Biodiesel? WVO

[CA]

Wandering if anyone on the around here is into biodiesel production and/or wvo use in a diesel vehicle. I am looking into getting a diesel, probably old benz or vw and going in with some friends on a biodiesel processor.

Anybody have any experience with this?

Don't like sending a good portion of my earnings to mammoth corporations and the saudi royal family.

[The Lorax]

I did some research on the subject a couple years ago when I was considering a diesel. it seems that there are 3 primary ingredients, methanol, lye and whatever fryer oil you can get your hands on. first you mix the methanol and the lye (extreme caution is warranted here as methanol is rather toxic and will blind you, lots of PPE required gloves, chemical safety glasses, pretty much full body covering to avoid getting methanol on you, or so the stuff I read said) after you have the methylhydroxide or whatever it is called, you mix that with the fryer grease, the crap precipitates out to the bottom and what is on top is bio diesel. easy, and fun for the whole family, you should be able to burn it in pretty much any diesel engine. In all seriousness, be real careful, from what I read making he stuff does have its hazards, apart from the whole combustible liquid thing. hope this is somewhat helpful, have a nice day and ride safe

[T99Ford]

But do make sure you have a few fuel filters for your car on hand when you make the switch. We have a few customers who switched to bio diesel in their farm equipment. They had problems with the bio removing alot of crud from the fuel system and it would plug filters like mad for awhile. Additionally, you do not want to store the bio in the vehicle for extended periods of time (storage), as it is very corrosive, and can harm components of the injection system.
It does not do real well in extremely cold weather, either. But then, neither does #2 diesel...

[DiverRay]

Being in Can'taffordya, we have Bio available in some stations. I ran Bio in my 1990 3/4 ton 4X4 Suburban, and got the same MPG as with dino fuel. The ONLY problem I had was with the fuel lines. Bio EATS rubber lines!!! You need to go with different fuel and return lines, or you WILL be leaking fuel...
I DID like running it, though. Most people looked at the big red beast, and thought I was getting about 8 MPG. With the 6.2, I was getting about 18MPG!!

[motoman]

Interesting Ray, but think I'll stick with the pump stuff in my 2000 7.3 stroker. It's gettin' me 18-19 around town and 21-22 highway. That's an F-350 super cab, 6spd. which will likely bring someone and something "new" to Santa Margarita in June. No Radio Flyer, but results will be similar. This time of year here I add cetane to the dino fuel. It seems to be happier with it.