Greasecar kit or vegi blends

jrv8984 · January 21st, 2019, 11:38

I am buying 02 TDI golf. I came across a grease car kit on Craigslist, but I'm not sure if it's gonna be worth it for my wife (frequent stops with the car sitting for between 15 minutes to 3 hours, and a few monthly trips in the 45-60 minutes range.
Or mix the filtered wvo with a percentage kero / diesel, and dump it in the tank.
Is there an electric tank heater to help the wvo heat up faster?
I've done a lot of reading, but am not coming up with a good answer for blending wvo for vw tdi's.
OH, not new to diesels, have an f350, and a grand Cherokee crd.
Thanks

IndigoBlueWagon · January 21st, 2019, 12:59

Short answer is that the greasecar kit will be a PITA and you are unlikely to get your investment back. These cars run great on diesel. Why mess with it, especially at current fuel prices?

GoFaster · January 21st, 2019, 13:34

For the normal average person, put all thought of using vegetable oil as fuel out of your mind completely, and just fill the car up with normal pump diesel fuel as it was originally designed for. No blending, no mixing, no nothing. Doing anything else won't be worth the aggravation in the long term.

atc98002 · January 21st, 2019, 14:43

Your mention of "frequent stops" is enough to say no. With grease kits, you have to wait for the oil (and the engine) to warm before switching, and have to purge before you turn it off and let it set. For the complexity involved, it's not worth it, as you would spend very little time actually running on WVO. The longer trips might make it worthwhile, but again it's a lot of work (collecting, storing, filtering, etc.) for very little gain.

jrv8984 · January 21st, 2019, 20:07

Thanks for the feedback. That's the way I was leaning, if I still had an hour commute, I'd be diving in head first. Here in PA we were getting close to $4 a gallon over the summer. Current fuel prices suck with the $1.00 per gallon tax we pay.

aja8888 · January 21st, 2019, 20:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by jrv8984

Thanks for the feedback. That's the way I was leaning, if I still had an hour commute, I'd be diving in head first. Here in PA we were getting close to $4 a gallon over the summer. Current fuel prices suck with the $1.00 per gallon tax we pay.

Move to south Texas. You won't see "winter" and diesel prices are $2.50 per gallon. Cars don't rust, no hills to worry about and plenty of outdoor activities year round.

scooperhsd · January 22nd, 2019, 19:13

Rather than doing a Greasecar, if you're really interested - look into to making Bio diesel with the vegi oil. It has it's own issues, but at least you could just put it in the tank (judicious mixing with tank and antigel additives for winter use). The quality of your fuel will depend on the amount of work you're willing to put into it.

philngrayce · January 23rd, 2019, 05:22

Despite being the resident WVO advocate here, I have to concur with the others; yours is not a good candidate for the two tank kit. The short trips won’t let you run on greae very often. You also have to be concerned about another operator, in this case your wife. Will she run the system correctly, including switching only after the car is fully warmed up and, especially, purging before any extended shutdown?

If you are comfortable with proccessing it, the suggesstion for biodiesel makes a lot more sense. Or, if you have a good source of oil, perhaps you can find someone already making biodiesel willing to trade for your WVO. I think that is a much better solution than blending, though I have no experience with that.

One more thing: In the thread below this one, the OP is looking for a used kit but can’t find one. I think he’s in St. Louis and you’re in PA, but perhaps he can arrange shipping. If you’re not going to get it, why not share the Craigslist link and he can look into it.

WooK · February 13th, 2019, 22:47

I also have been running WVO and concur with Phil on this one. Short trips isnt worth it plus the greatest factor is your wife. she's the one driving the car not you.