Driving on "Wonderfuel"

[rl71459]

Hi Everyone

Got a new use for my controversial fuel. I picked up an old Mercedes Benz 190d 2.5 Turbodiesel.

Have run about 300 miles so far.... I cannot tell the difference between diesel and wonderfuel while driving!
Time will tell if this is a "BIG MISTAKE" So far it sure is fun!

The car is not converted.... Just running my RUG thinned blend (WonderFuel) I call it that because when I
Put it in the tank... I wonder if I will be walking home!

Rob

[rmchambers]

Well it's been a couple of months now, have you had to walk home yet?  is the Benz still running well?

[rl71459]

Hi rmchambers

The engine is running fine! Unfortunetly the transmission has failed! so it's in the shop now... Its should be done this week,
at least thats what they tell me. We have clocked just under 3K miles so far.

The weather is getting colder... I am interested to see if there are going to be any temp related issues.

Rob

[rmchambers]

Can't really blame the tranny failure on the fuel unless it's producing so much extra power that the transmission couldn't handle it.  Doubt that eh?  good luck with the repair, hope it isn't too expensive.

[rl71459]

Hi Rm

So Far my trans repair has become a nightmare!...... I just had it hauled to the second trans shop after the 1st one did not complete the job in 5 weeks!
I wont even bother you with all the stories (lies and excuses!) that this guy fed me week after week! after the last one... I told him to stop! and sent a car hauler
to pick up the car and take it to a different shop!

I had a bad feeling about the shop when I dropped the car off there.... I should have listened to myself! I now have the car at a shop that I beleive will treat
me right!

They think it will be done next week! I cant wait to get it back!

Rob

[rmchambers]

Wow, that really sucks...

Reminds me of a tranny shop in Richardson Texas that my friend took his cutlass to back when we were in high school.

The cars tranny had been through some hell I think and occasionally it would make this awful grinding sound, then a thunk then quiet for a while.  I drove to the place with him (so I could drive him home) and the guy said to check back in a couple of days.  This was back when cell phones were the size of bricks and cost thousands of $$.

Come back in a couple of days and he said it's fixed!  so my buddy went to pay him and then he drove home with me following.  When he got home he told me, it's still making noise!  so we drove back over and I sat in the back while we had the service manager sit in the passenger seat so we should show him.  We drove along for a bit and all was well and he said "sounds great to me" then a little while later we started to hear the slight grinding whirring noise, "Ah, that's the noise!" he said "Ah yes, thats the sound the planetary gears make when they go around the sun gear thats quite normal"  Now I didn't know enough to call bullship on that but eventually  kerbang then quiet again  so I pipe up "and that's normal too is it? what's that the sun doing a big bang?"   he looked at my buddy and said "Leave it with us".  The next time we picked the car up it was quiet and he never had any more trouble with the tranny for as long as he owned it.

Sounds like the same place to me! haha

Good luck

RC

[rl71459]

We have our car back... Trans is working good... Feels good to be burning "Wonderfuel" again. So far it seems OK in the cold weather.

Actually... have had it back for a couple weeks.

Rob

 

[rl71459]

After Reading up on links recently posted on the use of acetone.... I tried some in my waste oil blend. It seems to have improved
cold weather starts (5 deg F yesterday) when no block heater is used (Smoother running before warm-up) Cant currently tell if there is any performance difference... Roads are ICY!

I used 2 oz's in 10 gallons of my blended waste oil fuel.

Rob

[rmchambers]

Acetone, I've read some stuff about adding that to fuel.  the prevailing wisdom is that in a carb fueled gas engine it helps but with injection it doesn't help as much.  With compression ignition it may well give you a little boost if it's volatile enough to help pop off when the compression gets to it.

My friggin snowblower is very anemic lately, the engine is shot I think, I  just keep it going until I find something else, the last tank of gas I put in it I added a bit of acetone as well, it seemed to help but who knows.

Does anyone remember where those small diesel engines that are bolt-hole replacements for briggs and stratton are?  I thought a guy was advertising them here but I can't find them.

Good luck with the wonderfuel, perhaps if I can find one of those engines I'll run that in mine too!

Merry Christmas to all..

Robert

[Tom]

My perception on the roid is that cold starting is easier with a bit of acetone added. My rack is still a bit stiff when cold, so I tried a bit of acetone again.

I've also used acetone in my carbureted '74 Scout II and found no change in mileage, but it does ping less and has a bit more power. Acetone is a common ingredient on carb/injector cleaners, so if the system is dirty it may help a lot.

[rcavictim]

Does anyone remember where those small diesel engines that are bolt-hole replacements for briggs and stratton are?  I thought a guy was advertising them here but I can't find them.


Robert

Username Trigsy.

trigs@hotmail.com
Company email sales@hightechhicks.com

[rmchambers]

Thanks RCA, I appreciate the info.  Hope all is going well with you up there!

Best wishes

RC

[trigzy]

I'll send you a pic/video of my 6.7HP diesel snowblower if I get a chance before the snow disapears.  It looks ugly, as I haven't had much of a chance to clean it up.  Normally things are slow at work all Dec & Jan, but haven't been this year....  apparently the sales people at work haven't heard we are in a recession!

Steve

[rl71459]

Hi Everyone

Just an update... I continue to run my Waste Oil/Rug Blend in the Benz without any problems that I can detect. I add some
"Diesel Kleen" every other tank (Not sure if I need to?) and a little Acetone in the Cold weather (Below zero "F"). Dont know right now how many miles it has been.... But I do drive it everyday to work (30~40 miles round trip) and my wife and I take it on our "long" trips (100~400 miles) and leave our newer gas vehicle sitting in the driveway whenever possible.

Best Wishes
Rob

[rmchambers]

So it sounds like you're doing ok then.  I broke down and took my friggin snowblower apart before the last big forecasted East coast storm.  It has a tecumseh snowking engine on it, I've never been a big fan of their engines and I'm still not but at least with the head off I saw what was wrong.  The exhaust valve was moving a bit on the exhaust stroke before closing tight again.  I was losing compression and some fuel mix out the exhaust pipe which explained the cherry redness of that.  Anyway the only way to adjust those valves is to pop them out and grind some meat off the bottom of the valve stem.  AFter I did that and put it back together it didn't touch on the compression stroke any more so I put the head back on.  It has enough compression now to pull your shoulder if you don't watch it and it throws snow like there's no tomorrow.  Who'd have thought eh?

What does your car smell like running on wonderfuel?  does it have the typical diesel smell or something different?