running diesel on cooking oil

[kwak zzr]

mate of mine just poured 3ltr's of cooking oil into his diesel:cool: said he always does it and it run's fine. 60p for 3ltr's not £3.00 like diesel:D anyone else do this?

[hovis]

no......... as im a bit worried it may do some damage, as my car is quite new, but i know a few peeps that do, & if i had an older car, i think i might give it a go

[neio79]

if it is used oil ok i think i dont know about straight from the shelf stuff??

i have a M-reg mondeo diesel for a run arround and if it works ill be filling it up.

i think all 1990-2004 diesel cars are ok to run on 100% biodiesel (cooking/veg/rapeseed oil)

infact the first diesel engines were designed to work on that sort of oil rather than petrolium based diesel.

there are garages around the country that sell 100% bio diesel a lot cheeper than the pump stuff the nearest one to me is about 18 miles away. i think i might go and take a look.

[Dan]

If your car's a high pressure common-rail diesel it's questionable whether this is recommended.

If your diesel uses a mechanical injection pump it'll probably be OK.

but

FILTER THE OIL WELL FIRST!!!!!

[wyrdness]

if it is used oil ok i think i dont know about straight from the shelf stuff??

i have a M-reg mondeo diesel for a run arround and if it works ill be filling it up.

i think all 1990-2004 diesel cars are ok to run on 100% biodiesel (cooking/veg/rapeseed oil)

infact the first diesel engines were designed to work on that sort of oil rather than petrolium based diesel.

I've heard that you shouldn't put biodiesel in a Mondeo. Some issue with the fuel pump, I think. Google for it.

[neio79]

I've heard that you shouldn't put biodiesel in a Mondeo. Some issue with the fuel pump, I think. Google for it.
is that my old one (95) or the new common rail TDCi ones??

[krhall]

5th gear did a big thing on it using a merc 300d an E reg I think.......used or straight from the shelf I don't think it matters, was thinking of buying one and trying it but would be my luck it would blow up or something. Google it there are loads of sites.

[Wideboy]

i was thinking of doing this to the puggy its old (ish) engine so should take it, they say the old merc's are the best

[gettin2dizzy]

on old diesels it is fine. New ones (like your passat) it's bad for. But new fresh oil works perfectly on the olds :-) and it's now legal!!

[dirtydog]

mate of mine just poured 3ltr's of cooking oil into his diesel:cool: said he always does it and it run's fine. 60p for 3ltr's not £3.00 like diesel:D anyone else do this?


Yep saves loads of money inn the long run, i run a 10 year old peugeot van

[Ed]

scuse me being thick - but do you have to add it in any proportion to diesel or do you just slosh it in?

[gettin2dizzy]

you can use 100% oil. However it gets thick in the winter cold so people mix it about 50/50 around now. You're allowed 2000l tax free now :) old diesels only...again!

[skint]

As far as I know the Biodiesel vehicles we run use a treated/filtered cooking oil but its not a popular switch for large scale vehicle operators because they need much more regular servicing given current technology.

Think I would be a bit cautious like Hovis given I also have new car...Maybe in a few years...?

[hovis]

as i posted in another thread, my mates m reg caverlier run fine on it

[dirtydog]

scuse me being thick - but do you have to add it in any proportion to diesel or do you just slosh it in?



I use about 50/50 mix of cooking oil and diesel

[rob13]

I looked into doing this when looking to buy a cheap commuting diesel. Basically, the government will now allow 2000Litres per person to be used without paying duty on it. Newer common rail diesels probably wont run on this stuff, however the older variants should run ok. You can use used or new oil (to save bother probably just better off buying new). Some fuel pumps will not self lubricate which means that the pump will probs pack up over time by using this (consult the net forums for each model to find this out). It is ok using a 100% mix, however I think most people go for about a maximum of 80/20 and in the winter, increase the diesel intake to about 50/50 as the oil gets a bit too thick in the cold weather. Ideal if you can find an old car with a years MOT & a bit of test on it to see how cheap motoring really can be.

[phil24_7]

Any particular brand of cooking oil!!! ;-)

[Razor]

Have a read here (http://www.smartveg.com/), here (http://www.regenatec.com/) and here. (http://www.itsnoteasybeinggreen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2929)

[hovis]

Any particular brand of cooking oil!!! ;-)

my mate use's smart price

[MiniMatt]

Merc engines have always been renowned for their ability to run on anything. The old citroen/peugot 1.9td lump was happy too. As has been stated, older engines seem happier than newer common rail stuff, although this may partly be down to people being happier to give it a go with a car worth £500 rather than their new toy.

Old gotchas were always degradation of fuel hoses (can't remember if it's rubber or silicone that neat veggie oil, SVO tends to attack), blocked fuel filters (easy, just check and change regularly), and extra strain on the fuel pump. Veggie oil is thicker than diesel so it's harder to suck through - my last citroen garage said this depended largely on the fuel pump used, apparently the Lucas ones were a bit poo, wheras Bosch pumps can "suck a tennis ball through a garden hose". Solutions are to either pre-heat the fuel lines (warmer oil is thinner), go to a twin tank setup (so the car starts and stops on dino juice and switches over to veggie oil only when it's warm) or just run reduced percentage mixes of diesel/oil. Bear in mind that veggie oil gets thicker as it gets colder, and a cold snap in winter could lead to a near solid jelly of pure SVO.

