Full-Sized Car Gets 50 MPG On Waste Oil

Full-Sized Car Gets 50 MPG On Waste Oil ENERGY Waste Oil 3-6-3 "There's more than 680 million gallons of waste oil available every year in the U.S. at pennies a gallon," says Eddie Schuler, a Morrison, Ill., car dealer who's burning waste oil in diesel-powered cars and pickups. Schuler was featured in FARM SHOW two years ago when he engineered a waste oil-powered Dodge Colt that got 54 mpg on the highway. He's now getting right at 50 mpg on a larger Dodge Aspen which he recently converted to run on a waste oil-diesel mixture. "We've mixed waste oil anywhere from 5 to 50% with No. 2 diesel fuel but find a 25% mixture works best. We burn it in a conventional Chrysler diesel engine with no smoking or loss of performance. In fact, the waste oil is heavier, has more btu's, and actually improves the mileage," explains Schuler, who also has burned alcohol, kerosene and low grade heating oil in combination with diesel fuel and waste oil. Preparing for a test ride in the Aspen, Schuler poured only slightly filtered waste oil directly into a special fuel tank mounted on the car's front fender. The almost clear diesel fuel, visible through the sight gauge, immediately turned black. Schuler has developed a booming sideline business ii converting gaspowered cars and pickups to diesel. Using adapters he's developed over the past several years, he can custom-fit a new Chrysler-Mitsubishi four or six cylinder diesel engine to most any car or pickup, installing a Chrysler transmission where necessary. "We'll do the work, or we'll send you the diesel engine with instructions for a do-it-yourself installation. The diesel engines have a life expectancy of 300,000 miles and usually get twice the mileage, or more, than conventional gas engines," says Schuler. His waste-oil burning Aspen has a 71 hp, four cylinder diesel (boosted to 92 hp. with a turbo charger) and a 5-speed transmission with overdrive. It replaces the original Chrysler slant-six engine. Since diesel engines aren't compatible with vacuum-actuated transmissions in most Ford and GM vehicles, Schuler installs hydraulic Chrysler transmissions in converting them to diesel. He takes the old transmissions in trade and sells them through his dealership. Two local shops also do custom conversions for Schuler. This year, they've done 60 - primarily on pickups - for owners from all corners of the U.S. Schuler also has shipped engines to many do-it-yourselfers. Conversion costs range from $3,500 to put a 4-cylinder diesel engine (which costs around $2,800 itself) in a car like the Aspen, to around $6,000 to put a 6-cylinder 253 cu. in turbocharged diesel engine in a pickup "with everything on it. " For more information on repowering cars and pickups,'and running them on waste oil and other low grade fuels, contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Eddie Schuler, Box 109, Morrison, Ill. 61270 (ph 815 722-; 2196).

To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.