anyone running alternative fuel

anyone running a disco 200 tdi on alternative fuel,like bio diesal or veg oil/cooking oil etc

read loads of freds on it,but just want peoples opinions on there experience of using it and any downsides if any..thanks:car:

Am running a London type taxi on 60/40 mix diesel and used filtered veg oil from local takeaway. No problems, engine running sweet as a nut. Would like to run my Series 2A on it but can't as it has CAV pump which apparantly gets it's seals melted by the veg. oil.

i've run both 300's on a mix of veg aswell as 100% veg with no problems, seem alittle up on power, and alot smoother. apart from clogged fuel filters and alittle harder to start in the mornings when running either 80/20 veg or 100% veg then great. My mate also runs his 200tdi disco on mix veg and thats fine also on it

I run a 300 on 50/50 veg oil/diesel. No problems so far (Interestingly I've not even had a clogged fuel filter which everyone warns about)

Do yourself a favour and get a costco card. 20 litres of veg oil for £18.49

my m8 has a costco card..mmmm time for a trip there me thinks

I ran my 200 on deisel veg oil mix, then went to petrol veg oil mix! 95% oil, 5% petrol all year round!

Now run my 300 on 100% veg as I have it twin tanked

im off to costco tomoro eve with me m8s card

so daft qs alert.... do i just bung it straight into the tank or do i have to filter or premix it with doozil first

do a search ffs!

wiltshire landyman said:

im off to costco tomoro eve with me m8s card

so daft qs alert.... do i just bung it straight into the tank or do i have to filter or premix it with doozil first

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Just bung it straight in tank :crazy_driver:

redhand said:

Just bung it straight in tank :crazy_driver:

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cool even i can do that

i found this while searching(yes i did search)


Don't do it. I'ts fine while the engine is hot, but with a cold injection pump, cylinder walls and injectors, the fuel spray is incorrect due to the high viscosity, coming out in small globules rather than a mist, and condenses on the cylinder walls. This not only causes hard coking of the head, but also the sides of the piston and the rings, resulting in bore scrubbing and scoring. Some vegoil will pass the rings and collect in the sump, where it polymerises the oil, lkeading to a gummed up oil pump and oil ways, and oil starvation of the bearings. That's why you need a twin tank system, for starting on pure diesel and purging the SVO towards the end of the trip. The heat exchanger is critical for the older Lucas pumps, less important for the stronger Bosch Tdi pumps, but still recommended.

I'm busy setting up a plant in my shed to convert waste veg oil into bio diesel, iv heard some mixed reports on using svo even with at win tank system. Bio you canuse in any car with any pump, supposedly better than what you get from the pump! If you make it right that is! I might have to go to telco tomorrow tho to get some veg ol as my local petrol stations are dry!

I have just put 20l of rapeseed oil in mine all ok so far might stick another 20L in as I already had 1/2 a tank of derv

I have been making Biodiesel for nearly five years and have used veg oil as well.

The 200 and 300TDI is a Direct Injection engine and should not be run on 100% veg oil without being twin tanked to start up and shut down on normal diesel but can run happily on a blend probably up to 70% veg oil 30% diesel in the summer and add 5-10% petrol in the winter.

The reason for this is that you will not get complete combustion when the engine is cold on a high percentage veg oil which could lead to ring gumming.

The lift pump will have more work to do and if it’s weak might fail as well.

Biodiesel and by that I mean proper biodiesel made by transesterification of vegitable oils with methanol and a caustic catalyst to produce FAME (Fatty Acid Methyl Ester) should run fine in any diesel engine although there have been reports of problems with Diesel Particulate Filters

Older indirect injection engines like the BMW M51 engine in the Range Rover can run on 100% veg oil without any problems as long as they have a Bosch fuel pump.

Any veg based fuel will start to gel at a higher temperature than diesel and may need additives in colder weather which could mean adding a cold pour point suppressor fuel additive, adding a percentage diesel which will have a cold pour point suppressor already added or adding a small percentage of petrol.

Petrol should not be added to fuel in a unit injector or common rail engine as it is much more likely to cause vapour lock.

good weather for running on high veg oil mixes. Has any one sed about the silca content? this is bad, and found in some bulk veg oils. Swerve them.

since this fuel price hike im going to take a trip to my local wholesaler and buy ktc veg oil, still cheaper than derv and much more lubricating.

tomkettlewell said:

since this fuel price hike im going to take a trip to my local wholesaler and buy ktc veg oil, still cheaper than derv and much more lubricating.

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and you can run your car on it as well!

IanFiTheDwarf said:

and you can run your car on it as well!

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:hysterically_laughi good effort

i run mine on 95% sunflower oil 5% petrol and have done for a year now. I have also used the stuff with anti foaming agent in it too. did my head gasket 2 months ago and looking at the cylinder bore and piston the was no coke, and no sign of excess wear at all!

i also use 2 stroke mineral oil in there as well, about half a ltr to a full tank (makes a hell of a difference.

its a bit smokier than usual but i put that down to tweaking the injector pump and turbo. I running a 200tdi.

Its all a load of crap about the ring gumming, with regular oil changes (and bit of injector cleaner cant do no harm... atf fluid in the fuel filter) and servicing then it shouldnt happen. remember the diesel engine was designed to run on heavy oil, (not modern cars though). some of the fuel quality of the countries in Africa and the middle east are worse than that of cooking oil.


Right thats my input lol

this is the stuff I got was£22 from bookers


so far so good

Just a reminder for those using veg for the 1st time GET YERSELF SOME SPARE FUEL FILTERS because it WILL clog until the veg has cleaned through the system