Vegetable Oil

iant · Post by **iant** » Thu May 03, 2007 4:15 pm

Now the weather is warmer I have been thinking of running my 2.1TD D8 on a weak mix of Diesel and Vegetable Oil (90%-10%). Is this a good idea without getting the engine properly converted? Is it likely to wreck my fuel pump etc...?

turbolag · Post by **turbolag** » Thu May 03, 2007 4:36 pm

The pump on your car is most likely a Lucas/CAV unit, which will lunch itself very quickly on WVO or SVO, even tiny proportions. You might be safe with a twin tank design, that allowed you to start on diesel then switch once at full operating temperature, but I wouldn't like to be the guinea pig.

iant · Post by **iant** » Thu May 03, 2007 5:05 pm

Cool, thanks for that, I won't try it then!

Post by **DaiRees** » Thu May 03, 2007 6:08 pm

I know loads of people who run their old 4X4s on 50%veg oil at this time of year, and they cut it down to 25% in the winter. Apparently filtered used stuff is even better than new stuff.

I know that's not really applicable, but I do have 1 mate who runs his brand new '07 plate Signum on up to 50% with no problems, and he also ran the previous 2 cars on it, an '05 Signum and an '03 Scenic.

Post by **Welly** » Fri May 04, 2007 8:23 am

All I know is that the HP pump on the HDi is sensitive at the best of times, I would not wish to provoke it one bit.

I think the problem is with the viscosity of the fuel, Pure Diesel is very very thin.

Someone round here runs their Citroen ZX on 'something' and it smells like pop corn from the eggsauce! the only problem is you can here the fuel pump/drive belt squeeking and chattering under (presumably) a much higher stress trying to shift whatever it is in the fuel lines.

I think you can only get away with crap fuels in 'Old Skool' Diesels that are much more simple mechanically.

My opinion would be the same as LPG - it's all good (for a while)

maglite · Post by **maglite** » Fri May 04, 2007 12:19 pm

You could always get one of these, install it and see how it goes.

406 express · Post by **406 express** » Fri May 04, 2007 7:35 pm

I ran my HDi 90 for 60k miles on 50% Rapeseed oil and 50% diesel with no problems, it also flew throught the MOT test, I am currently running a HDI 110 on the stuff with no issues I also know 6 other taxi drives around my area who have run there HDI`s on the stuff for over a year ( how many miles must that be combined!!!) again with no issues, and at 80p Per litre it makes good sence to the wallet, saving over a tenner per tank!!!

stevenlizuk · Post by **stevenlizuk** » Tue May 08, 2007 11:44 am

A mate of mine ran a 1.9 Xantia half and half for a year rain or shine in Aberdeen (Gaelic for cold) with no probs.
I once got home on a couple of litres of veg after finding myself in the middle of nowhere with a bootful of shopping and no cash.
It stank but I got home.

I would avoid using forecourt biodiesel as it creates more carbon than it saves through the amount of transport and ground it uses to produce.

Used oil works best as it is its makeup is different to fresh oil, it's probably complicated.

Cheers
Steve