Cheap Fuel, Great Fuel Economy

Run a diesel engine car on plant oil.

This is a 1983 Mercedes-Benz 300SD that I purchased in 1992 for $8000. I drove my newborn daughter home from the hospital in it in 1996. Its odometer broke three years ago at 356,000 miles. It probably has 500,000 miles on it now, and it's still going strong.

Though I demonstrate Canola oil burning in this engine, I mainly use a similar, though non-edible, oil called jatropha that I grow in my back yard, at a cost of about 35 cents per gallon to produce. Canola (rapeseed) oil can be purchased in bulk for about $1.75 per gallon. On either oil, this car gets 50 miles per gallon versus about 27 miles per gallon on petroleum diesel.

These are the best cars for burning vegetable oil, because their iron blocks are more tolerant of hotter-burning plant oil than more delicate aluminum block engines in newer diesel cars.

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• biodiesel
• david
• gair
• plant
• oil
• cheap
• fuel
• economy

[DeltaJet757]

so, how can you say PO has slightly less energy than diesel and then later say it has greater energy than diesel? doesn't make sense.

The only reason why plant oil or other related alternative fuels are discouraged is because we as a country don't have the physical means of sustaining that fuel source. We can't grow enough to fill every car/truck/boat/plane/train etc. for even a day. Besides, you can't grow crops on the same plot of land, harvest after harvest. The soil wears out eventually!

[stevepearsonnl]

I never said that plant oil has less potential energy... It has more. There are limitations for land plants. For example, every acre of Australia would need to be cultivated with jatropha to solve the world's fuel problems. The answer, I believe, is algae oil

[zech007]

50 MPG is Pure Bull Shit, this car dose not give 50 MPG on plain vegy oil, the best it could give is at least 30 MPG and no higher, there is no way in the world that you can achieve such high fuel mileage just by using cooking oil...

[Turbo617]

All I can suggest is for you to stop lying. You are not filling in any gaps, you are making up your own bullshit and throwing it on top. Seriously, either you really have no clue what you are talking about or somebody fed you some BS and you believed it.

The only person here not getting "it" is you. For claiming to have a "master's in mechanical engineering" you sure need to get educated on this subject.

[tappakeggaday1]

@DeltaJet757 there is a double side to your argument,algae is the fastest growing plant in the world,can be scaled to be grown vertically and the water recirculated after the algae has been harvested from it.all it needs is sun and carbon dioxide which we have in abundance.sorry i seen you posted this 2 years ago so maybe you have seen this about algae since then.

[SakoTGrimes]

50 miles to the gallon............ yet the odometer is broken. Must be judging by how high the fuel gauge is after 10 miles. Because we all know how reliable Mercedes fuel gauges are, right?

[dadoVRC]

@zech007 Excuse me, I live in Europe and here there are a lot of cars capable to run up to 33km/l, that is about 77.5mpg.

An old car like the 300D can arrive to about 20km/l (47mpg) running slowly and on a plain road.

However the diesel fuel contains more energy thjan plant oil, and the mileage of the plant oil was comparable only because of the more complete burning, but normally the fossil fuel mileage was better.

I run my car on plant oil since 2003, and I do some experience with that.

[azzgetter]

@zech007 i have had 20 mb,and the best you're going to get from the corn,peanut oil etc instead of diesel is about 7 more miles to the gallon,MAX.

[DominoChild]

Do grease fueled engines perform well in the winter?

[CactusBobsPlace]

50 , 50 ,50 MPG ! YOUR KIDDING , RIGHT ? your car is heavy i would guess 25 , 30 tops . i have been running WVO for years i have 3 cars .85 volvo 740 diesel auto trans 32 mpg . 84 volvo diesel man trans 38 mpg and a 82 isuzu i mark diesel that gets 50 , its like driving a tin can ! and your big heavy mer is getting 50 ! who you trying to fool 

[avitech77]

I might be moving to Las Vegas. I have a diesel Mercedes just like his. What would be the best plant to grow for vegetable oil/fuel in a desert region?

[avitech77]

I have that same exact car in white. How come he doesn't use the fuel "pre-heat" system so the vegi-fuel will burn more efficiently?

[OneLifeLiveItNow]

Of course it's possible. I drive a Peugeot Partner minivan and consistently get 52.5 US mpg. My Peugeot Partner has an indirect injection diesel engine just like the Merc and is made from iron. I've had great success with Biodiesel (made from wvo), SVO and regular diesel. For European and Japanese family cars, anything below 47 US mpg is pretty pathetic. My parents drive a Honda Jazz (JDM) which gets 71 US mpg on the highway in normal driving without resorting to hypermiling.

[Beautyofmachines]

I'm not talking about tailgating it. If you ever drive an SUV or minivan normally behind a truck you'll get blown around because you're entering the slipstream, its not really that close behind it when you can see both mirrors....Regardless, the 50mpg this guy is talking about is complete BS.