Cold and creamy oil

Well winter is here and my filtered wvo is pretty creamy. I filled up yesterday and the oil was coming out of the hose pretty slowly. I have had no problems starting up. I am using the glow-three-times winter strategy that a mechanic taught me. I turn the key so the preglow light goes on, then off. I turn off the key and do it again. Then I do it one more time before starting the engine. It has worked like a charm even on a 20-something degree morning last week.

We have ignition!

Well, after having my car towed 45 miles to a garage in Fresno, the car started. Who knows what the problem was. I did learn from the mechanic that you don't want to flood a diesel. If that happens, you can't get compression and can't start. Evidently that wasn't the problem with my car. I am grateful that it wasn't a costly repair.

The saga continues...

No Start!

My car won't start! We had a couple of really cold days a week and a half ago. My car started, though it took several tries. I was bogging a bit, so I put some diesel in the tank to mix with the veg oil. It was around 40% diesel at that point. The car ran fine for a day or so and then, about 5 days ago, it just wouldn't start. The battery is fine. It turns but won't start up. My Davco filter is a little dirty but I don't think it is clogged up with debris yet. I'll try tomorrow in the warmest part of the day.

Hmmmmmm.

Injector heaters are certainly hot

A friend (and vegcar owner) recently got a laser thermometer thingy. I measured the temperature of my injector lines, after driving about 4 miles with the injector line heaters on. The temperature varied depending on my aim, but 173 was the highest.

I haven't been using the heaters much. I sometimes switch them on for 10-15 minutes after starting on a cold day. I am concerned that for longer periods they might be too hot.

If anyone out there has any information or thoughts about these injector line heaters (from fattywagons), please let me know. Use the contact us link at the top of the page or submit a comment on this post.

Winter snow

This was taken on February 27 of this year. It is hard to believe it since it has been in the 70's and 80's all week! I got the car started a couple hours after this photo was taken. the only problem was I couldn't get up the driveway (it gets pretty steep beyond the view in the photo). I have chains but blew off my meeting and worked at home.

Visor light

I finally figured out what was happening. Several times in the past year, my battery was largely drained and I couldn't start the car. My alternator did die last year and I had it replaced - twice. But I never figured out why at seemingly random times, my battery just drained while the car was parked.

Today, in the midst of a snowstorm, I got into the Mercedes and tried to start it up. It was no use. There was enough of a charge for the pre-glow light and other dashboard lights, but it just couldn't turn over. It was then that I noticed that the passenger seat visor was down. And to my astonishment, the mirror light was on!

My visors are both missing the door flap that covers the mirrors and lights and turns the lights on and off. In fact, in 18 months of owning the car, I had never seen either of the visor lights on at all. This is certainly the culprit. I think tomorrow morning I'll remove the bulbs from these lights so this can't happen again. Ever.