Veg Oil MPG.

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Post by steelcityuk »

I can't say what caster does in real diesel engine but in model engines it gums things up pretty quickly if you don't take care (after run oil etc.). Also these machines only run basic carbs not precision injection systems. Is caster acidic when burnt? Whether such a small amount would affect a big engine I don't know.

How does caster break down veg oil? Sounds interesting if true.

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Post by lolingram »

Industrial castor oil

Vegetable oils, due to their good lubricity and biodegradability are attractive alternatives to petroleum-derived lubricants, but oxidative stability and low temperature performance limit their widespread use. Castor oil has better low temperature viscosity properties and high temperature lubrication than most vegetable oils, making it useful as a lubricant in jet, diesel, and race-car engines. However, castor oil tends to form gums in a short time, and its use is therefore restricted to engines that are regularly rebuilt, such as motorcycle race engines.

The lubricants company Castrol took its name from castor oil.

PostPosted: Fri Apr 2008 Post subject:
I can't say what caster does in real diesel engine but in model engines it gums things up pretty quickly if you don't take care (after run oil etc.). Also these machines only run basic carbs not precision injection systems. Is caster acidic when burnt? Whether such a small amount would affect a big engine I don't know.

How does caster break down veg oil? Sounds interesting if true.
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Post by falling-out-with-my-car »

I thought it was linseed oil that gummed up your engine, as a teenager I picked up a container of linseed and put in my moped and that well and truly gummed it up , I had to do a stripdown and clean tha varnish off of my rings Ive not any problems with castor oil though and Ive done thousands of miles on a teaspoon a tankful.

I have even heard they use it in germany when burnning veggie oil in their cars.

Perhaps mine doesnt gumm up because I clean the injectors by filling the filter housing with cleaner twice a year?
It may only affect two stroke engines who knows? then again two stroke model aircraft engines burn a percentage of caster oil as a lubricant I cannot say that any of my OS two stroke glow engines ever got really gummed up and the other bloger metions we use after run oil to lub the engine when not in use to save gumming up from happenning. I think the amount of castor used is offset by the fair amount of veggie oil used both have lubricating properties and so does diesel to some extent perhaps the balence is just right?

Kind regards Nigel
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Post by XantiaMan »

LOL at nearly 80mpg and LOL at a teaspoon of castor oil. Nuff said.
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Post by lolingram »

Indeed!
LOL at nearly 80mpg and LOL at a teaspoon of castor oil. Nuff said.
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Re: Veg Oil MPG.

Post by Gammy leg »

falling-out-with-my-car wrote:sorry youve lost m,e ther who mentioned 25MPG?.

falling-out-with-my-car wrote: I have noticed that deisel is not going the distance anymore a full tank of diesel goes about 300 miles or so which is rubbish, .
falling-out-with-my-car wrote: i assumed the tank was 55litres 12.2 gallons .
You did! Do the math


I'm sorry Nigel, but your 80+ mpg figure is just not possible. Are you sure that your speedo is not recording km rather than miles.

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Post by falling-out-with-my-car »

Gammy,

as I said it has been very difficult to duplicate these conditions again accurately, the figures derrived from a 30 degree temperature day to scotland and back again ie a heatwave, that is why I said that I reckon atmospheric conditions affect the economny of the engine.
It has been inpossiable to duplicate these condition owing to the british unreliable weather and driving such a long distance in one go.
This is definately not acheieveable urban driving although I have to admit that veggie/diesel mix does give me better milage than plain diesel alone.
never mind it gives you lot something to chew over doesn't it.

Regards Nigel.
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Post by Penguin »

Just thought I'd jump in here although it is slightly OT from the original post, so apologies for that. I have just bought a Xantia 1.9td and took it on a decent run over the weekend. I stuck it at an indicated 80-85 mph (sat nav said 77-82) and over about 230 miles I averaged 40mpg. Is this about right would you say?

My intention is to run a Veg mix once I've established how well (or otherwise) it works on Diesel.

Thanks

Edit: btw, my user handbook says 65 litre tank
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Post by Gammy leg »

Penguin wrote: I stuck it at an indicated 80-85 mph (sat nav said 77-82) and over about 230 miles I averaged 40mpg. Is this about right would you say?
Yep. Add another 5 mpg if you slow down a little.

