# Running Your Diesel Car On Used Veg. Oil....anyone doing it? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 27, 2004, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-your-diesel-car-on-used-veg-oil-anyone-doing-it/257175 "2004-07-27T23:19:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-your-diesel-car-on-used-veg-oil-anyone-doing-it/257175/1 "2004-07-27T23:19:37Z")
I saw a story on the t.v. a few months ago about a woman who was doing this. She had a kit installed, and ran her car on used vegetable oil from the local fast food and chinese take-out places. There seem to be a lot of European companies offering kits, but [The Greasel Guys](http://www.greasel.com/) do it here in the U.S.A. Has anyone here done this conversion? I don’t own a diesel vehicle right now, but if my driving miles per month takes off as I hope it will, this might well be a move that will save me thousands a year. Looks messy and whatnot. I’m highly interested in it. Cartooniverse ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-your-diesel-car-on-used-veg-oil-anyone-doing-it/257175/2 "2004-07-27T23:29:05Z")
There are four guys who get together to do this in Madison once a month. There was a story about them in the [Wisconsin State Journal](http://www.spasd.k12.wi.us/id99.htm) just last week. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-your-diesel-car-on-used-veg-oil-anyone-doing-it/257175/3 "2004-07-27T23:31:09Z")
Opps, sorry that link will only get you to the home page. Use the site search function at the top right to search for “grease” to find your story. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-your-diesel-car-on-used-veg-oil-anyone-doing-it/257175/4 "2004-07-27T23:45:18Z")
here, at any rate, it’s illegal as the government makes it a crime to run your vehicle on any fuel on which you have not paid the tax. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-your-diesel-car-on-used-veg-oil-anyone-doing-it/257175/5 "2004-07-27T23:57:57Z")
How would you save _thousands_ per year? That’s mean driving an average of 38 miles per hour, every hour of the day and night, for an entire year. I’m using the following assumptions: (1) 5000 miles per oil change. Since you’re driving a lot, I have to imagine freeway use (6000 miles) with a slightly more frequent change for paranoia. (2) “Thousands” is at the very least more than 1 unit of thousand, i.e., you’d spend $2000/yr on oil changes. That gives us 66-2/3 changes per year… In a more serious manner I’ll ask: what does this conversion convert? I’m genuinely curious as to which parts need to be changed to use vegetable oil instead of plain, old mineral oil. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-your-diesel-car-on-used-veg-oil-anyone-doing-it/257175/6 "2004-07-28T00:03:52Z")
Hmmm… it’d be best to completely disregard my last post. I, uh, confused the burning of vegetable oil as a _fuel_ vs., uh, using it for _lubrication_. ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-your-diesel-car-on-used-veg-oil-anyone-doing-it/257175/7 "2004-07-28T00:21:14Z")
I know a diesel mechanic who looked into it. I think he was planning to start his truck with diesel, then switch to a 50/50 mix of diesel and vegetable oil. I think that in the end he decided that the hassle of getting and storing the used vegetable oil wasn’t worth it. ---
**Author:** ![stockton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5a626/32.png) [@stockton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stockton)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-your-diesel-car-on-used-veg-oil-anyone-doing-it/257175/8 "2004-07-28T00:39:58Z")
One of my neighbors is doing it in a big way: [http://www.atlanta.creativeloafing.com/2003-10-30/news\_feature.html](http://www.atlanta.creativeloafing.com/2003-10-30/news_feature.html) [http://www.joehilldispatch.org/atlanta/archives/001598.html](http://www.joehilldispatch.org/atlanta/archives/001598.html) ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-your-diesel-car-on-used-veg-oil-anyone-doing-it/257175/9 "2004-07-28T00:43:24Z")
According to [this article](http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/view.php?id=7404) in the Philadelphia Weekly you’ll spend more money filling the tank, unless restaurants let you scounge in their trash. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-your-diesel-car-on-used-veg-oil-anyone-doing-it/257175/10 "2004-07-28T01:41:09Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > Hmmm… it’d be best to completely disregard my last post. I, uh, confused the burning of vegetable oil as a _fuel_ vs., uh, using it for _lubrication_. I am currently experimenting using used deef-fryer grease and used ATF as BOTH fuel AND lubrication in a postal jeep powered by an Olds 350 cui diesel. Grease is fed to the sump and circulated, heating up to at least 300 deg.F, then that sump lube is taped and fed to the injector pump as the fuel is then thin enough to pass through the injectors. I have fuel filters which filter the oil down to 2 microns, so there wont be any problem with the injectors clogging…but the problem may be with the thermal viscocity: as the oil gets hotter, it gets thinner, perhaps so thin that the bearings might fail. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![stockton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5a626/32.png) [@stockton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stockton)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-your-diesel-car-on-used-veg-oil-anyone-doing-it/257175/11 "2004-07-28T01:55:56Z")
> [@Enola Straight](#): > > …Grease is fed to the sump and circulated, heating up to at least 300 deg.F, then that sump lube is taped and fed to the injector pump as the fuel is then thin enough to pass through the injectors… Serious question, not a nitpick - You mean the sump is TAPPED and fed to the injectors? I don’t understand ‘taped’ in this context. I’m assuming a small typo, but can’t picture the other scenario. Keep up the good work. No one’s even mentioned yet that Mr. Diesel originally INVENTED his engine to run on veg, and big oil talked him out of it because they already had the complicated fuel delivery system in place. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-your-diesel-car-on-used-veg-oil-anyone-doing-it/257175/12 "2004-07-28T04:41:13Z")
Yes…typo…tapped.