Saving $150 a month by running car on used veggie oil
Maureen Sullivan found her answer to surging gas prices in a place most wouldn't think to look: the frying pan.
She converted a 1992 Mercedes Benz 300 to run largely on used vegetable oil. "I pay $50 a month for gas instead of $200," she said. "Sometimes the only way to revolutionize things is to start the revolution yourself."
(Jean Lachat/Sun-Times)
(Richard A. Chapman/Sun-Times)
Faced with a 50-mile a day commute between her Elmhurst home and her job in Aurora, Sullivan was inspired to get radical after listening to a self-help show on the radio last year. "This man said he ran his diesel truck on waste vegetable oil," she said. "I thought what a wonderful idea."
So Sullivan, her brother Jerry Sullivan and a friend researched the idea and found Greasecar, a company that sells kits for diesel cars to run on used vegetable oil.
She bought the Mercedes on eBay and had a mechanic install the kit in the trunk. It sends the used vegetable oil to the engine. The car runs on both diesel and vegetable oil. When the car is started, it uses diesel. Once the oil is hot enough so that it matches the viscosity of the diesel, a Greasecar accessory product automatically switches the car to run on the vegetable oil.
Last year, she spent about $50 a week on gas to drive her 2002 Mercury Sable to her job as a counselor and funeral planner. Now, she spends $50 every four to five weeks for diesel fuel for her Mercedes. Restaurants give her their used vegetable oil. "Normally they have to pay somebody to take it away," she said.
Jerry Sullivan converted two of his vehicles.
"It has worked great," said Maureen Sullivan.
Converting a car isn't cheap. Maureen Sullivan paid $4,400 for the Mercedes. The Greasecar kit was close to $1,400, and it cost $975 to have it installed. But she isn't complaining.
"If I went out and bought a hybrid, that would be $26,000," she said. "That's a much bigger hit.
"I realized nobody is going to rescue me from $4.39-per-gallon gas prices. Nobody's coming to your rescue. It's got to be you."
What are you doing to make ends meet? Write to psmith@suntimes .com