Waste Vegetable Oil

I’d been searching for a truck for just over a week before I had found this gem.  I’d been watching dealership and private listings online and my father-in-law-to-be was helping me by watching the weekly auctions.

On the night of Sunday 11/02, I search several nearby metro areas on Craig’s List and happened across an unbelievable deal in KC metro.

By Monday 11/03, I was test driving the truck in Lenexa KS and leaving a deposit. I’d read countless pages about choosing and looking over a diesel and had watched several somewhat informative videos before the test drive.  I took along a friend who had driven a number of good and bad diesels over the years.  While we were no experts, we didn’t seem to find any obvious problems.

By Friday 11/07, I was driving home my new (to me) 2002 Ford F-250 w/ 7.3L PSD, Crew Cab, Long Bed, 4×4, etc.  I’m usually one to take things slow, so I really felt like I was jumping the gun on this.  It was just such a great deal that I hated to stall one bit.  I ended up buying the truck for less than trade-in value.  Wade was very friendly, helpful, informative along the way.  We covered his maintenance schedule so that I could continue where he left off, then I gave him the bennies and we completed all the private party paperwork.  The truck was officially mine.  Hoping I didn’t just end up with a giant lemon!

The truck just rolled over to 250K when they were driving it back from the 5K oil change at the dealership this morning.  I called the dealership that they always use for service and asked if I could get a copy of service records for the truck so that I know what still needs to be done.  They were glad to help, so I drove the truck to the dealership and picked up their records (from 200K to 250K) before heading home.  Apparently they changed computer systems a year or two ago and weren’t able to preserve any records before 200K, otherwise they would have given me even more.  Glad the folks at Danny Zeck (http://www.dzford.com/) were willing to help.

It seems like the truck only needs a few things.  Remove the company lettering on doors and tailgate, replace cracked windshield, remove a ton of labels/stickers from rear window.  All in good time.

My body shop friend was awesome.  He removed the lettering from the front doors and back tailgate the same day.  He said that removal turned out to be more of a PITA than he had expected because he had to heat and peel individual letters, but we were both impressed that there were no noticeable fading effects or other issues after he removed the lettering.  We scheduled replacement of the windshield for the following week.

Off to clean out the truck and remove some stickers.

Surprisingly, the auctions haven’t turned up anything.  Online dealer websites haven’t turned up anything reasonable either.  Not willing to pay $18-24K for a truck I might possibly ruin.  Hopefully that won’t be the case, but being realistic that someone with a Nerd Herd type of background has the potential for a major screw up under the hood.  LOL

I’m finding several potentials on Craig’s List (http://craigslist.org/).  The first one was a Ford within 30 miles and was priced at the high end of my budget, but has already come and gone.  Too bad.   I happened across the second one while searching nearby metro areas on CL tonight.  This one is quite UNDER my budget.  Wow!  I emailed the guy at 5:45PM asking about availability, VIN, etc.  He responded within an hour.  Sounds like I’ll be making a drive to KC metro to take a look (and hopefully leave a deposit) tomorrow!

I’ve been looking at a variety of WVO solutions and think that I have decided to go with a kit from Golden Fuel Systems (http://goldenfuelsystems.com/) after reviewing lots of information from various online discussions, the GFS website, and their YouTube videos.  The fact that they are within driving distance (Springfield MO) is an added bonus.

I’ve narrowed my search for my future WVO truck to the following, based on personal preference, various online discussions related to problems and successes with WVO, and comments on each fuel system kit page on the GFS website.  Sounds like I should try to avoid newer generation trucks equipped specifically for ULSD or with the newer emissions features (EGR, etc).  Not to worry though, anything this new should be well outside of my target budget ($10K-14K).

• Chevy/GM 2500 or 3500 w/ 6.6L DuraMax (2001-)
• Ford F-250 or F-350 w/ 7.3L PSD (1999-2003)
• Dodge Ram 2500 or 3500 w/ 5.9L Cummins (2003-)

I’ll be looking for a 4 door cab and 4 wheel drive.  I’m hoping for an older (cheaper) truck with little wear, good interior and good exterior.  A heavy duty front grill might be nice so that future deer only cost me a quick rinse at the car wash.  LOL

My car was totaled by a deer around 10/21.  I began trying to decide on a replacement.  I started by looking at full sized cars with the best possible gas mileage.

Months ago, I’d heard about the concept of running waste vegetable oil in diesel trucks.  I suddenly found myself reading endless online material related to WVO.  Once I started to become more comfortable with the concept, I paid a visit to the local restaurant owner who had originally mentioned the concept.  He seemed willing to share WVO from some of his restaurants and referred me to someone else who was already consuming WVO from several of his restaurants.  This gave me an opportunity to visit with a local who was already using WVO as a fuel.  He confirmed that he was collecting oil from two of the restaurants and consuming without problems.  He discussed some basics that I had already familiarized myself with and offerred to visit at length in person for a price.  I never took him up on the offer.  Knowing that I had access to useable WVO was enough for me.