Rising fuel prices sure have a way of making us look for tricks to get better mileage or improve how our engines work or even looking for alternative fuels altogether. Those of us with diesels under the hood might have a few options the gasoline guys don’t.
Not long ago, the TV show, Trucks, ran through the whole process of making biodiesel fuel from a large container of used cooking oil picked up at a local restaurant after which, the host, Stacy David, pumped the homebrew into a diesel pickup and ran it through its paces. The truck performed great, or according to Stacy, even better than on regular diesel.
He had a setup from a company called Freedom Fuel America, which consisted of a couple of plastic containers, some pumps and hoses and a test kit to determine how much lye was necessary to adjust the chemical properties of the used oil. Along with lye, the only other component necessary was methanol, same as used in racing engines.
The process looked very simple and straight forward. A few hours later, he had about 20 gallons of biodiesel at a cost of around 70 cents per gallon for a net savings of about $1.50 per gallon. With your basic 30 gallon truck fuel tank, savings can add up pretty fast.