"Current TV" - vote up this video about cars which run on vegetable oil.

[Eric J in MN]

Click greenlight for "From the Fry Daddy to your Car"
http://www.current.tv/studio/media/183

Al Gore's TV Channel

[Autumn Colors]

1. Yeah

I already decided that my next car (which I'll probably have to get in the next year or two) will be a VW Golf Diesel. Count me in. I had already downloaded all the info on how to mix biodiesel a few weeks ago.

Now if we could only figure out how to switch our baseboard heating power source from oil to electricity so we could use solar and wind energy to power everything in the house ....

[Eric J in MN]

2. That's cool.

Let us know how things go with your next car.

[Gold Metal Flake]

3. Thanks for the link! I decided to run straight veg oil in my truck.

Here's how:

http://www.freewebs.com/vegtruck/index.html

Biodiesel is the next step, but I'm gonna stick with the straight stuff for now.

[Autumn Colors]

4. Be careful with that!!!

Warnings:

If you have an older diesel-engine vehicle, you need to have the rubber seals replaced with metal ones because the vegetable oil based diesels (biodiesel AND straight cooking oil) will erode the rubber seals.

There are kits to convert your engine for use of straight veggie oil (SVO) only. They cost about $500 (and seems to be, from what I'm reading, not hard for any diesel mechanic to install. You cannot use straight veggie oil in your engine when the temperatures go down outside (and some places get cold at night even during the summer) because the oil will start to solidify and WRECK YOUR ENGINE!

What that kit does is there are two tanks, one for either regular diesel or biodiesel and the other for SVO. In cooler temps, you have to run the car on the regular tank/fuel for 5-10 minutes while the other tank heats the veggie oil, then there's a switch to start using the veggie oil. You have to switch back to the regular fuel for about 5 minutes before shutting down the engine in order to clear all the veggie oil remnants out of the system.

NOTE: Putting this engine conversion kit into a newer car may nullify your car's warranty.

Just a few things to consider. Please don't wreck your truck's engine.

Here's a good site (and has links to some other sites at the bottom of the page):
http://www.noendpress.com/caleb/biodiesel/index.php

[Gold Metal Flake]

5. Clarifications

Autumn Colors has expressed some areas of concern. Fortunately, many have traveled down this road and have reported their experiiences.

Injection pumps (IP) in VWs and Mercedes such as the Bosch pump are hardy and don't mind the straight veg oil. There is another type of pump used in some small diesels, I believe it is Lucas, that should not be used.

The main danger to the IP is water. Used oil will have some water in it. Some of that water will settle out. Some will be caught by water separators. But some is mixed so well that only heat or vacuum will remove it. If you want to run veg oil, you need to filter it well, and check for suspended water.

The problem with water is that in the IP under pressure the tiny droplets can explode. This causes pits in the IP surfaces. That is a bad thing.

The warning about water is the same for home-brewed biodiesel from waste oil.

Autumn Colors wrote about the two-tank system. If you follow my link, you can see on way of doing it. Veg oil is thicker than diesel normally. To get it to flow like diesel, you need to heat it up to a minimum of 160 degrees. I use engine coolant to do the job. Electric heaters are also available.

I chose to make this conversion on an old vehicle. If it breaks, I have a backup. If you want to do this, I suggest that you get an old VW or Mercedes, and you should have some experience with wrenchin' on cars.

Here are a couple of good message forums for WVO and biodiesel.

http://biodiesel.infopop.cc/eve/ubb.x

http://www.frybrid.com/forum/index.php

[Gold Metal Flake]

7. Oops.

Forgot. Autumn Colors mentioned rubber in the IP. In the VW and the MEcedes, you do need to worry about the hoses that are common to the veg oil and diesel fuels. Use late-model EFI hose or convert to polyethelene or similar. Veg oil and regular old-fashioned rubber hoses don't get along well.

[Autumn Colors]

8. Thanks

I'm printing out your info to add to what I've collected so far. That's good to know about the VW fuel injectors not minding the veggie oil.

About the water in the fuel. Is using a bottle of dry gas a no-no with biodiesel?

[Gold Metal Flake]

9. I have no personal experience.

Check the forums that I linked. I know that there have been discussions, and I think it was thought that if the water molecules could not bond with the dewater stuff then all bets were off. SOunds risky.

There are a few different dewatering concepts out there. But nothing beats getting oil from a tank behind an asian restaurant that dumps it hot. Much less moisture. The stuff I use, I have seen no settled moisture at all, and I settle the stuff for weeks. Experts suggest filtering to about 10 microns after some settling, then allow that to settle some more. The idea being that filtering removes much of the particulates that moisture adheres to.

Dewatering concepts:

Heat to above boiling in an old electric water heater

Put in a tank and pull a vacuum (thus lowering the boiling point considerably)

Combinations of the above

Heating and pumping the oil through a small orifice so that the oil sprays and the water flashes to steam.

Spraying the oil into dry air

Pasta

David Niven's jokes.

Maybe not the last two.

My plan is to learn how to rebuild used injection pumps as insurance.

The Frybrid forum is good, but this forum is great for technical discussions:

http://biodiesel.infopop.cc/eve/ubb.x

There is also a Yahoo group:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vegoil-diesel/?yguid=7315920

No matter what, as you well know, you are taking a chance doing this stuff. I am a mercenary gearhead from waaaay on back.

"This is not a problem"

[Eric J in MN]

6. kick to help more poeple see the Replies nt

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