 10 gallons of cold used oil in small batches. It worked well and didn't take too long. The warmed oil really flows through the 10 micron filter. First 55 gallon barrel is about half full now. Still need 110 volt pump to make handling the grease a lot easier/cleaner.
Jan 22, 2008: Too cold this past weekend to mess around with the kit or collecting used oil. Now have 5 gal buckets in 3 restaurants but still don't have steady supply of 12-15 gals/week. I test fit large aluminum wvo tank in trunk of Benz. The mounting tabs are little too big and need trimming. Need to learn LOTS more about Benz fuel and coolant plumbing lines.
Jan 17, 2008: I got the Frybrid kit Tues PM from local DHL outlet. The kit has a LOT of parts. I will be busy installing it. Wanna help? [grin]
Jan 10, 2008: Good news ... the DHL web site says the frybrid kit was shipped on Tuesday. Not sure when it will be on my doorstep. How long does it take to ship a box from Seattle to Baltimore?
Dec 13, 2007: Frybrid kit ordered.
Dec 1, 2007: I bought the car in Totowa, NJ and towed it with Navigator back to Balto on a car dolly I rented. Quite an adventure but the drive was uneventful.
Greasecar? What's that?
A greasecar is a diesel vehicle that has been modified to run on waste vegetable oil (WVO). Yes, that's right, that means oil from the deep fryer at your favorite fast food joint, Chinese restaurant, etc.
Waste Veggie Oil? You're kidding, right?
No. A simple Google search reveals that lots of people are driving WVO powered vehicles, in some cases for many thousands of miles.
Can any diesel vehicle run WVO?
Yes.
Can any gas vehicle run WVO?
No.
But why do this to the car?
Simple. WVO is free and can be used in diesel vehicles once it is filtered thoroughly and had the water removed. Plus, its better than using a petroleum product in your car. Better on the environment, better on the wallet, better in a lot of ways.
Where did you get the kit?
Frybrid.com. Their kit comes highly recommended by people who bought it (and by people who bought inferior kits). I ordered it Dec 13 and hope to start install in mid January.
What can I do to help?
Easy. Start saving used non-hydrogenated veggie oil for me. I need 10-12 gallons/week ASAP. I now have two empty 55 gallon barrels to fill with WVO. Please contribute. Thanks.
What is non-hydrogenated oil?
Briefly, it's better for you than hydrogenated oil. It's also the oil that is in liquid form when at room temperature.
The subject car... a 1992 Mercedes 300D with 270,000 miles on it (that's not a typo). That isn't my home in the background .... I don't know where the dealer took this pic.
The hood will open a full 90 degrees once a small tab is pressed on the hinges. Those German engineers sure are smart. This will make engine work LOTS easier. Does your car's hood open this far?
Random shots of the engine. A whole lotta stuff has to be crammed in there.
I can carry about 20 gals of oil without spilling a drop using a wood stand/bracket I made. New waste oil tank (about 19 gals) sitting it postion (but not secured yet)
email me