diesel car.

[canhle]

I am thinking of purchasing a diesel car and eventually convert it to biodiesel. Has anyone done it?
thanks

canhle

[JerryCarr]

I have a friend in Texas who modified a '98 Mercedes to run on biodiesel. I am no mechanic, but he described the modification as relatively minor, and he did it himself. Since fried everything is on the diet in Texas, he makes the rounds of restaurants and fast food joints to get used oil that they formerly paid somebody to remove from the premises. He then filters it in a two step process before using it in his car, and, yes, sometimes the exhaust does smell like french fries. He has rejected some batches of oil, but I don't remember why. Impurities that wouldn't filter out would be a good guess.

Diesel engines, if properly maintained, have a very long lifespan, and my friend expects to get 300,000 miles out of his. (I have no idea about how realistic that claim is, but he seems to know what he is doing.) You should google biodiesel since I'm sure there is a lot of technical stuff about this on the internet. Let us know how you do with it.

Cheers,
Jerry

[Daniel]

Aloha Canhle,

All my vehicles are diesel powered. I have never seen a place to purchase bio diesel on the island, and I probably wouldn't run it in my jeep unless it was really high grade. My older isuzu pickup however would run on lower grade fuel. I love the isuzu because it gets 40 mpg. Good luck finding a vehicle, you'll love diesel.



Daniel R Diamond

[canhle]

Thanks Daniel and Jerry,
Will let you know my progress if i make any.


canhle

[waynesb]

Lots of people use biodiesel to describe using straight vegetable oil as fuel. That requires modification to the vehicle because of oil's higher viscosity than diesel.

Biodiesel fuel can be used in regular diesel-powered vehicles. It is vegetable oil that has been processed. I'm aware of a realtor (not one of the Johns) on the Big Island who runs his unmodified Jetta on biodiesel that is converted by a friend of his.

Here's an overview: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodiesel

[Les C]

The Mercedes diesels, I'm told, can run on WVO (waste vegetable oil) with no modification to the engine. I've run into several people on the Island doing it. Other vehicles may need a preheater to thin the fuel a bit before running it into the engine, or a second tank running regular diesel, or biodiesel, to start with until the engine heats up. When the engine is heated, you switch to the WVO. When turning off the engine, you do a purge, switching back to regular, or biodiesel, before shutting down.

The used vegetable oil has to be filtered to remove particles, and oil used to cook meat should be avoided. Rudolf Diesel designed the engine to run on vegetable oil. WVO and biodiesel aren't really the same. Biodiesel is often processed from oil-rich plants, and involves some chemistry. Pacific Biodiesel apparently collects WVO and processes it to make theirs. The DIYer can collect their own WVO, let it settle, and filter it before putting it into their diesel vehicle's tanks. It will still put out hydrocarbons but the idea is that biodiesel is returning stuff that was recently taken out of the ecosystem, unlike petroleum products which are releasing hydrocarbons from eons ago.

[lquade]

there is a biodiesel club in hilo i bet you can google it. also have a dr. friend who runs his truck here on biodiesel and it is great other than it smells like french fries when he drives up!

[canhle]

Daniel,
How is your experience with your diesel vehicles? What kind of diesel vehicles do you have?How are they comparing to gasoline in term of parts, maintenance costs?
Thanks


Daniel R Diamond
[/All my vehicles are diesel powered. I have never seen a place to purchase bio diesel on the island, and I probably wouldn't run it in my jeep unless it was really high grade. My older isuzu pickup however would run on lower grade fuel. I love the isuzu because it gets 40 mpg. Good luck finding a vehicle, you'll love diesel. ]

canhle

[Mahina]

Running a diesel engine on Biodiesel versus filtered used cooking oil is a different story. Biodiesel requires a refining process and when burned doesn't smell like french fries. Biodiesel is made through a chemical process which converts oils and fats of natural origin into fatty acid methyl esters (FAME). Biodiesel IS NOT vegetable oil although it can be made from used vegetable cooking oil. It is also made from tallow and virgin crop oils. Any diesel engine can run on a blend of biodiesel (20%) and petroleum diesel (80%) known as B20 without modifications to the engine. Some diesel engines need no modification to run on up to 100% biodiesel (B100). Biodiesel cleans the engine, results in better gas milage, is currently produced in Hawaii, and is sold on Maui and Oahu for less than petroleum diesel. Check out www.biodiesel.com Biodiesel isn't being distributed on the Big Island yet except by special order. Plans are moving forward to make that happen this year.

[Bob Orts]

Thanks Mahina for the info. It is confusing for many to understand the difference between Bio-Fuels and Bio-Diesel. You see this often when some are saying what is B-20, B-50, B-100 but thinking SVO. I've even had people confuse Bio-diesel with E-85.

Maybe you can post a more lay-person simple guide to what-is-what?