running your car on vegtable oil

Hi speaking to a science boffin at the weekend if you run your car on Vegie oil you may run the risk of sooting it up also a lot of the new oils have some kind of chemicals in it that prevent it from burning so this may turn into gungy type stuff and stuff your valves up

(My penny worth)

Charlotte

Charlotte, I know vegetable oil contains an anti-oxidant,(to prevent the oil from going rancid) and an anti-foaming agent, but have never come across a fire retardant in the vegetable oil.
When people were setting their vehicles up to utilise waste oil, the big oil companies started making some ridiculous claims,that it couldn't be done, well I have 10,000 miles up now running on waste cooking oil and the diesel doesn't blow any smoke. I pulled the injectors last weekend to check for any carbon build-up and there was none, it would be a different story if the oil entered the engine cold, but if you faithfully follow the protocols for running waste vegetable oil you shouldn't have any problems.
The LucasCAV injection pump is a worry though, it seems to have the least tolerance of any pump for vegetable oil. If I was going to set up using the LucasCAV pump I would use a blend and still try to get the oil as hot as possible.
If anyone is interested there is greasecar forum in the USA , just do a google search, I occassionally contribute my experiences and opinions to this forum.There are some very experienced people there who make and design kits and have a lot of experience on this topic.
Kind regards...Ron.

I am so glad i started this thread,and cant believe the responces sure is good my 300 tdi still running well on the mix keep up the chat guys and dolls all the best tiga

lol this should be awarded the thread of the month

Well i only asked the question but was impaitent so run mine on veggie any way,also a question for you as you done a great job on my intercooler,my friend at work has a pug 306 can you do anything for his car such as recore or bigger cooler,tiga

This veggie thing seems the way forward, but can anyone shed some light on what temperatures (that's outside) is ok to use the oil, I am living in Finland where it drops to minus 30 odd during the winter. I am looking at a possibly 20% mix, which along with the winter diesel should stop it sludging up?

Does anyone have figure for fuel consumption pre & post running on vegetable oil mix?

I am thinking that there will be some kind of performance drop as the oil may not burn as energetically as diesel.

This would mean a reduction in miles per gallon etc.

I am waiting on my tax forms before getting 'greased-up'.

Also, has anyone found a Cash and carry that does oil cheaper than the supermarket? 32 pence per litre

Given recent cost increases, is there a lobby group for adding veg (or a derivative) at the pumps?

Thanks for a great thread!

Hi i can honestly say that have felt no lack of responce at any speed and no lack off power,cant say its getting less per gallon on a mix than pure diesel and have run it know since i started this thread in april,i am going to fit an heat exchanger to warm the oil up which is already mixed at 50% at this very trying times of fuel costs keep rising,found a heat exchanger on a web site for 50 squid so will possibly get it, apart from the smell i get a bit more smoke on full throttle but soon passes,i think the warmer fuel will make a difference,will let you know as i will possibly get 1 at the end of the month,take care tiga

tigapiglet said:

Well i only asked the question but was impaitent so run mine on veggie any way,also a question for you as you done a great job on my intercooler,my friend at work has a pug 306 can you do anything for his car such as recore or bigger cooler,tiga

Click to expand...

I think i may be able to do something with it

give me a ring and ill sort sosmert out nps

if the 306 is a 1.9tdi
Mecanical Tdi work sheet and a Bleed valve is required to modify this car

if its a 2.0HDI with a bosch EDC 15C2 ECU i can chip it for 30+bhp more if he needs it doing.

hope this helps

I have been researching other alternative fuels for quite some time, recently I came across a site by an Australian inventor, who claims he can produce diesel from sump oil. The inventor is Michael Verrall , his company is Verrall Electrical, and he comes from South Australia.
His website is http://www.freediesel.com.au/ I knew it was only a matter of time until someone made a breakthrough in this research.
I have sent for the plans and will keep this forum up to date with any progress, I hope to have the plans within the next ten days.
I was thinking this may be a safer alternative for those Land Rovers with the LucasCAV injection pumps.
Kind regards...Ron

so we have to pay AU$150.00 for this info?

