VW Golf 1.9 Non-Turbo '97 Diesel/Veg Oil

thewintermute

I may be able to pick up a commercial one of these for reasonable money.
I know it's not nippy, but I had one for a year or so years ago and as I recall they're pretty frugal to run. It's in cracking condition with less than 100k on it.
I was thinking of running it 50/50 with veg oil (no conversion) for a bit to see if I could use it as my commuter. I guess I'll have to tax it privately, but I'm used to 2 litre tax already. I do about 1600 miles per month so there should be savings to be had vs my S124 E200.
Anyone tried running one of these on Veggie oil? any pitfalls I should look out for? Is sludge going to be an issue for the first tankful?
Advice on where to pick up cheap oil would be welcome too, preferably biggish drums of the stuff.

Any pointers appreciated, never ran anything on the veggie oil before.

shawnee

Should run on Veg oil if as I would imagine it has the bosch fuel pump. They are uncomplicated and should have no problem at all on 50 50, but like lots its a case of suck it and see

_Conrad_

It'll be grand. I have a very basic early 1.9 td version here and that has run on 100%veg but doesn't do it always as i'm too lazy to get enough of it. Runs great on up to 80% during the "warmer" months of the year. Just change your fuel filter quickly after running it first, the veg oil actualyl seems to clear out the lines etc and it picks up stuff from the tank too and is thicker so it blocks up the filter faster but filters are silly cheap for these my last one was somethin like 8 euro. first time i ran it for 2 weeks on 50/50 it had an old filter and it really did completely need a change after that. it's now gone through two more changed every 5000 miles but like i said they're silly cheap and on mine anyway it's in the left rear corner of the engine bay by the shock tower and takes about 3 minutes to change.


For colder weather if you don't want to modify it with heaters or another tank etc you can just run less mix and some would suggest running a tiny bit of petrol in with a tank but be wary of using too much. One guy i've talked to about it reckons for his old late 80s-early 90s transit 2.5dis the best mix involves a tiny bit of 2 stroke oil too lol.


should also say that because the veg oil is thicker and stickier it will be a bit harder to start in cold weather ususally as it doesnt want to come up to the pump and doesnt explode as easily at first but if you've good glow plugs and a good abttery that'll help.

thewintermute

should also say that because the veg oil is thicker and stickier it will be a bit harder to start in cold weather ususally as it doesnt want to come up to the pump and doesnt explode as easily at first but if you've good glow plugs and a good abttery that'll help.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for that, it kind of confirms my thoughts on it. I think I'm going to go for it. It's a bangernomics kinda car too, so I will be laying the Merc up for the winter months in a nice dry garage until next March. The VW has had new glow plugs about 10K back, so I'm happy they're good, may need a timing belt change just based on age though. It's been done about 40k ago. Factor in about €250 for that. Any ideas on where to get cheap oil?

L-M

Technically you're supposed to pay tax on the veg oil you put in.

Anywho, go around to a few shops and ask them for there used unwanted oil, that's what a friend of mine ran his Jetta on. Smelt of burnt chips when he floored it though, lol.

Builderfromhell

I presume you know that you cannot just collect waste veggie oil and pour it into your car.
It needs to be filtered down to about 2 microns.
It also needs to be de-watered.
There are many different ways to do this so you may need to research on-line.

It is illegal to run a vehicle on wvo without filling in a revenue form and paying them about 40 cents for every litre used. If you get dipped by revenue you may be liable for their estimates of the amount of fuel you have used,a fine and/or confiscation of your car.

I am not trying to scare you just pointing out a few issues that have not as yet been mentioned.

L-M

Builderfromhell wrote: »

I presume you know that you cannot just collect waste veggie oil and pour it into your car.
It needs to be filtered down to about 2 microns.
It also needs to be de-watered.
There are many different ways to do this so you may need to research on-line.

I know a good few people that have just throw it into old VAG diesels and ran it perfectly without the above complications!

shawnee

I wonder would the Audi a4 96 tdi run on this stuff ? Any one any experience , engine is pretty similar to the golf, though it does have turbo ?:o

_Conrad_

shawnee wrote: »

I wonder would the Audi a4 96 tdi run on this stuff ? Any one any experience , engine is pretty similar to the golf, though it does have turbo ?:o

What engine code is that? I know the AAZ that i have ( 1.9td) and 1Z (tdi) do fine on it anyway. That's surely too early to be a PD tdi so i'd say it's grand. Having a turbo doesn't matter.

_Conrad_

Limerick man wrote: »

I know a good few people that have just throw it into old VAG diesels and ran it perfectly without the above complications!

Putting in used veg oil unfiltered isn't smart at all. It's got lots of bits in it and it does have far more water content, you could run a bit of it but long term it'd be stupid not to filter it

_Conrad_

thewintermute wrote: »

Any ideas on where to get cheap oil?

If you're going to get used oil to filter it then try lots of chippers and other fast food places to see if they'll give you used stuff. The price of new oil can vary in wholesale places making it more expensive than diesel, but if you're stuck i know that tesco (in limerick anyway) have new oil for 1.35/litre which is still marginally cheaper than pump diesel around here.


I'm going to try work out a deal with an indian restaurant to see if they can get me a big batch of new fresh oil as they're getting it in themselves in 30 litre containers avoiding the irish suppliers




by they way sorry for the multiple posts for got about multi the multi quote option

keithclancy

Builderfromhell wrote: »

If you get dipped by revenue you may be liable for their estimates of the amount of fuel you have used,a fine and/or confiscation of your car.

.

Dipped for what, there is no Dye in Vegetable Oil.

_Conrad_

keithclancy wrote: »

Dipped for what, there is no Dye in Vegetable Oil.

oh but don't you know they might taste it now just to see?

Or bring around a deep fat fryer with them to see if they can make chips with it.....

L-M

I did see a bbq at a checkpoint recently...

djrichard

Is there anywhere in Ireland where you could take a car, for example a Land Rover Discovery 1995-2000, and have a kit fitted which includes the heaters, seperate fuel tank etc so that it can be used in the winter without any problems? Anyone got any website links?

Id really like to have a Disco, I used to have a 1993 about 5 years ago, but the running costs were bad then, with the price of fuel now its too much. If I was able to use oil, it would be fantastic!

_Conrad_

_Conrad_ wrote: »

............ but if you're stuck i know that tesco (in limerick anyway) have new oil for 1.35/litre which is still marginally cheaper than pump diesel around here.......................

Is it that expensive now? When I had a diesel rover 400 I ran it on 50/50 mix for a tank or two as an experiment really, that was 4 or 5 years ago, I was buying the oil in Tesco in iirc 2l bottles and it was about 50c litre less than diesel. Most of my driving was urban ish at the time and I didn't like the smell off it, even though it was clean new oil there was still a burny chips smell off it.