Fueled, retooled: GreaseCar kit makes for one slick operation

Sunday, August 27, 2006 This New Castle man fuels up at local Chinese restaurants. By ZACH STIPE VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER NEW CASTLE, Pa. — Patrick Crossley has a warning for anyone driving behind him and his red 1981 Volkswagen Rabbit: You might get hungry. Crossley recently installed a GreaseCar kit into his Rabbit, enabling the car's diesel engine to run on cooking oil. The New Castle-resident hasn't worried about gas prices over the last month because he gets his fuel for free from two area Chinese restaurants. "The only thing, if you are driving with the windows down, you are going to get hungry for egg rolls," Crossley said, laughing. "Or the person behind you will. That's what it smells like, somebody's cooking." Crossley bought his Rabbit for around $1,000 about a year ago, specifically to convert it to BioDiesel. After months of research and consulting, he ordered the GreaseCar kit online at greasecar.com for $800. A mechanic in Grove City installed the kit into his car for $280, and Crossley's days of worrying about gas prices were over. The kit connects an auxiliary tank, in the rear of the car, to the diesel engine. Crossley said he'll make up his (roughly) $1,000 investment in money he'll save from rarely having to buy gas. Firing it up After turning the Rabbit on with diesel fuel, Crossley waits for about 30 seconds for the cooking oil to heat up and then flicks a switch to run his car on strictly "greasel," as some people call the new-age fuel. About a minute before he turns the car off, he pushes a button that purges the grease from the engine so the Rabbit will be able to start on diesel. Those are the only times he uses the diesel fuel. The purged grease returns to a 10-gallon auxiliary tank, to be recycled the next time the switch is thrown. Crossley said he gets about 50 miles to a gallon of greasel. He refills whenever the greasel gauge is near empty. Crossley is a professional jazz musician, who often travels to northern Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh and Youngstown to perform with his standing bass. The 57-year-old has benefited from tremendous savings during his work trips. "I'm a musician; musicians don't make much more than we did 20 years ago," Crossley said. "So you can save a little bit. For example, I had a job in Pittsburgh the other night; it probably cost me 20 cents." That 20 cents is for the fraction of diesel fuel he used on the trip. Since he got the GreaseCar kit installed about a month ago, Crossley estimates that he has driven more than 1,000 miles and used only six gallons of diesel fuel. All the rest of his fuel comes from the waste oil he gets from Chinese restaurants. What works best Crossley has found that soy oil from Chinese restaurants is the best fuel because there are no additives preventing the oil from solidifying. "It's pure soy," he said. "Some restaurants have sort of a foamy additive." The restaurants call him and tell him when his oil is ready. "It provides a service to some of these restaurants that don't know how to get rid of their oil," Crossley said, adding that most restaurants pay somebody to get rid of their waste oil. Crossley picks up about 25-30 gallons a week from the restaurants, filters and stores the oil in containers. "I'll bring it home," Crossley said. "I'll filter it, I'll put it in my storage tanks and stock it up. With cooking oil, you're going to have little food particles in there, so I prestrain it and then I put it in the tank." Crossley thinks that more grease-fueled cars will soon be popping up in neighborhoods across the country. "I think it's going to be a growing trend with the cost of fuel," Crossley said. "People can hardly afford to drive to work." Adding to benefit He's glad to be eco-friendly, as well. "It's my way of helping the environment,' Crossley said. "You know, President Bush wants people to be energy-conservative and that's what I'm doing: following the request of our president." Crossley said the GreaseCar kit can work on any diesel motor and he plans to buy another Rabbit in the future to convert for his wife. (All Volkswagens can be bought with diesel engines.) Crossley also wants to take a trip cross-country. A few months before he installed the GreaseCar kit, he drove the Rabbit to Lincoln, Neb., for his high school reunion and then visited Springfield, Mo., and Nashville. "I make that same trip now and I save all kinds of money," Crossley said. "I'm ready; I'd love to take a trip like that now." He has it all planned out. "I have these five-gallon jugs from the restaurants that the oil comes in," he said. "So I'll put [the oil] in that, put six or seven of those in the car, and my suitcase and take off. I'd get my bass in there, too." For now, Crossley is content to get his fuel for free and cause fellow drivers' mouths to water. "Once it's warmed up," he said, pretending he's on the road in his Rabbit, "Boom! I hit the switch and make people behind me hungry."