running your car on vegtable oil

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Hi tigapiglet

I am curious too about this. I have heard you can use used veg oil, it does presumably have to be filtered, and we don’t want any burnt chips flying out the exhaust. I have no doubt one of the chaps has done his homework on this

Norm
 
well i have read a lot off articles on the net last couple of days you can use clean oil from supermaket but obviously works out dearer as the tax man wants his cut which is 20p or so,they say you can mix upto 50% diesel and 50% oil and a bit of white spirit to thin down oil,so it does not cause a sludge in your fuel lines and fuel pump,they say you need to heat the veggie oil,im just starting a little experiment to see how my car runs on a mix of 30% veggie oil to 70% diesel,and will keep data on miles attained on mixture and any running problems caused if any like starting probably run better in the summer will let you know how i get on in a month or so tiga
 
If someone could create something that would allow cars to run on veggie oil, I'll get in line for it. Gas is getting too flipping expensive here. Today's cost for a gallon of premium at Mobil, $2.48
 
well iceman only diesel cars have that fix at the moment have read up a lot the first diesel engine which of course was made by mr diesel desinged the diesel engine to run on peanut oil,he died and the boffins took over and run it on a new fuel which they named diesel and het presto the oil companys make a lot of money,i did hear that an engine was desinged to run on sea water but BP i believe brought the plans from the man who desinged it, can you imagine everyone down the beach at night sucking the sea water out,maybe thats what they do at western-super-mare as i have never seen the sea in there.
 
iceman my heart bleeds for you. try filling it up over here with the uk price at around 89p a litre (quick calc......) thats about £4 a gallon, or $7.50 a gallon!!

i suspect u knew that already and just wanted to wind us poor brits up?? ;) and it worked!! :)
 
well all is well with car its running a bit quieter started ok and no loss in power or torque that i can feel,the children asked what that funny smell was and my neighbour asked who was having a bar-b-que when the car was running outside,i have now got all the forms from customs and excise to fill in and pay my 20 shilings to for my cheaper fuel,will keep you posted as i will try it for a month to compare mileage and overall cost.
 
Well guys,

Its time we put our heads together, as a homie (bourn of USA) I feel a little bitter with this fuel tax, however we do have to think positively. If we are going to look after all the scrouts in the country the monies got to come from somewhere.

If we find a method of running our diesels with a little bit of lab work will we be breaking the law as for as Mr & Mrs Customs are concerned.

I will look into the filtering and the use of used veg oil. I know who has gallons of the stuff.
Norm
 
well i have read a lot of things on the internet about it and it does seem like hard work with filtering the oil down to 5microns there is also seperation of fatty stuff and water and drainng it all,it obviously would be cheaper only paying 26p per litre to the tax man,i used new oil and although they say you can use 50/50 mix i am not being greedy i am doing a 30/70 mix diesel being a higher mix so the oil does not sludge i also added 1 litre of white spirit per 24 litres of oil they say you can use unleaded petrol to thin down as well,they sell kitsso cars run on pureoil but you need loads of bits added on to heat oil to about 80 degrees so it burns ok,i dont do the mileage only about 7.5k a year so not worth spending a lot but i might look into using old oil as it would be a lot cheaper,just seeing what the results are before i commit myself fully to the idea.
 
so no conversion for a diesel car? no bits to tweak, or timings to be changed? i can just pour pure veg oil straight in to the tank?

so some school boy calculations on my 90L diesel tank....

APPROX 70/30 RATIO:
diesel = 63L x 89p = £56.07
oil = 26L x (3L/£1.32*) = £11.44
white spirit = 1L = £1.00
Total = £68.51

or

50/50 RATIO:
diesel = 45L x 89p = £40.05
oil = 43L x (3L/£1.32*) = £18.48
white spirit = 2L = £2.00
Total = £60.53

or

NORMAL FILL UP:
diesel = 90L x 89p = £80.10

SAVING per fill up
70/30 = £11.59 (fillup once a week = £602.68 per year!)
50/50 = £19.57 (fillup once a week = £1,017.64 per year!)

worth thinking about!?!?!

