diesel, alternative fuels: 77 mercedes benz

I like to travel, which means that when I drive I am using gasoline . . .unless I find an alternative. Many people know that the gasoline system in America is problematic. The internal combustion engine is inefficient, but it is what is highly available. I could go into rotary engines, electric trolly systems, and documentaries like Who Killed the Electric Car? but instead I will just say that I am starting my explorations with more sustainable/cheaper/overall smarter fuel sources by looking at diesels.

The story of Rudolf Diesel is fascinating, how he originally constructed the engine to run on peanut oil, experiments with engine efficiency, and his strange death. The two options for car transportation I had been looking at were EV (electric vehicle) conversion with the truck, and doing biodiesel or veggie with a car/van/bus. EV's are short range, while it seems that road-tripping on veggie oil is not uncommon (depending on your definition of common).

Back in April I ran across two possibilities: an old school bus and a 1977 Mercedes Benz Diesel. While the school bus was tempting for road-tripping and camping the car seemed to fit more readily into my every day at mooncatlife. I bought the car though it had a vacuum problem for $1500.

The vacuum problem meant that in order to shut off this car I had to pop the hood and press a tab that said "stop" that came with these older models for manual engine shut-off. After trying to do research,  and having a friend help me take a look at it I brought it in to a local diesel mechanic.

Steve Pelham in Clinton told me to stop through early on a Monday when he was less busy and he would check it out. I watched him clamp and plug vacuum lines to find out if there was a leak. A leak in the vacuum lines is a much better diagnosis than a vacuum pump that is going bad. A bad vacuum pump, it seems, could have caused damage and caused brake problems. . . .to sum things up Steve was helpful, quick, and friendly. I stopped back in to make sure the car was alright for longer trips later. I was also afraid that there was something wrong with the transmission. The car is slow to shift and it sounded like the rpms were going too high and it would shift in after I let off the gas . . . in a similar way to a manual transmission . . .anyway, Steve said it shifts like an old diesel and is working fine. Whew. I also found a forum online that made the comment that these old diesels sound like they are falling apart all of the time, but will run forever.  And of course that is what everyone is saying, "That thing will run forever".

I MacGuyver'ed a way to choke a vacuum hose from the inside of the car to shut the engine off. . .though some say I can plug the hose that runs to the locks and everything will work fine (minus locks) . . .but plugging it doesn't seem to work that way. I could invest somewhere around $500 to have a mechanic tear into it, check the lines and diaphragms in the doors, but that is not a priority to me right now because it is functional. The leak is not harming anything.

This has been my journey with making sure my cheap diesel is running well enough to consider biodiesel or Veggie conversion. It seems this car is ideal for alternative fuels (the reason I snatched it up in April though I didn't really do very much with it until now). It has been a really fun process. I will not claim to be a gearhead, but have always been a gearhead wannabe and I am enjoying what I am learning along the way. The extent of my previous experience pretty much extends to checking fluids, changing oil/filters, and changing disk brakes.  I love this retro car and am slowly learning the best way to apply steady, consistent pressure on the gas pedal for optimal transmission transitions.