I currently have three and have had as many as five mercedes vege oil cars. Three have been 300SD’s two are 300D’s and my newest acquisition is an unbelievably cherry 240D 4cyl 4 spd manual trans creampuff. By the way, the 300SD’s and the 300D turbo diesels all share the same 5cyl power plant, no difference in these engines, none, interchangeable.

I’ve had both one tank and two tank conversions, one of the two tanks I drove 40K on veg oil and it just kept getting better.

The bogging problem can be pretty annoying and I would not attribute it as much to the model (although the sd’s are heavier and more sluggish than the smaller lighter 300D’s). I would look to the fuel screen inside the fuel tank. Since these cars are of the one tank variety, it is likely that there may be some residue in the tank that the veg oil has dislodged and it tends to settle over the screen inside the tank. Remove it and it will probably be coated with the stuff. If so, it might be a good idea to get the tank cleaned so the problem doesn’t reoccur. When this screen clogs it can restrict the flow from the tank to the injector pump and “bogging” will be the outcome. [Read more →]

The following email is from reader DG.

Hi i am buying a 85mb 300sd tomorrow just to use as a veg car, my question is if i live in n.c. where we don’t have long extremely cold winters, is a conversion needed or can i just increase the petrodiesl during winter? and if so where do i find a list of parts needed to do it myself instead of paying top dollar for a “kit”. thanks gas prices are nearly killing my small family in an already hard economic time for us, we are barely getting by now! i work in a restaurant so this would be a lifesaver for me!! thanks

I would strongly advise against putting vegetable oil in your fuel tank without installing at least a filter and better would be a heater/filter. There are two reasons for this:

1. When you put wvo (waste veg oil) in your tank it actually loosens particles of debris from the inside of your tank and fuel lines. These will end up in your injectors unless you have a filter installed to catch them.
2. Even if your weather isn’t too cold, vegetable oil burns a lot better if it is heated up. You may have noticed when cooking with veg oil that when it is heated it becomes less viscous (more watery).

I would advise doing the conversion yourself. You can do a single-tank conversion (no additional fuel tank). I would recommend buying the parts from Lovecraft Biofuels. I, and several friends, got the parts from this company and they have worked very well. It is a simple installation taking only about 4 hours for a beginner. I have step-by-step instructions on how we did it right here on the blog. The kit sells for $595.

If that is too steep, you can buy a Davco 234 filter/heater, hoses and other parts from your local auto parts store and do it that way. The Davco will cost you around $250 I think plus $16 each for the Fleetguard filter inserts.

If that is too steep, I saw a conversion recently that was really simple. They tapped into the coolant line and ran the coolant through a coiled copper tube. The coil surrounded a stock filter (truck filter I think) and that was it.

Basically, you are trying to heat the oil and filter it before it gets into the injectors.

Here is a video from our first conversion back in June of 2006. It was a single-tank conversion of a 1985 300SD. We did the conversion in the workshop of our friend Berry who passed away last year. We miss him dearly.

We documented this conversion here so you can follow the process step-by-step.

Is there a difference between 300D’s and 300SD’s in how they handle wvo?

I love the 300D. Aesthetically, I think it is the better looking of the 300 series cars. That, of course, is completely subjective. I also love the way my 300D handles wvo. My 1984 300D has performed remarkably well for the two-and-a-half years I have owned it. It is a has  a single-tank conversion using the Davco 234 heater/filter. Here in the Sierra foothills, the temperature gets down into the 20’s and 30’s and occasionally dips to the teens. I occasionally mix in about 20% diesel in the winter but run almost exclusively on wvo. The wvo my friends and I purchased from Sphere Energy was filtered down to 5 microns but does get creamy in the winter. On the coldest days, when I have 100% wvo in the tank, I do experience bogging, especially going up long hills. But on days like today, when the weather is in the high 30’s, my car started right up and didn’t bog at all.

Two of my friends, let’s call them Josh and Barry, have ‘84 and ‘85 300SD’s that have had bogging problems especially in winter. We are using the same wvo from Sphere. Even mixed with some diesel, they have more severe bogging problems than I do. So my question is this:

Are 300D’s better suited to running on wvo than 300SD’s?

I don’t know what the differences are in the engines. Maybe my sample size is too small and this simply reflects the characteristics of these particular cars. I would love to hear from y’all…

Yesterday, we converted a friend’s car, my second conversion. This one was a 1984 300SD and the conversion went smoothly except for one missing part. The car owner will pick up that part today and we’ll finish it up this afternoon.

Several people have asked for a complete parts list for this standard, simple single-tank conversion. I created this list right after finishing the conversion. I’ll add to it later if I discover that I omitted anything. Note: there are fancier tools that would make the job even easier. I don’t have an extensive automotive tool collection.

Parts

• Heater/Filter (we used a Davco 234 with 12v heater) with harness kit – you can wire it yourself but this $11 kit is very converient)
  • 2 fittings for fuel in and out
  • 2 fittings for coolant in and out
• 2 ‘T’ joints for the 5/8 inch coolant line
• 5/8 inch coolant hose (8 feet is more than enough)
• Hose clamps for 5/8 inch coolant hose (8)
• Fuel line (5 feet is more than enough)
• Fuse or circuit breaker for Davco (I don’t know the amperage but will update when I have it)
• Crimp ring terminals (3)
• Bolts and nuts to secure Davco to chassis (2 of each)
  • Washers (4)
• Clear tubing for Davco cleanout (18 inches) – I don’t know the diameter – will add later
• Fitting to connect clear tubing to bottom of Davco

Tools

• Screwdrivers
• A Quarter (the coin) – handy for opening the radiator drain plug
• Crimp Tool
• Serrated knife – or a cutting device to cut coolant hose
• Portable light(s)
• Drill with assorted bits
• Hammer and nail – to make pilot holes in chasis
• Funnel – for pouring the coolant/water back into the radiator

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