350 miles on veg oil? Yes or no?

97 300 TDi, 122k on the clock, running tickety boo

But im dragging me caravan down to Cornwall in 3 weeks and was thinking of filling up with veg oil for the outward journey, it will save me £50 i reckon, plus its burnt off in pretty much one journey. Distance is approx 350 miles.

So.....should i just fill her up and toodle off, or would it not be a good idea?

She's never been on veg oil to my knowledge, and i dont use her enough to warrant using it a lot, but if i can get a load of it from Costco it may be worth it.

Opinions?

Go for it!

i would do some testing first, 50/50 and see how it goes, you will also need a spare filter or 2.

I would also never fill up with an untested fuel as you will have no room to add diesel should you need to.

mine runs fine on 50/50 bio/veg but did take a bit of starting so i have moved to 75/25 and it starts a lot better.

Cant you break her in gently now? the only issue i can see with it is the need to change the fuel filter quite soon as the veg oil drags crap from the bottom of the tank that the doozil usually leaves behind so i have heard that you need to change the fuel filters at something like 250 miles then 500 to 750 miles then at 3k-6k intervals,

bare in mind that this all may be bullsh1t and im quite willing to proven wrong but i dont think i would wanna take the chance with a van attached to the back that the filter may clog up on the the motorway, mind you its not a long job on the disco to swap over the filters and stick a fresh one on, its just the inconvenience factor that would put me off.

get it on veggy now do the filter changes and all should be well in 3 weeks for the long run.

as i said i have no experience and all this may be B.S but its just what i have gathered reading different threads about running veg.

DiscoPol said:

Cant you break her in gently now? the only issue i can see with it is the need to change the fuel filter quite soon as the veg oil drags crap from the bottom of the tank that the doozil usually leaves behind so i have heard that you need to change the fuel filters at something like 250 miles then 500 to 750 miles then at 3k-6k intervals,

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You may get a bit more than that but definately take extra filter or two...

I have been running my new 200tdi 110 on Used straight veg oil for a month now, Ive covered almost 1500 miles with no filter change and she is still running well and pulling 70 mph without struggling, straight veg does smoke a little when the engine is cold,

Ive found a fiver in diesel to 25 litres of waste oil is far better, less smoke on cold running and better starting (hunts a little on straight oil when cold)

And I do carry 2 spare filters just in case

Cheers Steve

when i first tried veg in the 300tdi it ran for over a thousand miles on about 70/30 veg/derv mix before changing filters and that was only because i decided to service it.

prob wouldnt go 100% first time out but you could go 50/50 and then do the same for the return journey

How much can ye get a litre of new veg oil over in the uk for. Here in ireland the cheapest is 1.20 euro. Well the cheapest ive found anyway.

Dublindisco said:

How much can ye get a litre of new veg oil over in the uk for. Here in ireland the cheapest is 1.20 euro. Well the cheapest ive found anyway.

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Sounds a bit cheaper than here. Even the cheap shops like Netto are selling it for £1.18 per ltr and Tesco is about £3.98 for 3 ltr. Think you can get it for about £1.00 ltr at wholesale stockists in 20 ltr drums.

Veg oil doesn't have the same cleaning effect as proper bio diesel, so it's not the same case as a load of veg oil will block the filter. If the filter gets clogged on veg it's because the veg is dirty or it's not really clogged the temp is just too low and it's struggling to pass through the filter.

I would go for something like a 50/50 mix, my 97 300tdi runs just fine at that.

currently done 450miles on a 50/50 mix without no problems but you take you chance!!

spoke too soon LOL power down on way to work, 50 mph max.... filter changed and all good again... just shy of 1500 miles..

Cheers Steve

I some times run my 300TDI on a 50/50 mix, also a bit of bio, just depends on what I can get hold off, lol. I have not had the need to change the filters apart from at the service intervals, all run well.

Just give it a go but don't go for 100% veg until you know what it does and only do a 1/4 tank in case it dont like it at 50/50 or what ever you do , any probs then just water it down with more diesel.