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Running Diesel cars on Vegatable Oil?
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you could probably swap "post oil" for "post US" too if you wanted to.Aside: I loved the quote from a Fiorsceal episode a month or so back about the end of the oil era. "I think the post oil era will be a very nice place to live. For the survivors anyway."
anyway, back on topic.
where's the cheapest place to buy veg oil in meath/dublin?
in the UK it seems to be the 1L bottles of own brand in tesco's (seemingly cheaper than the likes of aldi & lidl at present) but I'm just curious of prices in Ireland.
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well, I've done it.
I picked up the new motor at the weekend and have just put 15L of tesco's veg oil in it last night with about 60L of diesel and it's running like a dream so far.
They only had 5x 3L bottles of the stuff in the local tesco, so I had to make do, I had planned on using about 30-40L of veg oil, but I guess it's better to start low and work your way up, just in case.
The car is a 1996 2.8TD Jap import Pajero and part of the reason for getting this motor in particular was knowing that it will run well long term on both veg oil and biodiesel with very little in the way of modifications.
to start with it'll be SVO from the supermarkets, but then I'll migrate to cleaning my own WVO and then on to (hopefully) home made bio diesel once I've gathered enough info to do it properly (and safely).
Anyway, she's running like a dream already, the engine is quieter and more responsive and there is only a tiny bit of a non-diesel smell from the back end, altho I expect that to increase with higher ratio's of oil in the tank.
i know some paj's have problems with black smoke due to the EGR valve being clagged up but i have a particuarly well maintained car so I never had anything but white smoke anyway, although I've read that veg oil helps alleviate the black smoke.
things I know to keep an eye out for are fuel filter blockages as the veg oil will clean out the diesel clag from the tank and pipes and it can get stuck in the filter, and also long term some of the rubber seals and pipes can be degraded as SVO is a little bit acidic. If it's a problem though there are veg oil safe replacements available.
it will only be an issue while i'm using SVO tho, as bio-d is made pH neutral anyway as part of the conversion process.
wish me luck
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well, I've done it.
I picked up the new motor at the weekend and have just put 15L of tesco's veg oil in it last night with about 60L of diesel and it's running like a dream so far.
They only had 5x 3L bottles of the stuff in the local tesco, so I had to make do, I had planned on using about 30-40L of veg oil, but I guess it's better to start low and work your way up, just in case.
The car is a 1996 2.8TD Jap import Pajero and part of the reason for getting this motor in particular was knowing that it will run well long term on both veg oil and biodiesel with very little in the way of modifications.
to start with it'll be SVO from the supermarkets, but then I'll migrate to cleaning my own WVO and then on to (hopefully) home made bio diesel once I've gathered enough info to do it properly (and safely).
Anyway, she's running like a dream already, the engine is quieter and more responsive and there is only a tiny bit of a non-diesel smell from the back end, altho I expect that to increase with higher ratio's of oil in the tank.
i know some paj's have problems with black smoke due to the EGR valve being clagged up but i have a particuarly well maintained car so I never had anything but white smoke anyway, although I've read that veg oil helps alleviate the black smoke.
things I know to keep an eye out for are fuel filter blockages as the veg oil will clean out the diesel clag from the tank and pipes and it can get stuck in the filter, and also long term some of the rubber seals and pipes can be degraded as SVO is a little bit acidic. If it's a problem though there are veg oil safe replacements available.
it will only be an issue while i'm using SVO tho, as bio-d is made pH neutral anyway as part of the conversion process.
wish me luck
Fair play to you vibe666. You mentioned that the Pajero was your choice because it required very little modifications to run on veg oil. Which mods to you have to make?
Keep us updated how you get on.0 -
it depends on how much oil you want to use. this time of year you can use up to 30% veg oil with no conversion, but in the summer, or in warmer parts of the world anything up to 70-80% without modification, although there's some question as to how long you can do this for without causing engine problems.
the general consensus is that long term the only real option is a twin tank system where you start on normal diesel for 5 mins then switch to 100% veg oil for your journey before switching back for a minute or two so the fuel system in the vehicle has normal diesel flushed through so it starts okay next time after it's cold.
other options are fuel heaters of various sorts, either electrical or using the heated engine coolant to heat the fuel before it gets to the pump and/or injectors.
fortunately for me, I've found a local supplier of 'proper' certified bio-diesel (from WVO) at 95c per litre (duty paid) so I might not bother as this will make my fuel costs more than acceptable and makes me 100% legal on the road and makes the car 100% carbon neutral so I'm happy.
no conversion needed at all (on my Pajero and a lot of other cars) to run it on 100% BD either, which is a bonus.
I had her running on 30% veg oil for 2 tanks but she was slightly lumpy on that. No such problems with BD at all, started fine this morning on around 95% BD (a tiny bit of dino diesel left in the tank when i filled her up with BD) and the engine is running smoother than when i was on 100% dino.
anyway, I'm happy as can be with the results using biodiesel so I guess that's me done.
if anyone still wants to use SVO or WVO then I'd recommend visiting http://fattywagons.com and giving their inline injector and fuel pump heaters a go as that's the direction I had been leaning before I gave the bio-diesel a go.0 -
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how about one of these bad boys to stick on your FJ40 chassis?AngryHippie wrote: »Now to find a body shell !!!
http://www.offroaders.com/directory/custom/TLC-Icon.htm
on the subject of running bio diesle, I'm a few days in now and I have to say the Paj has never run more smoothly, quietly or with more power than it does on BD. I'm well chuffed,it's head and shoulders above normal diesel in all the right places.
now all I need is some nice big stickers proclaiming my 'bio power' to put all over the car so I don't get people looking at me like I'm a prick for driving a big environment ruining 4x4 around dublin & meath (work & home). although anyone who's driven through meath recently anywhere near the M3 roadworks would probably agree that just living here is enough to warrant something more beefy than a Primera.
I took my g/f's brother out in it for a bit of "off roading" (well okay, it was just a big muddy field!) over the weekend and I've left all the dirt on it for now so it at least looks like it's being used for it's intended purpose. 0 -
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With the exception of a few weeks here and there, Ive been mostly running my car (DI)
from 10% - 100% pure plant oil
Mostly 10 - 15% and the 100% was once off
Currently 20% approx
I do use additives to try keep the injectors clear and I use a cetane booster
Now with the price of additives it probably doesnt work out any cheaper with such a low % but Im kinda just trying to push the envelope!
No injector seal leaks yet which is suprising (seems to be a normal thing to happen even on bio diesel) Slight loss of power at highest revs when on 100%
Engine slightly quieter when running over 15%
That yuk diesel smoke smell disappears above 15% too
If 15-20% was safe in a direct injection engine I would always run that kind of % just to get rid of the diesel smell and clatter!!
May not be safe though
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i seem to remember reading somewhere that some pugs have an electrically heated fuel pump, might be something to look for.
things i've learnt during my LOTS of research.
the glow plug inline heaters are bad in the long run and can/will burn the oil and leave nasty deposits over time.
old pre-97 (ish) motors are best as you can be reasonably sure of an old style diesel engine.
old mercs and jap 4x4's as well as some french motors are good choices, but make sure you research your preferred vehicle to find out for sure.
stay away from lucas fuel pumps.
heat the fuel before it gets to the fuel pump to stop it clogging up from the viscosity of the fuel. also consider heating it again at the injector lines to keep that end of things running smoothly.
biodiesel is better than veg oil in terms of not buggering up your fuel pump, but you might still want to think about some minor conversions depending on what you'll be putting it in.
the internet is the best tool you'll find for researching the whole thing, youre not the first to try it, so learn from the experience of others. 0 -
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