Run a Land Rover on cooking oil???

veggieman

Hello

I have just read pages after pages of info on what i should and should not do in relation the running a diesel car on cooking oil. Theres many different circumstances which confuse me in relation to my Land Rover.

I owe 1987 Land Rover Defender 90 and am thinking of running it on cooking oil My plan was to pay any tax needed (if it has to be paid), then get a barrel of use cooking oil and filter it at home and then simply putting it into the jeep. i would greatly appreciate any help in relation to this, is there any mistakes in my plan?
also, should i mix it with diesel or just use cooking oil only? should i thin it with white spirits too?

Thank you.

robtri

In theory it should take the oil straight, once cleaned and filtered, but cold mornings can be a drag. The white spirits do help, to lower the viscosity of cold oil.

a lot of diesels units cannot get cold high viscious oil into the engine.

best solution if you plan to this long term is to look at a pre heat kit for the engine.

basically its a little heater that heats the oil, lowers its viscosity and makes it run fine till the engine heats up.

PeteHeat

Hi,

It has been a while since I looked at running a Transit Van on cooking oil, the one big item to check is the fuel pump, I know the pump in the model I had would not last very long if using cooking oil.

There are some good Irish web sites on conversion kits, pre heaters, seperate tanks etc

Also strainers for the cooking oil to ensure you get clean fuel, I understand some of the best test vehicles are older VW's opels etc because they have Bosch pumps.

.

jacaranda

What is the advantage of running a diesel engine on cooking oil?

PeteHeat

Hi,

Most people were looking at using either rape seed oil or recycling old cooking oil from the fast food outlets and restaurants to use as an alternative to diesel.

Cleaner driving removing the need for carbon fuels, many were very successful some of the commercial producers supply trucks etc.

An interesting idea just be careful with the conversion as most manufacturers do not cover the engine in the event of a warranty claim, there are a lot of diesel cars and vans outside the warranty and could be worth trying.

I would have tried it except the diesel pump in the van I wanted to use was not really compatible, in fairness every conversion kit supplier I spoke to or emailed were very honest in their advice.

.

Dara Robinson

veggieman wrote: »

Hello

I have just read pages after pages of info on what i should and should not do in relation the running a diesel car on cooking oil. Theres many different circumstances which confuse me in relation to my Land Rover.

I owe 1987 Land Rover Defender 90 and am thinking of running it on cooking oil My plan was to pay any tax needed (if it has to be paid), then get a barrel of use cooking oil and filter it at home and then simply putting it into the jeep. i would greatly appreciate any help in relation to this, is there any mistakes in my plan?
also, should i mix it with diesel or just use cooking oil only? should i thin it with white spirits too?

Thank you.

From what I understand use oil is better just make sure you filter any bits out but a simple muslin cloth is supposed to be fine. After that dump into tank and drive off. The older the diesel the better it seems, well within reason

Del2005

Dara Robinson wrote: »

From what I understand use oil is better just make sure you filter any bits out but a simple muslin cloth is supposed to be fine. After that dump into tank and drive off. The older the diesel the better it seems, well within reason

You have to be careful to filter out any water before you use waste oil, it's not just food particles you need to worry about.

SVO is the easiest to use, but most shops have copped onto this and it's difficult to get it in bottles bigger then 1l now. It'd be a pain to refuel a 40l tank with 1l bottles never mind an old LandRover with a bigger tank.

OP you need to google your fuel pump and cooking oil. There are plenty of sites where people have converted cars and old Bosch pumps are fairly straight forward, hopefully your LandRover has a pump that can be converted easily.

Mahatma coat

A lot of the problems come from people using SVO instead of refining it through Transesterification, clotting was an issue for us in Bougainville and thats in the equatorial tropics, with the coldness of Ireland dont be surprised if you fint that you have to remove the 'Lard' from the bottom of your fuel tank every few months.

a 2 stage process is the best way to maintain a consistency in the product, a home brewer kit can be knocked up fairly easily if yer handy with a welder and have a few 45Galon drums and some hoses.

1) mix Catalyst ( Ethanol/Kerosene & Lye)
2) add catalyst to filtered Vegetable oil
3) naff off for a few days and let the magic happen
4) pump Biodiesel from first tank to second tank, leaving 'Lard' in tank 1
5) using a diffuse sprinkler method create a layer of water on top of the Biodiesel, this will sink through the tank and remove most of the remaining particles
6) Drain water from tank and leave the Biodiesel to dry for a day or two
7) pump fuel into car, drive about feelin smug and self satisfied:)
Profit????

jacaranda

Mahatma coat wrote: »

A lot of the problems come from people using SVO instead of refining it through Transesterification, clotting was an issue for us in Bougainville and thats in the equatorial tropics, with the coldness of Ireland dont be surprised if you fint that you have to remove the 'Lard' from the bottom of your fuel tank every few months.

a 2 stage process is the best way to maintain a consistency in the product, a home brewer kit can be knocked up fairly easily if yer handy with a welder and have a few 45Galon drums and some hoses.

1) mix Catalyst ( Ethanol/Kerosene & Lye)
2) add catalyst to filtered Vegetable oil
3) naff off for a few days and let the magic happen
4) pump Biodiesel from first tank to second tank, leaving 'Lard' in tank 1
5) using a diffuse sprinkler method create a layer of water on top of the Biodiesel, this will sink through the tank and remove most of the remaining particles
6) Drain water from tank and leave the Biodiesel to dry for a day or two
7) pump fuel into car, drive about feelin smug and self satisfied:)
Profit????

That makes me want to trade in my current 3.0l petrol car for a diesel, and the whole process sounds satisfying and inexpensive. I assumed the op was talking about "new" vegetable oil rather than reusing old spent vegetable oil. Sounds great.