Bio-diesel Fill-up June 19, 2006

Here are the latest stats for the 240D. The mileage figure is slowly climbing. I thought about buying regular diesel as bio-diesel is up to $3.09 per gallon, but stuck to my initial goal of running bio. Mickey at Jim's Fine Car Service finally received and installed my ignition lock (keyed to the serial number) along with the new glass insert for the passenger mirror housing that was installed at the end of the last visit.

General impressions:
The car is very slow with the air conditioning on, but less so with the A/C off. The new radio/CD is great and is keeping us entertained on our slow sojourn. The sunroof is a fabulous feature and provides lots of New Mexico sunshine without blowing the passenger cabin around. The brakes seem solid and the new pads and rotors provide great stopping, even without anti-lock.

We were almost hit on our return from Belen last Saturday at a poorly planned traffic merge on the Interstate. Luckily, the errent Ford Focus decided at the last minute to veer slightly away since I was boxed in at the front, rear and the side!

Efficiency summary:
60 mile round-trip to Belen to see the Mopar Club annual show at Auge's Chrysler Dodge Jeep dealership plus a little less than 300 miles of in-town driving

General conditions: driver and three passengers, 75 MPH highway driving and in-town with various passenger loads

June 19, 2006 B20 Bio-diesel Fill-up in Albuquerque
14.35 Gallons @$3.09 per gallon = $44.50
344 miles @ 23.34 MPG - city/highway driving

Bio-diesel Fill-up June 09, 2006

150 mile, bi-weekly trip to Socorro to visit the Cramer Hall job site at New Mexico Tech plus 55 miles of in-town driving

General conditions: driver and three passengers, 75 MPH highway driving

June 9, 2006 B20 Bio-diesel Fill-up in Albuquerque
9.533 Gallons @$2.97 per gallon = $28.40
205 miles @ 22.55 MPG - city/highway driving

First BioDiesel Tank!

Unitl I learn to make BioDiesel fuel, I have purchased my first tank from the Ever-Ready Oil Company.

Here is a Shameless Plug:
Ever-Ready Oil Company
1200 1st Street
Albuquerque, NM 87102
M-F 8-5pm Sat 9-2pm

Here are the fill-up statistics to date:

June 6, 2006 B20 Biodiesel Fill-up in Albuquerque
13.397 Gallons @$2.97 per gallon = $39.79
271 miles @ 20.23 MPG - all city driving

May 7, 2006 Diesel Fill-up in Albuquerque
11.272 Gallons @$2.79 per gallon = $31.55
305 miles @ 27.06 MPG - highway driving

May 7, 2006 Diesel Fill-up in Flagstaff
6.546 Gallons @$3.39 per gallon = $22.25
164 miles @ 25.05 MPG - highway driving

May 6, 2006 Diesel Fill-up in Phoenix
12.247 Gallons @$3.09 per gallon = $37.95
309 miles @ 25.23 MPG - city/highway driving

OK, I was expecting better mileage but, to be fair, our new baby was in the shop for two weeks during the duration of this tank-full, continuously being moved around every day and basically getting 0 MPG. I did get 25 MPG on the highway during the trip from Phoenix before the new tires, suspension, glow plugs, etc., so I think that this mileage figure should be closer to the expected norm.

In the Driveway

Poor quality photo of the 240D taken from the street with my new camera phone

Released to Drive!

Here is a photo of Mickey Hollingshead at his command post at the repair facility. Our "new" Benz is out of the shop. After being administered to by Mickey and his skilled cadre of assistants at Jim's Fine Car Service, she is rolling on the streets of Albuquerque. Last Friday was her release day and she has been driven every day since then. She took Adam, Sue and me to dinner at Yen Ching on Saturday evening. She took Siku, Sue and me around town on errands and to Christine's 20th birthday party on Monday. Here is a rough list of the improvements to the 240D:
01. New tires all around with the best old one becoming a spare
02. Replacement wheel for the one damaged by the dust devil
03. New front control arms
04. New brake pads and rotors all around
05. Replacement radiator, hoses and fluids
06. New ignition switch so that one key will fit all locks (previous replacement not by VIN)
07. Replacement rear dome light (was missing!)
08. Replacement sunroof switch (previous one was sticking)
09. Passenger side mirror (this 240D did not come with one standard)
10. New Potentiometer to reactivate dash lights
11. Thorough wash job and continued scrubbing of interior

Jim's Fine Car Service

Mickey Hollingshead owns Jim's Fine Car Service, which is located off of San Mateo in Albuquerque. He took the new car into his shop on May 9, and is diligently working to adjust the 240D to my requirements. Because of the dust devil that hit us in Arizona, the Mercedes needs a replacement wheel and a wheel alignment. Mickey recommended new tires all around, and I agreed.