All that said, my last banger, a 1.9td xantia ran a 50/50 mix for tens of thousands of miles without any problem. Biggest problem was really finding enough oil - if you've got a 60 litre tank and need to fill up a couple of times a week that's 60 litres of oil to find and pour in every week (that's three jerry cans worth). When the car finally died it was the suspension and chassis rot that killed it, the engine was still going strong.

[krhall]

I need a little run around and am tempted to buy something to give it a go.

[rob13]

Get to Aldi/Lidl or if you have a card, Makro as you can buy big drums of the stuff. Safe to store too!

[kwak zzr]

did some research on net, looks like you should warm the oil with a kit thats fitted to your car and oil changes recommended to be done every 2k to stop engine wear?

[chazzyb]

I'm sure I'd read of mixing paraffin (10% from memory) in with veggie oil. You can always tell who's running on veggie oil - mobile chip frying...

[kwak zzr]

yea thats right, your cars smells like a chip van.:)

[Razor]

did some research on net, looks like you should warm the oil with a kit thats fitted to your car and oil changes recommended to be done every 2k to stop engine wear?

Yup, the kit allows you to start up on diesel and switches to diesel before you switch off the engine. Only once the engine and fuel is warm will it let you run on 100% veg power. I've seen a polo SDi with the kit, works well 20,000 miles or so it's done with no mech issues.

[JamesMio]

Time to bring this back to life I think!

I've been doing A LOT of research on this to try & ease the financial strain of my 500 mile a week commute.

A theory that I've read a few times is that it's possible to run a diesel engine (old ones, i.e. Mercs/Pugs etc) on Heating Oil/Kerosene quite happily.

The downside to this is that Kerosene lacks the lubricating quality of Diesel, and as such is not so good for your engine.

100% pure cooking oil, again will run happily, however as has been said it can congeal a bit in cold weather thus making the engine hard to start & lumpy to run until it warms up.

So... (you can maybe see where this idea is going...)

What about a 50/50 mix of Kerosene (currently costs less than £0.40 per litre) & free, (used & filtered) Cooking Oil c/o your local Chinese/Indian/Chippy. It COSTS them to have old Oil uplifted, so they will more than likely be happy to let you take it for free.

Has anyone tried a 50/50 mix of Kerosene & Cooking oil?

Obviously I'd be using this method entirely off-road/on my own private land etc, as I'm not sure of the legalities of using Kerosene, Duty/Tax reasons etc etc.

This potentially would cut my annual fuel bill down to about a 5th of it's current costs... Hence why I'm very very keen to learn more about it!

[gettin2dizzy]

500 miles a week?! rent somewhere nearer...

[JamesMio]

500 miles a week?! rent somewhere nearer...

Long story!!

The missus is a Physio, as you may or may not know there's a massive job's shortage for Physio's at the moment, hence she's had to take what job she can, hence why we're both living in a half-way house for the time being.

[gettin2dizzy]

I've looked in to it too, there's masses of info on specific forums. What car do you drive?

[Berlin]

scuse me being thick - but do you have to add it in any proportion to diesel or do you just slosh it in?

You can use 100% oil but mix it with 1 teaspoon of white spirit for ever 5 litres of Oil.

If you mix it 50/50 with diesel the markers in the diesel will be there if you get stopped for a Pink diesel check. If you run pure oil, they won't

l

[JamesMio]

Mondeo TDCI - although I'm not planning to use this, Common Rail engine + Cooking Oil = Fubard car from what I gather.

I've done some rough calculations, and if I buy an old car, something like a Diesel 405 for say £500ish, I'd still be the big end of £2500 better off a year (assuming of course I had no breakdowns etc).

[JamesMio]

You can use 100% oil but mix it with 1 teaspoon of white spirit for ever 5 litres of Oil.

If you mix it 50/50 with diesel the markers in the diesel will be there if you get stopped for a Pink diesel check. If you run pure oil, they won't

l

I'm not planning in running it on Red Diesel (although to be honest, in the 9+ years I've been driving a Diesel car I've never been stopped / had my tank dipped yet).

I've got no legitimate reason to have/buy Red Diesel, but I DO have an Oil heating system...

There's actually a theory that Kerosene/Heating Oil/Derv (Diesel) are all one & the same thing but I'm still looking into that.

[busasean]

i've been running my 2005 ford ranger pick up on bio disel at 90p per litre use 75% bio 25% normal diesel. no problems in the past 20,000 miles.

[JamesMio]

That'd still work out to be about £51.30 per full tank for me (60 Litre tank).

If the Kerosene / Cooking Oil combo works Ok, I'm looking at more like 20p per litre.
THAT is much more like it!