Bigstoo, it's up to you, I have bought the plans and I will make the device, if it has any pitfalls I will let you know. If it does work, then it is a cheap price to pay,to get free fuel indefinitely.
When everthing is considered information is the cheapest thing money can buy, you have to take the time and cost to the inventor into consideration. I know it would cost me a lot more than that to come up with a device that may or may not work.
Kind regards ...Ron

well all been quite for a couple of days on this thread and i cant let it die as i started it and a great deal of info has been exchanged,well i finally done it to day i have a plate heat exchanger funnily enough on a new defender,it looked the part so i ordered 1 at 43 quid plus **** fitted it all today took me 1.5 hours in all to make a good place to sit with minmal pipe work,and what a big difference it makes smoke is almost non exsistant and the smell,WHAT SMELL, there is no smell cant believe it,so will keep you posted of if its any better on fuel,will try and take some pics if people are interested to show where it fits great on a 300 tdi,only needed to buy the top rear hose to modify which was 5 quid,the cheapest heat exchanger i found was from landrover the veggie oil companys wanted around 70 quid,off to collect my new trailer tent in exeter on friday(well new to me) so will let you know how it does on the 120 mile round trip cheers tiga

Tigapiglet, I would be interested in seeing the pics of your heat exchanger and the tent trailer too if you would. I have made up a few heat exchangers as I have other machines to convert.
We are experiencing high diesel prices here now, the excuse is the hurricane on the west coast of the USA. Diesel is expected to reach $2.oo a litre before the end of the year, luckily I've been collecting as much as I can, and have over 300 20 litre drums and 10 200 litre drums, so the prices won't affect me for a long while yet. I live in a small town and the larger establishments like the golf club etc are forced by the EPA to use licenced contractors to pick up the oil, the clubs have to pay them to collect it so these companies are making money at both ends. With this situation in mind, I am looking at utilising sump oil as a resource to convert to diesel.
I am currently picking up about 120 litres a week, but with the high fuel prices at the pump, I wonder how long this will last, at the moment I am the only one in town using vegetable oil as a fuel.
Kind regards... Ron

tiga,

Sounds great! hoep to hear back from you soon.

Where did you get the heat exchanger?

Where did you end-up siting it on the 300 Tdi to keep the pipework minimal?

Hope to see the pics.

Tana

I said earlier in this thread that I would give you some fuel consumption figures, so here they are in the interests of keeping the thread alive.

As ever I tried to keep everything as constant as possible. These figures are for a Dunbar - Edinburgh commute, so a mix of the A1 and city centre. 50 mile round trip at constant speeds for the A1 and stop-start hell for the city.

Disco 300tdi 97 (L) no mods for fuel no air con. the book says a 90 litre tank.

The results are odd and admittedly for a *very* limited 'test' I don't claim to understand or attempt to explain them.

Week 1 Jet Fossil diesel
5.3 miles per litre (242 miles covered, 45.66 litres to fill)

Hundred-ish miles at weekend to make room for SVO

Week 2 15 litres Asda smart price cooking oil to 75 litres of Jet fossil Diesel
6.4 miles per litre (248.5 miles covered, 38.83 litres to fill)

So I'm thinking that road tests are all phooey!

I'll keep going and build up a bigger body of crude data.

I'd quite like to fit a heat exchanger as tiga had said now that winter draws near. Anyone know where I can get one cheap?

Also anyone mixing veg and unleaded?

T.

Hi sorry still no pics as yet i know im crap,i do mix a bit of unleaded to the oil but only a small amount not even half a litre to 10 litres,i got my heat exchanger from a new defender it works well but it seems to smoke a bit more but smells less,i do have my fuel turned up a bit to keep up with the extra boost from turbo,tiga

http://www.voil.co.uk/ check out this site shows you how to run your car on veg oil straight

Hi Tigapiglet,we`ve spoken before,i think like me you run an elderly 300tdi disco? Very interested in keeping an eye on how it goes with your fuel experiment.I think you know your stuff but the thinning down with spirit/petrol is making me squirm a bit.I`m thinking about possible harm to the diesel pump because as far as i know diesel acts as a lubricant as well as a fuel to run on & we all know what happens when petrol is mistakenly used in a diesel......hmmm. mucky`un.