The car came without a rear dome light, so Mickey ordered one. It needed new glow plugs. It needed new brake pads. There was a leak in the transmission that Mickey is chasing down. Finally, it needed a key issue solved; the previous owner had replaced the ignition switch with one that did not match the other locks and he did not provide me with a door key, so I could not lock the vehicle! Mickey has ordered a new ignition switch that is based on the VIN, so hopefully the new key that comes with it will provide me with locking capabilities.

I have spent the last week and this week without my new vehicle, a very difficult proposition for me since my other Mercedes was damaged in a collision last week; it is drivable, but looks rather bad on the driver side thanks to a Toyota pickup that slammed into another Toyota pickup and then slid into my driver side and burst into flame (I thought this only happened in the movies!). Mickey said that he may be done with the new Benz at the end of this week.

Out of Phoenix - the minor disaster

Rob and Frankie spent the night gallivanting around Scottsdale and Tempe with Niece Christine's friend Jen, who showed the young men all the sights. In the morning, around 8:00 Phoenix time, we left the hotel, Rob driving the 240D and me driving the ML320, and traveled the steep grade back up into Flagstaff. The poor 240D labored, sometimes only achieving 30 mph at very steep inclines. In Flagstaff, we ate at Coco's Restaurant and had a grand time. After the meal, we left for the four hour drive to Albuquerque.

Between Flagstaff and Gallup we ran into a series of dust devils, one of which had about twenty tumbleweeds in the cone. one tumbleweed left the passenger front wheel of the 240D bent! The photo here is not the actual dust devil (since I didn't bring my camera). We saw another dust devil around a trailer park development that was carrying a 4x8 sheet of plywood or a door within the cone. I am glad that we didn't run into that one!

We made it back home to Albuquerque around 6:15 pm Sunday evening and were very tired.

In Phoenix

I can't believe that I didn't take a camera with me on this trip! We arrived in Scottsdale and the Mercedes was exactly where the previous owner said it would be. The key was under the passenger mat. She started right up and I drove her around the shopping center parking lot to get a feel for the vehicle. After that, Rob took over driving the 240D and we headed for the Scottsdale Country Inn and Suites. After check-in, Sue, Siku and I relaxed in our suite while Rob and Frankie took off to explore the town in the ML320. I didn't want Rob to drive the 240D because if he were in a fender-bender the car would probably be totaled, and that would not be fair to him. I drove the 240D around Scottsdale later in the afternoon to enjoy the new ride. Now, 240D's are not the swiftest vehicles on the planet, but that is good in Scottsdale since they have cameras that catch speeders - even radar detectors are useless in that town!

The Journey to Phoenix

We left Albuquerque early on Saturday morning, about 6:15 am. The participants in our adventure included Nephew Rob, his friend Frankie, our American Eskimo dog Siku, Sue and myself in the ML320.

After a food stop in Gallup around 8:30, we travelled into Arizona. During the trip, Rob expressed an interest in visiting the Barringer Meteor Crater. The weather was beautiful, about 68° F, so we decided to stop on our way to Phoenix. I had not been there since I was in high school, so was equally excited. While "the boys" traversed the rim of the crater, Siku received admiring comments in the shade of the entry canopy, Sue at her side.

I had forgotten about the steep grade between Flagstaff and Phoenix. Basically, the two towns are about 5,000 feet different in elevation. Down we went to Phoenix with me fretting about whether the 240D would actually be where it was supposed to be and whether it would make it back up the slope on our return trip.

On picking up our Benz

We had a pleasant weekend in beautiful, if somewhat warm, Phoenix (Nephew Rob is in LOVE with the town).
We had arranged to pick up the new 240D on Saturday, May 6, 2006. We received a call from the current owner the week prior to pick-up saying that he would be out of town due to his step-fathers illness, but he would arrange for a friend to get the car to us. I could not believe the arrangements, but agreed to them anyway. His friend was to leave the car at the north side of a Mobil gas station at Tatum and Thunderbird Roads on Saturday morning, and we would find the keys under the passenger seat mat! Needless to say, there was some concern about reaching the car quickly.

