I drove to the Bay Area yesterday – about 190 miles. I put 5 gallons of diesel on top of 13 gallons of wvo. The car ran great all the way. I had the injector line heaters on for a good portion of the trip. I don’t know how to tell if they are doing any good but it still makes sense to me to heat the oil as close to the injectors as possible. My tank is showing slightly over half full now. I’m looking forward to the drive back home tomorrow.

I finally figured out what was happening. Several times in the past year, my battery was largely drained and I couldn’t start the car. My alternator did die last year and I had it replaced – twice. But I never figured out why at seemingly random times, my battery just drained while the car was parked.

Today, in the midst of a snowstorm, I got into the Mercedes and tried to start it up. It was no use. There was enough of a charge for the pre-glow light and other dashboard lights, but it just couldn’t turn over. It was then that I noticed that the passenger seat visor was down. And to my astonishment, the mirror light was on!

My visors are both missing the door flap that covers the mirrors and lights and turns the lights on and off. In fact, in 18 months of owning the car, I had never seen either of the visor lights on at all. This is certainly the culprit. I think tomorrow morning I’ll remove the bulbs from these lights so this can’t happen again. Ever.

On November 8 of last year I posted an entry regarding my dissatisfaction with the injector line heaters I purchased from Fattywagons. Since then, the heaters have functioned well, though I use them sparingly. They draw a lot of juice from the battery and my battery may be nearing its golden years (miles).

Today I received an email from someone at Fattywagons saying they are, “getting back in action soon.”

Many people ask me for sources who sell WVO. I don’t know of many, but let me clarify that. There are many renderers who collect used cooking oil from restaurants. They sell that oil, mostly to feed lots, where it is fed to cattle. I have spoken with these companies. The going rate seems to be around $1.00 – $1.20 per gallon. In some cases the oil is filtered but not to the level that we need for our vegcars. And, they are collecting all kinds of oil with lots of sludge and other yucky stuff.

After making many phone calls and sending a lot of emails, we found a guy selling wvo filtered to 10 microns. Last week, my friends and I purchased 660 gallons from him. We paid around $1.70 per gallon delivered (including sales tax). We transferred much of the oil into 55 gallon drums and cubies. In the cold, the oil separated into two strata. The top layer is dark and clear, good looking wvo. The bottom layer is light colored and creamy looking, not good looking wvo.

Since all of the oil was filtered to 10 microns, we have gone ahead and used the oil in our cars. So far the results have been pretty good. I drove 200 miles yesterday on the oil and the car ran great. My Davco filter has not gotten clogged. I can only conclude that the stratification of the oil was due to the cold and nothing more.

I’m traveling for work at the moment but will post some images when I return home.