Veg Oil Succses.

[Guest BrainFluid]

Thought I had better keep the continuity going and give you all an update on my veg oil shanigans.

 

Since the Phase 2 veg oil conversion resulted with a leaking pump at 8000 miles (search and you will find) I was forced to admit that the lucas pumps are indeed very naff for high levels of veg oil use.

 

So I was forced into a compromise.

 

After replacing the leaky fuel pump with a second hand lucas one I decided 'bugger it' lets try a 50/50 veg oil and diesel mix from now on. So I ripped out all the modifications and have been running on 50/50 ever since!

 

I'm telling you now because I'm now on 9000 miles and the fuel pump is fine and dandy. And if its safe for a lucas pump then It will be double safe for a bosch one.

 

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I can only conclude that this method is not only very easy to do ( no mods at all ) it is pretty safe too. Just put half a tank full of veg oil into a warm motor then nip to the closest petrol station.

 

( on an empty tank I find a secluded supermarket car park spot, 1/2 fill up with veg oil then top up at thier petrol station and drop the empty cartons into their recycling bins while I'm at it. )

 

The result? 1/4 off your fuel bill , lower emmisions, 1/2 of which are locked into a sustainable carbon cycle.

 

(It would be a 50% saving on the fuel bill if you collected used veg oil too btw, but its messy and time consuming)

 

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I will update this post when/if the pump starts to leak. And one of these days I'll be concentrating on how to run at a full 100% vegoil in a 205 but thats another story...

 

Nate.

[Jonmurgie 2]

Did you not cinsider swapping to a Bosch pump? Can run almost 100% mix during warmer parts of the year!

 

Couple of questions... has it effected the performance at all, and does it smell like a chip van driving along?

[TB_205GTI 1]

Do you use a heater on the fuel lines in order to get the veg oil thinner?

[madspikes 41 1 Cars]

What veg oil would you recomend, out of idle curiosity?

[Guest BrainFluid]

Did you not cinsider swapping to a Bosch pump? Can run almost 100% mix during warmer parts of the year!

 

Couple of questions... has it effected the performance at all, and does it smell like a chip van driving along?

 

Hey Jon. Yes I did consider using a bosch pump but I wanted to find the safest way of using a lucas pump before I move on so I could advise people what will work with a Lucas pump if that is all that they have got.

 

A bosch pump is the way to go for high veg oil and just to point out to people, if you change to a bosch pump you also have to change the injectors to bosch ones too. (I'm aware that none of the 205Td's ever had a Bosch Turbo pump or bosch injectors, but the Xud9t engines have them)

 

Preformance with 50/50 Feels exactly the same as when running on derv and there are no problems starting up at all.

 

(when I replaced the fuel pump I left the bloody locking bolts in the pumps sprocket (doh) started her up an had some valve contact... I replaced two of the valves with used ones which have worn the guides a little, so I am getting a wee bit more smoke on start up but I must stress that I'm confidant that this has Nothing to do with the veg oil as fuel as it arised very soon after replacing the valves)

 

50/50 smell isnt too bad as it goes, the diesel masks a lot of the veg oil so its far less apparant than when running on a higher mix. I prefere the smell of a higher mix even though its a lot more obvious that your burning veg oil, Its a lot nicer than diesel and with fresh oil it smells sweet, rarther like donuts.

 

What smells a lot worse, I have found, is if you have a small ammount of veg oil in there, say 10%. That produces a horrible veg oil smell. I have a feeling that The diesel kind of burns the veg oil off first in the engine, not pleasant.

 

 

 

 

Do you use a heater on the fuel lines in order to get the veg oil thinner?

 

Hello TB . Not with this phase 3 compromise method I dont no. I dont see the point as 50/50 mix viscosity is acceptablely low (sorry I cant find the viscosity graph to show you) Besides the Xud engines have a pre fuel heater, and by the time it hits a well warm fuel pump your laughing.

 

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The Engine I'm using has covered 200000 miles so its pretty old now and does not have the spunk it used to have when my friend first bought it 5 years ago, but for the past year that I have had it, its preformace feels the same after these shananigans, what I really should do is get hold of a XUD9TE and drop that in....but one thing at a time eh!?

 

 

EDIT for MADSPIKE: Tests (not mine, universities) have shown that Rape seed oil is the best veg oil to use which is handy because we produce it in this country so its not been imported and is the Cheapest on the shelf! (it will say 'veg oil' on the front with 'rape seed oil' on the back.)