BioDiesel Albuquerque Blog!

GOODBYE AUTO OBSESSION BLOG - HELLO BIODIESEL ALBUQUERQUE BLOG
A new era has arrived at this blog site that will serve as a major turn of events. The first post last July complained about gas prices, around $2.19 at that time. They are now at $2.99 per gallon! With the Patrol sold to a wonderful Nissan Tech in Georgia, we determined to purchase a fuel efficient vehicle.

We wanted to purchase a Mercedes vintage diesel. The great debate was whether to buy an early S-Class, a 300 TD wagon, or a lowly but miserly 240D. Lowly and miserly won out over style and size. Yes, here is our new old girl, a 1980 Mercedes Benz 240D as photographed by the previous owner. She won our hearts by being a Grandpa car from California with a new crate diesel engine. She was living in Phoenix with the grandson of the original owner. Light Ivory in color with a palomino interior, we drove her back from Phoenix on the weekend of May 6, 2006.

Patrol Sold

I have sold my beautiful old girl, the '67 Patrol. She will be missed.

1967 Nissan Patrol For Sale

1967 NISSAN PATROL Rare, beautiful collector 4x4. Only 2,616 ever imported to USA. New red paint, front bucket seats, rear fold-up jump seats, electronic ignition, new electric fuel pump, runs great, 4.0L straight six (110 lb compression in all cylinders), 3-sp manual, new custom front bumper, new Dunlops and chrome wheels. 20,xxx miles on odometer. I am the founder of the Nissan Patrol Club America and have owned this Patrol for seven years.

CTA West

Now published and available online - CTA, Gregg Cappetto's vehicle transportation web site created and maintained by Stephen F Smith

Click on the post title to see the site

2006 Jeep Commander

Here is the first interesting vehicle from Jeep in a LONG time - interesting because it looks like a Jeep, but actually has a third row seating option. Now if they will only make the Wrangler Scrambler pick-up that the Company showed at all of the auto shows this year!

Gas Prices

Wow, how about those gasoline prices, eh? The cheapest price in Albuquerque is now at Costco and Sams Club - $2.19 per gallon. I regretfully must say that I need premium!

SVO

I am now about 90% convinced that SVO is the way to go. I don't mean SVX® or SVT®. SVO stands for "Straight Vegetable Oil" and is a dual-tank approach to running a diesel on vegetable oil. See the link above for complete details. Once I sell my beautiful Patrol (see previous post) Sue and I will probably purchase an elderly (mid-1980's) Mercedes Benz diesel vehicle and convert it to SVO power. Other alternatives for us include selling our current M-Class and buying the new M-Class diesel if/when Mercedes sells them in the USA, or using the Patrol money as a down payment on a new Prius. Time will tell, but the no-car-payment option sounds really good to me right now.

Finally Some Diesel News From Mercedes-Benz

Washington DC June 20, 2005; The AIADA newsletter reported that Mercedes-Benz is expected to launch several diesel-powered vehicles for sale across the U.S. as early as 2008 -- including, the E-class sedan, M-class and G-class SUVs, and new R-class sport wagon, reports Automotive News. "We are working really hard to have the solution ready for the new regulations that will come in 2007-2008," says Eva Lenhardt, head of technology communications for Mercedes Car Group in Stuttgart.

OK, 2008 is a LONG time to wait for one of these new vehicles. I want one now, but the plain jane E320 CDI is to pedestrian and not useful enough for my taste. Hey, Mercedes, bring on the diesels.

Candy Red

I just have to show off my beautiful baby before I sell her. She was originally red in 1967, then white and now is back to glowing candy red. This photo was taken at the paint shop prior to my reapplying the chrome and other accessories. The tires and wheels are brand new (Dunlop tires and Unique chrome steel wheels).

Ford Cruise Control Fires

Have you heard the latest news about the Ford cruise control debacle? It seems that up to six MILLION cars could be affected! Click on the headline to view the whole story and check to see if your Ford is included in the group.

"The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that more than 6 million additional Ford vehicles could contain the same cruise-control part that led to the investigation of 3.7 million Ford trucks and SUVs. NHTSA is monitoring for reports of fires in this new group of Ford vehicles. "