* source: Tesco.com, but im sure you can find cheaper
 
well i kid you not my car is still going fine and at the moment i am getting more to the gallon the engine is quieter the only downside is the difference in smell which is not to bad,i am only running 70/30 diesel/oil and small amount of white spirit,i think i am goiong to look at going to my local chippy and getting some dirty oil and try cleaning it,as after paying customs and excise there bit its only about 20p a litre cheaper but that is buying the oil at asda at £1.30 litre,have not looked else where yet say in a 25 litre can but if car runs ok which it appears to be i will look for a cheaper sorce to make it worth while,they say bosch pumps are great to run oil on and they do list the range rover as a good vehicle to run on oil according to the web sites i went on,i might try 50% at the end of the month as i have a 450 round trip to see my folks will keep you posted tiga.
 
Hi tigapiglet,
Must ask you what car you are running. I will be glad of of any imput from you. At present I`m in your hands as I have a new navara if anything were to happen it might give probs to the warrantee. I am looking into the purchase of 50 galls of oil @ 50p ltr go eh
Norm
 
Hi bigstoo,
Typical Yorkshire man, countin brass first, although, I`m all for saving were fuel is concerned. The neighbours are going to be a headache, they wont like the crisp-n-dry truck parked out side.
Norm
 
hi norm well you need to know what injection system is fitted to you car as in direct injection/common rail or what have you my car is a 300tdi discovery with 120k on the clock,im also a vehicle tech so i am able to fix my car if i break it and also get my parts very cheap,i pay £1.30 for 3 litres of oil so 50p a litre is much to much for a bulk buy tiga.
 
Hi tigapiglet
My vehicle is Nissan navara 2.5 td & 003K on clock do not know what’s in the pump house, even though I’m getting better at understanding diesel, as ex-REME, I was electrical engineer with mechanical bias (petrol), the costing should have been 50p per 5 ltr or 50p gall (for the old school). I think there is something up with my tonka, poor fuel consumption and revs keep jumping up, what should a diesel tickover at?

If one was to be pull to the road side by Mr Ministry of transport and he dipped his gadget in our tanks and said "It’s not pink, but it’s also no pure diesel", would he still put those uncomfortable bracelets on, the ones with the key?
Norm
 
Did nobody see the Top Gear show here they ran a Volvo 740 TD on used chip fat oil, they filtered it with coffee machine filters and it ran quieter than on normal Diesel with no loss of performance at all, the only difference was the smell which Tiga has already mentioned.

Jeremy and the boys couldnt believe it.

They had an AA mechanic who performed the test, by the way the local chippy will pay you to get rid of their used oil :D

Zippy
 
Hi

Theoretically yet you could just pour Veg oil in your Tank (Don't use the long life/Spry ones)

Technically there is no reason why a Diesel engine couldn't run on oil (all it needs is high pressure combustion, veg oil will suit the heat)

Try it on a scrap yard engine first. Although it wouldn't do your engine any harm.

I would'nt use white spirit or petrol to thin it as this has a lower pressure combustion/high heat ratio.

Also Customs & Excise wouldn't be unhappy because you're not breaking any laws (No legislation on using non Petrolatum spirits (Petrol/Diesel)

I'm sure that i've seen it done on Top Gear (Check there)

If I had a diesel I would be happy to put Oil in my car. I'm sure it has to be used oil, something to do with the structure (I'm no scientist)

Don't know if this is any help at all

Charlotte
 
Hi Charlotte,
I thought putting oil directly into tank would cause clogging or would it not be too thick to go through the injectors, this is only a guess, I’m not into diesels yet, getting there.

You note made interesting reading, especially customs. I think they will get us on the smell factor?

I do have a Perkins engine in the Monty, it’s the donor engine for my IIIa conversion, and it’s still running nothing taken off.

Whats your toy

Norm
 
Hi

No it would'nt be to thick because the injection system will atomise the air fuel mix before it gets sprayed into the combustion chambers.

That's also why the long life/Spry Crisp & Dry cannot be used because of the chemicals used.

As zippy has put it was used oil.

Charlotte

(Would be very interested in knowing)
 
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