VEG OIL- DIESEL MIX

[paul whalley]

o right well thats put that right out the window lol. what's the difference between them and could i put a bosh on on my engine

[Xaccers]

lucas uses diesel to lubricate it, veg is too thick to do the job.
Bosch pumps are just built like tanks.

You may be able to do a bosch conversion.

[Penguin]

I have been running WVO and SVO in mine at various Diesel mixes for 3 years now. Unfortunately as the weather is still so cold the WVO I get free tends to gel and is difficult to do an initial filter on. The price of SVO is ridiculous at the moment and as you get 10-15% less mileage out of it (due to its lower calorific value) than diesel I have gone back to 100% diesel. Come the slightly warmer weather I will be back on the WVO when processing (cleaning/drying) is far more straightforward. I have managed to hoard enough over the winter that I can hopefully run all summer on free fuel!

I try and stock up on filtered WVO before the weather gets too cold. I store it in 25L containers, which I just sit in the sink with some warm water for 30 minutes. I then blend that 50/50 with biodiesel I get from a friend. This has worked fine in cold weather and the average price per litre is still only 35p

Very sensible. Unfortunately I don't actually do the filtering. I provide the WVO and a work colleague does all of the filtering and we share the output. He is much busier than would be ideal, and not terribly organised, so I am at his mercy somewhat. Going forward I think I will stock up on SVO during the summer (whilst running WVO), as it seems to be much cheaper at that time of year. Except this year....probably

[C.J.]

will my 1.9 berlingo with a lucas pump on it run on veg oil?

Seems the old C15 1.9 idea has sailed out of the window now for the very same reason.
Lucas!

I'm now sniffing around a 1995 ZX est TD, and the owner kindly went out to check that it has got a Bosch pump.
I presume this is the same XUD lump as that in the Xantia?

Tell you, these diesel pump prices are becoming incredibly scary now.
Local garage to me whacked his diesel up from an already staggering 1.39 to a mind blowing £1.44 overnight, and that was his 3rd increase in 7 days.

[berlingooo]

hello all,

new to this forum, joined up as i am looking into running my berlingo van on a mix of oil and diesel.
i have been regularly putting in 30 or so litres of diesel a fortnight and then topping up with 10-20 litres of new clean veg oil.
i do quite alot of mileage and was wondering if i can up the clean oil during the summer and lower it in the winter.
the van has a lucas pump, but as im running a fairly weak mix will it affect it in a bad way? the van is 1998, reularly serviced, currently 190k on the clock and it starts, runs and drives brilliantly! i regularly get 47mpg as it is mostly running light, jsut fishing gear and a few tools in it.

so... should i stay as i am, or weaken the veg oil because of the lucas pump.

thanks for reading!!
chris

[KP]

I ran a few Xantias in my time covering a fair amount of miles, at least 80k i reckon over 2-3 of them on SVO mostly but even chucked in old LHM, and engine oil after a service. Good for the environment in that it was getting used without wasting other resources.

The TD can do 50+mpg but the HDi engines can do a heck of a lot more, 60+mpg isn't uncommon and mines getting at least 50 on mostly short journeys and is only a HDi90 as well

[Chlorate]

It's not the engine that's worried about what you stick in it, it's the injection pump.

I would be slightly concerned until someone better informed than myself shows up, but I had always read that Lucas pumps are not keen on pumping anything but diesel.

Bosch pumps will happily inject any old muck all day long (so long as you strain the chips out of it), Lucas rotary pumps are a bit fussier about it.

My advice would be to quit whilst the going is good and consider buying a secondhand Bosch injection pump and injector pipes.

[Xaccers]

The problem we've found with rotary Lucas pumps is that they use the fuel as lubricant, and cold veg is too thick to get between the parts so they over heat and cause damage, or if when it's thinner when hot it then cools down it goes hard gumming up the innards (the Bosch can cope with this).
Twin tanking can prolong the life, where you heat the engine up on diesel, the switch to veg, then switch back to diesel before you stop to flush out the pump.

[lankytim]

I was warned about something called "ring gumming" where certain elements of the veg oil mix fails to combust and gets stuck to the rings in the piston, eventually the engine loses compression and needs to be rebuilt. Just something to think about on newer engines!

[myglaren]

I was warned about something called "ring gumming" where certain elements of the veg oil mix fails to combust and gets stuck to the rings in the piston, eventually the engine loses compression and needs to be rebuilt. Just something to think about on newer engines!

I think that this is more with DI diesels where the fuel is sprayed directly into the cylinder. If combustion is not perfect then deposits can form on the cylinder walls.

[Stewart(oily)]

I used various SVO/WVO combinations in my previous Xantias and BXs including many miles on SVO/Derv mix in a Lucas pumped BX with no observable ill effects (spare pump under the bench) I was always led to believe the problem was with the type of rubber used in the seals.

[oscar]

The only thing i can see is that the "new green?" diesel has very little oil in it now as very low sulphur mind you think the only green thing is us mugs for buying it.
the reason i say that is because theres been some wear problems from it on diesel engines speaking to someone in the know(good diesel pump place)what i did was a drop of 2stroke oil in tank or can use engine oil etc.
If you get veg oil on things hard surface cleaner works well.
The veg oil to get is rapeseed as the highest calorific content more phut for your pound.

the seals your talking about are nitrile ones if name correct as most had rubber seals which is why Mittizes have problems with veg the shoguns dissolve on pipe work japanese recycled condoms?
German cars are from what i looked into are meant to run on veg oil well something in design work? unlike what we get lumbered with.

but you can get inline heaters that help to keep thin as many don't have like zanty's the filter heated on thermostat housing ie fords get air chilled as filters are stuck outta way and gen in cold air or cooled air from driving as the thing you need is to keep it warm so stays thin.
When you buy WVO from places that do on pump they blend with methanol to lower flash temp

[Xaccers]

With old pumps comes old hardened seals that have hair line cracks in them.
The hot oil gets into the cracks, then when it cools it gels/polymerises and expands, this opens the cracks further and eventually the pump starts to leak. It could take years, it could take months, it's not the veg causing cracks, it's the veg making them larger.
The seals in a Bosch pump are reportedly not that difficult to replace or costly, once you get the armour off (if it's a later pump).