Edited October 4, 2006 by BrainFluid

[Shevy 4]

The Engine I'm using has covered 200000 miles so its pretty old now and does not have the spunk it used to have when my friend first bought it 5 years ago, but for the past year that I have had it, its preformace feels the same after these shananigans, what I really should do is get hold of a XUD9TE and drop that in....but one thing at a time eh!?

EDIT for MADSPIKE: Tests (not mine, universities) have shown that Rape seed oil is the best veg oil to use which is handy because we produce it in this country so its not been imported and is the Cheapest on the shelf! (it will say 'veg oil' on the front with 'rape seed oil' on the back.)

 

I've got a Cavalier turbo Diesel ( Isuzu engine) as a run around.

 

Do you think I could use veg Oil on this car, or how do I go about finding out.

 

Cheers

Kevin

[boombang 2]

Try some in it!

 

So long as you don't try too high a concentration you should be fine - go for 50-50 at first as thats fairly safe.

 

Then when its warmer try upping the ratio of veg oil gradually. If it doesn't perform as well, simply add more diesel.

[Guest BrainFluid]

Do you think I could use veg Oil on this car, or how do I go about finding out.

 

Cheers

Kevin

 

First find out if you have a Lucas fuel pump or a Bosch fuel pump.

 

If its lucas DO NOT put more than 50/50 in there. I'm confidant that 50/50 will be fine. If its a Bosch one like BOOMBANG says start on 50/50 and work upwards however you see fit.

 

>>>>DO NOT USE VEG OIL IN COMPUTERISED DIESELS BTW<<<<

[PumaRacing 2]

I don't have a diesel myself but a friend has been running two of his on veg oil now with considerable success. One is an old Vauxhall Combo van with the 1.7 Isuzu engine and he's had that on everything from neat veg oil to various mixes for about a year now depending on whether he can be arsed to go to Tescos when it needs filling up. It runs fine on neat oil unless the weather is really cold but it also loses some power and top speed on it. Not really noticeable he says unless he's on a motorway.

 

The other is a Citreon ZX 1.9 J reg and I'm not sure how much time this has spent on veg oil.

 

Out of interest where is the cheapest suitable veg oil to be found in supermarkets? I'm not talking about used cooking oil here just new stuff off the shelf. I'm told that not long ago it was about 37p a litre and once they twigged that people were buying in bulk for cars the price has shot up to over 50p a litre.

[Guest BrainFluid]

Out of interest where is the cheapest suitable veg oil to be found in supermarkets? I'm not talking about used cooking oil here just new stuff off the shelf.

 

Currently the lowest price for veg oil in all the top dog supermarkets is £1.62 ( 54p per ltr ) for a 3ltr carton, though I have not checked Liddle out.

 

Currently at Bookers Cash and Carry the cheapest is £9.89 for 20ltr. ( 49p per ltr ) If you can weasel your way in Comes in a much more sound packaging that can be added to your scrap metal pile

 

 

And yes when I first started messing about with straight new veg oil in the supermarket it was 13p cheaper around a year ago...

 

 

 

EDIT: I forgot to add that you can buy Used, Filtered to 5 microns veg oil from the buisnesses which are paid to collect it from fast food outlets. BUT you have to buy it 1000lts at a time for around £250 (25p a ltr ).

 

Your forced to trust thier filtering skills though and I wouldnt buy any before I checked the acid content.

 

 

(personally I think there is enough waste veg oil in every city to run the cities busses on I dont know why they dont do it as some councils are responsible for the picking up of shop waste veg oil)

Edited October 4, 2006 by BrainFluid

[trevor_stiles 0]

obviously ive not tried this but my old man has in his citroen synergie. He uses a mix of white spirits and veg oil. Is this the same kind of thing, although he does have troubles starting it after he has used the mix.

[Guest BrainFluid]

Get him on the 50/50 mix and he wont have any troubles starting up at all.

 

Burning white spirit is not the best thing for the enviroment (at all!) but I can understand that he'll be using it to thin the veg oil down. (it actually not that effective unless your using at least 10% white spirit and you need to leave the mix sat for a few days at least as well)

 

I had a post from a fellow who uses a 60%veg oil 30%diesel and 10%petrol mix that worked very well for him in all weather though. Try and tempt your Pa into that if he wants to use a slightly higher veg oil mix than the 50/50 method.

 

If only for the enviroments sake

 

 

Failing that I've come to the conclusion that the only way to heat veg oil up at start up is to use uprated glowplugs that kick out a wee bit more heat and stay on for longer after startup. This is what I'll be doing when I change engine/car and want to permanantly run on a high/poss 100% mix of veg oil. (should reduce carbon build up in the head too)

 

Nate.