Diesel Diesel Diesel!

[benjhill]

Now my 406 is a HDi my friends is an early 1.9TD i believe a rattly old 300 thousand miler! He turned up to mine earlier with a drum of his own "mix" of bio diesel and normal pump diesel with a sprinkle of kerosene , ive always been led to believe that a common rail engine will not run on anything but "white diesel" but he has told me i can use a weaker version of the mix he uses and it will be fine so him being a diesel mechanic i trusted him and put 25 litres in with half a tank of pump diesel , drove her to work tonight nervous as f*@k and she ran perfect with a little smoke pulling like a train all the way faultlessly , finished work went to the car and thought this is where she will struggle , fires first turn of the key with no heating , what do you guys think? Would you put said mix in your HDi or is mine a one of weird one that likes the stuff , shes a standard 90hp HDi with a decatted exhaust and disconnected air flow meter , benj.

[Welly]

No I don't think anyone on here would risk a fuel like that. It may well seem fine but the risk is the unknown and what it might be doing to the High Pressure pump and injectors over time.

The injectors themselves are engineered to extremely fine tolerances to create a fine mist of fuel and the HP pump relies heavily on lubrication provided by standard pump diesel.

A general rule of thumb and safeguard these days is that mixed or veg-based fuels are best left for the old school diesels with mechanical indirect injection.

[PeterN]

Mmm .... If its thin enough it will obviously work as you have proved but it will probably have the same effect on the fuel system seals as in the XUD. May not run so well in cold weather though. I don't think I would like to try it myself unless the car was only worth scrap value.

Peter

[annie]

i had an old wooden shack in a feild years ago and wanted heat and light and especially cold... bought an old 405 xud non turbo that was rusted out but engine perfect with working aircon. we used to run it on veg oil on tickover to supply power for batteries and heat and cold air con via pipes hubby had mangled togthr. it ran perfectly for 3 years like that sometimes 4 hours a day on tickover. cost 100 pounds so cheaper than a genny and ice cold air in summer

[benczuk]

clever

[benjhill]

I left the house at 5am this morning for work walked to the car fingers crossed and she fired Woo! Needed 1 heat cycle that i always give any diesel thats been stood overnight she isnt stuggling with the mixed fuel at all , a little smokey off boost but what diesel isnt and it smells lovely when you walk behind it ticking over suppose you could add a little 2 stroke for extra lube if needed but once this tank is empty im going to run a full tank of shell super duper diesel with some injector cleaner just to be sure.

[gumby6371]

My old 1.9 ran sweetly on veg oil with a hint of pump diesel but I never risked anything but derv in the HDI.
A HDI thats running well should give good enough economy to not run the risk of killing the car IMHO.

[Welly]

Needed 1 heat cycle that i always give any diesel thats been stood overnight

The HDi doesn't actually need glow plugs to start in the way in which you'd expect although they do stay 'lit' for 60 seconds to help reduce emissions. Theses engines are quite happy if you jump in the car and start it without delay, the only time I ever saw mine waiver slightly was when it was -10degC and even then it just coughed a little and shat out some blueish smoke.

The reason they start easily is that the fuel is atomised so finely that it combusts readily when injected into the compressed air. and together with pre and post injection strategies they are very efficient at starting and running. There's also a thermostatic bypass that helps heat the fuel when needed.

[Doggy]

Mostly it's because it's direct injection, (they pretty much all start without waiting for the glow plugs, even old Montego's and their Perkins Prima motive power*/percussion system). IDI's need pretty much all the glow plugs working, a decent battery/starter and for you never to have sinned.

[OllieNZ]

My understanding has always been mechanical injection will run anything from strained waste veg to derv but for a common rail the veg has to be converted to bio-derv first and then it's okay to run.

[PeterN]

Mostly it's because it's direct injection, (they pretty much all start without waiting for the glow plugs, even old Montego's and their Perkins Prima motive power*/percussion system). IDI's need pretty much all the glow plugs working, a decent battery/starter and for you never to have sinned.

Including tractors.

[Uberderv]

A DW10 HDi will run on properly converted Bio diesel with no problems. I have used it for many many thousands of miles without issue, and know of plenty of others too.
To me the problem is when someone gets WVO mixes it with diesel and a splash of chemicals then sells it as Biodiesel. Proper Biodiesel is wvo that has been through a chemical reaction to remove Glycerol which leaves the oil close to pump diesel spec (or better depending on who you ask)

[benjhill]

Well guys shes used the full mixed tank over today lots of different driving and a good boot down the motorway and shes fine no hiccups at all now shes back on pump diesel and stopped rolling coal i was having a good laugh with it and my mates Dturbo which smokes like a train oh well it was some good old yorkshire fun while it lasted haha