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Post by falling-out-with-my-car »

Penguin,

Firstly remove the cat and exchange it for a front pipe of an older car (if it has one) burnning veggie mix will destroy it eventually.

Then check if you have a Bosch fuel pump, then go on to ebay and buy yourself a stanadyne fuel heater, you will see that their is a plastic connector connecting the fuel line together in the fuel line that leads to the fuel filter, insert the stanadyne heater in where the plastic conector has been removed from.
Buy yourself a 12vdc remote from Maplins because you wont want to go to your car and flick a switch in the coldest of weather. esspecially in the winter in your underwear, put an led inline so you know its on and off. Mines mounted in the plastic trim strip below the headlamp.

Add a couple of litres of pure clean veggie and run the car for a week if it seems ok add a gallon next week 4.5 litres, if that seems ok add a little more until you get up to your preferred ratio 50/50 or less or more.

60/40 etc. the higher the ratio of oil the more problematic your starting will be you nmay need to turn the key twice and heat the heaters twice.

on days when the outside temp is below 10 degrees C switch on yur stanadyne heater 15 Mins before you go out, It has a thermostat on the heater so it will switch off automatically once it reaches 10 degrees C but once you have started the engine the best bet is to switch it off it will drain your battery esspecially if left on all night long.

The Stanadyne heater heats the fuel in the fuel line sufficently to reduce starting problems with a mix of 60% veggie and 40% diesel.
Oh! and you will smell chips.
It is illegal to use veggie oil in your vechicle without registering with the tax office and paying tax on any road fuel you burn but the tax office trust us to declare the amount used so you can tell them you use 15 Litres a week to do your bit for the planet, hopefully you'll understand.

the tax makes veggie almost as expensive as diesel.

Opaying 1500 pounds for a conversion is not necessary and doesn't pay for itself for at least ten years.

Regards nigel.
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Post by Penguin »

Thanks Gammy, I realised I was running faster than optimum but reading some of the posts on here I was thinking that 40 was a bit crap!

FOWMC, Thanks for the info. I have been doing a fair amount of research into this for some time and all advice is added to the (sometimes conflicting) pool of knowledge. I can certainly confirm the prescence of a Bosch pump, my one pre-requisite for buying this particular Xantia. I have read with interest and disappointment at the inexorable rise in the price of virgin Veggie but Myself and a friend have managed to source some reasonable quality used veggie from the local pub/restaurant and are also on the lookout for more. My friend is in the process of setting up a centrifuge based cleaning system for said WVO and hopefully this will prove successful.

Cheers all and I look forward to more help/banter from this newly discovered forum.
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Post by falling-out-with-my-car »

Penguin,

buy yourself a diesel hand pump that fits into an oil barrel and go to any Kentucky fried chicken outlet , they have to pay around £10 a barrel for their veggie oil disposal costs they will gladly give it to you for free.

Steve Wright on the radio does this in London he has rubber lined several collection vechicles for the collection and production of bio diesel. he announced a couple of weeks ago that one of his vechicles sprung a leak.

Personally cos I have the space I am eyeing a bio diesel producing kit at the moment but the ethonol adative is quite expensive.

Regards Nigel.
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Post by MikeT »

falling-out-with-my-car wrote:It is illegal to use veggie oil in your vechicle without registering with the tax office and paying tax on any road fuel you burn but the tax office trust us to declare the amount used so you can tell them you use 15 Litres a week to do your bit for the planet, hopefully you'll understand.
There is no duty to pay if it's for personal use and does not exceed 2,500 litres per year. Apparently the HMC&E were not able to administer the vast amount of paperwork they were facing so they got the laws changed as above.
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Post by aerodynamica »

I noted that the price of veg oil has gone up severely here in the last month. I found the Sainsbury stuff was best value if you got the 3l bottles (something like 72ppl) it's now about 95ppl.

Last week in Lidl, it was 79ppl but yours truly waited until last night to go back only to find that their cheapest is 95pence per liter.

I feel it's just increasingly less worth it. Maybe best to approach an establishment of deep fried food now....

Does anyone have experience of the filtration process? how it should be set up and how long it takes?
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Post by falling-out-with-my-car »

The genaral consensious online is that is takes roughly a week to make a batch and that is dependant on the size of your equipment-excuse the pun...lol
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