Hello
 

Hi, I just joined up, and thought I would introduce myself. I own two diesel Mercedes, a 78 240D and a 82 300TD. I put in a veggie oil system over a year ago into the 240D and have over 16k miles on veggie oil. I also have over 25k biodiesel miles on my 300TD.

Cheers
Andrew

Welcome to the forum, Andrew.

Those are some pretty astonishing MPG numbers from your 240D. What kind of driving do you do?

Darin

Thanks!

Well those numbers aren't totally truthful:o. They are the milage I get on the fuel I pay for. I run waste veggie oil most of the time. I only use the diesel/biodiesel for warming up and shutting down the engine. In between those times I switch to veggie oil. The car still only gets 25-30mpg. But per gallon of diesel I get much more because I use veggie oil. In my opinion it's really not different that a hybrid. The gas engine in a hybrid doesn't get 60mpg on it's own, but when the car is supplemented by it's electric power it gets 60mpg. It's using a separate onboard fuel source, and so am I. :D

My wagon is stock and usually gets between 25-27mpg. I am hoping to find some things to do that will squeeze a few more mpg out of it.

BTW how do I get the EM milage ticker in my signature. I have it there but it's not a link and I'm not sure that it will keep itself up to date when I update my fuel log. How do I do it properly?

Hi Andrew, welcome on-board.

A friend of mine wanted to convert his old diesel to veggie oil, but didn't found someone accepting to reserve him their used oil, so he bought a new low cost car.
Have you got problems to find used oil ?

Have you seen a lot of power loss between diesel and veggie oil ?
How much present is the odor of burnt oil ? I saw a veggie oil car once and I had the feeling it was cooking French fries :)

To use less diesel, you should build a front grill block, which will permit to heat faster. There is a lot of carboard/coroplast examples on the board.

As your 240D is a manual, you should try to use coasting. Associated to pumped up tires it should give you good results.

Have fun,

Denis.

Here is the 240.
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d1...lished_240.jpg

And here is a link to the veg oil conversion pics - Veg Oil Pics

groar - I haven't had too much trouble securing oil sources. The key is being consistent about picking up the oil so they don't start giving it to someone else. Although it has been getting harder for folks since all the biodiesel companies are now paying for restaurant waste oil.
I do experience some power loss with veggie oil. Both biodiesel and veggie oil have about 7-10% less power than petroleum diesel. So per gallon you loose a little power and a little mpg. The good side is veggie oil and biodiesel are both much cleaner burning and usually grown in the US. and when the oil is free a few mpg's that are lost aren't such a big deal.
There is definite difference in the smell. Veggie oil smells like a fast food restaurant, and so does biodiesel but not quite as much. The smell is much better for you nose.:thumbup:

Ah. We'll have to add a field to the garage to exclude your car from the "top 10" lists then, or there will be no end to the griping.

That would be true if the hybrid is a plug-in variety that takes energy from the grid to store in the batteries for the next drive.

But "regular" hybrids (Prius, etc.) get ALL their energy from gasoline. They're able to recover some of the gasoline's energy through regeneration that would otherwise be wasted. But it's a 100% closed system, 100% fossil fuel powered.

Ah. We'll have to add a field to the garage to exclude your car from the "top 10" lists then, or there will be no end to the griping.

That would be true if the hybrid is a plug-in variety. But "regular" hybrids (Prius, etc.) get ALL their energy from gasoline. They're able to recover some of the gasoline's energy through regeneration that would otherwise be wasted. The batteries are also charged while driving, straight from the generator driven by the gas engine. Either way, it's a 100% closed system, 100% fossil fuel powered.