Veg Oil

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RichardW
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Veg Oil

Post by RichardW »

Folks,
What experience with running on cooking oil here? Given that dino-diesel has gone up to 99.9 here in Grangemouth today (right outside the refinery, and 5p a litre more than most other places I pass on the 30 miles to get here [:o)]) I am considering (legally!) starting to use some veg oil in the cars (Xantia and ZX TD, both with Bosch pumps [:D]). I reckon on saving £600 + per year (enough for a BX [:p]) by running an average 50:50 mix over the year - say 20:80 winter and 80:20 in the summer. Spending £500 on a two tank conversion seems a bit OTT, but I guess it would pay for itself in a few months. Lose a bit of boot space, for the second tank, but probably looking at saving £1000 a year on the Xantia for a two tank. Could buy a Xantia HDi 110 I suppose and save £500 a year anyway by going from 40 to 50 MPG. Or drive slower [}:)]
martyhopkirk

Post by martyhopkirk »

Richard - have a search for Veg oil & Bio Diesel using the search tab above, its been discussed like mad before.
Lidl do a very good veg oil for 43p/L[;)]
Generally the N/A and TD engines run ok on veg oil / diesel mix ( I even ran the AX on near 100% once, though it was sluggish and MPG suffered). Generally a 40/60 mix is consdered more than OK, and some even go higher than that. make sure your pumps are Bosch and not Lucas (as the seals in lucas pumps dont like the acididty of the Veg Oil).
Presently though Cit say that HDi engines can only use a 5% mix of bio to dino diesel. Personally its too expensive a car for me to take the risk on.
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Post by mak224751 »

Richard - I know someone who is currently running his land rover defender on sunflower oil at a 50/50 mix with no mofification. So far he has not had any problems. I don't know if you have to use sunflower oil or whether any type of vegetable oil could be used
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Post by bxbodger »

I'm running about 75-80% Lidl's veggie oil at the moment with no problems, but its warm weather, if its cold I go to about 30%- starting can be a bit chuggy but its fine once warm. If its really cold, i.e. frost/snow I just run on abot 5-10% at most, or straight diesel.
Any veg oil will do- sunflower tastes a bit better but your engine doesn't know that!!!
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Post by mak224751 »

Thanks I am thinking of running the 1990 BX 17TZD Turbo estate on veggie oil (legally) does anyone know what type of fuel pump is in this type of car as I don't want to damage the car and end up with expensive repair bills
Regarding the sunflower oil Morrisons charge £1.80 for 3 litres but the guy with the land rover has said that it is a bit thick and wouldn't go higher than a 50/50 mix so it is worth looking at the viscosity
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Post by bxbodger »

Viscosity varies with temperature, which is why some people fit a fuel heater for the veggie oil.
You will have either a Lucas (rotodiesel) pump or a Bosch one.
If you have the Haynes Citroen Diesel engine manual there's pictures of both types of pump.
Basically, if you can't find a name on the pump or injectors, a rotodiesel pump has two screw in covers on the pump body, one above the over, as you look from the front of the car, and the Bosch has only got a small one at the bottom of the body, looking from the front again, held in by two screws or allen bolts.
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Post by howiedean »

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by mak224751</i>

Thanks I am thinking of running the 1990 BX 17TZD Turbo estate on veggie oil (legally) does anyone know what type of fuel pump is in this type of car as I don't want to damage the car and end up with expensive repair bills
Regarding the sunflower oil Morrisons charge £1.80 for 3 litres but the guy with the land rover has said that it is a bit thick and wouldn't go higher than a 50/50 mix so it is worth looking at the viscosity
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Where in the country are you from as I've used biofuel for the last year without problems. As it turns to winter I'll have to start mixing it with diesel. [:(!] I'm paying between 70 - 75 pence per litre and thats Tax payed. I'm going to sort out the cold running problems with some sort of diesel transfer switch and then I'll be on to 100% all year. [:D]
Have a look at http://www.bio-power.co.uk/ for more info and find out if there is someone near you.
I've used vegtable oil before and it does not run the same as biofuel. If I can help anyone with info about using this fuel just ask.
Regards
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Post by sooty »

The only problem I can see, is the smell (burnt chip pan oil). I've asked the question about putting something in the oil to help with smell, but nobody has tried this from the zero replies in a previous topic.
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Post by howiedean »

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by sooty</i>

The only problem I can see, is the smell (burnt chip pan oil). I've asked the question about putting something in the oil to help with smell, but nobody has tried this from the zero replies in a previous topic.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
You get used to it after a while, I just think of the money I'm saving. With a 50/50 mix it's not too bad.
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Post by stewart_c »

Costco in Glasgow sell veg oil for £9 for 20lts,there is also a costco in Edinburgh I believe, and you can use the empty drums for hoarding the real diesel in the event of a shortage being that the news last night said that 8 refineries in the usa are now not working
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Post by beezer »

Costco in Aberdeen have it at £8.49 for 20 ltrs (no VAT!). Looks less suspicious than buying lots of plastic bottles but you need a card to buy at Costco (which costs). Bit of a pig to pour in your tank without a decent funnel. Good tip about using the empty can for stinky diesel.
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Post by stewart_c »

Just watch you dont make an expensive mistake & put the 99p in instead of the 45p stuff,it would ruin my day.Diesel here in the west coast was 95.9 on thursday morning ,97.9 on saturday morning & 99.9 on monday evening & we are only a one filling station town so turnover cannot be that high,I think they must watch the prices on the news reports then make an adjustment to the pump prices
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Post by PicassoPigeon »

Lidl veg oil is 43ppl it comes in a box of 15 bottles then i just add 2.25L of petrol. Petrol helps with the starting better than a diesel mix. That works out at 49ppl without tax and 77ppl with tax sit saving around 19ppl.
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Post by davek-uk »

I run on veg oil and I generally use Tesco's own 3-litre bottles. They are easy to buy (@44p/l) and easy to pour. In the warm weather I can run 100% veg but the car hunts a bit on startup. In the cold I usually run 50% veg, lowering it towards the freeze of winter.
Ensure you have a bosch pump and don't get caught![:D]
To run legally you have to register with HM R&C (http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPort ... e=document). Telephone them and get a form EX103 sent out. Complete the form and answer the extra questions they'll ask. A couple of weeks later you'll get your acceptance letter. The revenue is 27.1p/l; you pay this monthly on the veg oil you declare.
It doesn't work out as cheaply as illegal use but at least you are covered if you get stopped and dipped. And duty paid veg oil at around 71p/l is a lot cheaper than diesel and a damn site more stable in price!
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Post by RichardW »

It seems that customs have got wise to the new oil, and that is now considered a 'Fuel substitute', and attracts the full 47p / l duty - only waste oil or RME bio diesel gets the 20p / l concession. Not much incentive at 93p /l on new oil....
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