Running on vegetable oil

[composimmonite]

Jun 19, 2015 15:44:31 GMT dodgerover said:

Jun 19, 2015 13:12:07 GMT retrorob86 said:

Got the new car home last night and it's got a Lucas pump. Google says vegetable oil can't be put through a Lucas pump so looks like I'm sticking to pump diesel

You can run 25% to 50% cleaned and processed veg ok with a lucas pump, maybe more in the summer - Boraf will be able to advise

I agree. I ran a 205 on veg oil mix for around 20,000 miles and only had one problem with a leak on the pump that was an easy / cheap fix. The 205 had a heated fuel filter which is worth getting from scrap yard if one isn't already fitted to the 309.
I've also got an in line fuel heater that is a Renault genuine part. Bought new, and unused at present, off eBay USA for £10. Seems they were fitted to smaller Winnebago's that had the Renault diesel and intended to only work when fuel temp low to avoid waxing due to poor quality (truck) diesel in some areas of US. Again off eBay I got a new multi plate heat exchanger out of a combi central heating boiler that you connect the hot water side to the engine coolant and the central heating side to the fuel (or vice versa). -

[romfordman]

had a mate run his transit on it but at high levels ( over 10%) loved the small savings but eventually after a year engine had to be replaced. its not for no reason that bio fuel is around and set at a max of 5% and the oil is both clean and stable. excess oil will congeal at low temps. has virtually no anti friction qualities so in a common rail pump for example we start to run risk of pump failure. ( expensive) overall its a minor saving and rarely worth the hassle unless doing high mileages with minimal veg oil added. yes it will seperate out over time as its slightly heavier than diesel but unless tank is left standing for weeks on end will normally mix due to swirl action in tank as we drive around. slugging is an effect hard to get round in cold weather.
this is perfectly ok in many older vehicles with old fashioned fuel systems and lower pressure pumps ( subject to levels used as a ratio)
if I wanted to keep my vehicle then for sake of small savings its often not worth the risks and potential drawbacks. otherwise we would see tis fuel being offered at pumps and service stations ( no doubt quickly taxed) my friend has never used oil since he lost his entire engine but he was enjoying many months of cheaper driving!
we can likely save almost as much in running costs by altering our driving and removing drag factors e.g. roof bars. keep windows shut. smoother pullaways with no heavy acceleration and no harsh braking..waste of energy and fuel getting up to speed and having to brake it away. do enjoy your vehicle and good luck.

[lordyoung1980]

I run veg in my Vauxhall Frontera 2.5 tds. I run mostly 100% with no issues. I get my oil for free and only put £10 diesel in so far this month. My Fronteras VM four headed monster loves it. I think it helps that it has heated fuel filter as standard. I've yet to try it in the winter though but I'm already save ing between £60-£70 a month.

[mat91]

As many have said veg oil prices are so close to diesel that it's not worth bothering in the long run

With that in mind I've turned over to used engine oil, being a mechanic in a busy garage it's coming out of our ear holes haha
I am selective on what oil I burn, I use low milage serviced well petrol engines which is usual still quite clean,
I stay away from diesel oil as it's clearly much dirtier,
all I do is chuck it through a 5 mircon filter, really I don't think that's needed as the oil is filtered in the engine and then the fuel filter,
I've been doing it for around a year in my mk1 pajero running a bosch VE pump with no downsides usually at over 50% mix, although I stopped running it in winter being a indirect diesel cold starts aren't its best point,

I have just started running it in my bmw e30 converted to a mercedes om606 with a inline pump no problems either, I have noticed it is much quieter with no power loss,

Unlike veg oils lack of lubrication, engine oil clearly doesn't have that problem it's probably helping the system


Apart from filter bag cost it's basically free for me, the last bag run ended up costing my 6p a litre now that's a proper saving

[Mantasport]

Bought 20litres from Costco today at £12.99 so 65p a litre rather than the £1.18 at the pump for derv
So about half the price!

[bortaf]

Jun 26, 2015 19:00:59 GMT mat91 said:

As many have said veg oil prices are so close to diesel that it's not worth bothering in the long run

And as many have pointed out veg oil is NOT close to diesel in price at all, tesco do SVO 38p per ltr cheaper than diesel and buy SVO at costco or macro and the differance is even larger.
I would use engine oil if i had a decent filtration system, i see way to many metalic particals in the oil from engines i service to risk it (i'm a crappy back street garage and mostly service polish owned total sheds )

[mat91]

When you get used to sub 10ppl paying 50ppl+ is expensive haha plus then theres your time to factor in finding/fetching the veg oil, then the chip shop you drive around in

Also talking about metal particals in oil, you really shouldn't be fing any haha,
I've not fount any metallic particals in what I've been running but then I'm selective like I said before and if it's not causing the engine harm it certainly isn't going to hurt a old injection pump which run on far greater tolerances haha

[dodgerover]

I would guess the best way to clean out the used engine oil would be a centrifugal filter system with a great big electro magnet turned on whilst you are filtering it to catch particles. I used to think about doing it when we used to have a lot of newish vehicles come through, apparently hydrolic oils and atf work as well...

[bortaf]

I get what your saying but 10ppl was a LONG time ago, we are talking now and saving 38ppl at tesco then tipping in the SVO in the car park before driving past the fuel station that's on site isn't really a time waister is it ? more no brainer really

I allways add ATF when i have some, it's allmost as good as 2stroke oil for quietening down my noisy old lump, mercedes used ATF in the fuel in their round the world drive to negate any issues of "local" low qulity diesel when driving through 3rd world countrys (un PC i know), not tried hydrolic fluid but i guess it's not far from ATF ?
Old diesel oil used to be a way of covering up red diesel in the tank, it turned the whole lot black LOL, i have a lot of missfuel with diesel bug and that's just as black as old engine oil used to look in the mix, modern diesel seems more suseptable to diesel bug than the older blends IMHO ? i see it a lot nowdays, never used to ?? perhaps it's just there are more diesel cars about ??

Cleaning old engine oil should be the same as filtering used veg oil i spose? heat and filter? just no need to remove water and soaps but then there's the risk of metal particals instead which as i strip microwaves all day every day i have a large selection of decent magnets, hmmm i possably see a new rig in the workshop finaly using some of the hundreds of magnets i have stuck all over the place, might need to get me a new white coat

There used to be clamp on magnets you fitted to oil filters when on the car to trap metal particals, what ever happened to those ?

[mat91]

I honestly don't see the point in filtering well serviced engine oil, the stuff I run, you can mostly still see through, I do drop a magnet in the oil when I remember and haven't fount any metallic particals, After all that's the purpose of the oil filter, and if it's not hurting big end bearings it certainly isn't going to hurt a bosch VE pump

Now old worn out engine oil from oil engines I imagine you will find metallic particals in but I don't run old oil, so isn't a problem

Filtering it won't hurt but I just haven't the time or patience much like finding the cheapest veg oil

And regards price for engine oil it is free to me I just have to pay for filter bags if I bother so sub 5ppl is common for me

[discostew]

I used to run an old W124 Merc on 100% filtered waste veg oil right through the winter. It ran really well on it but diesel was more expensive then so it was well worth it.