Xantia XUD TD on Veg Oil

[ecohouse1]

Thanks for the advice.

Sorry for not looking at the previous postings before asking. You are right there is a fantastic amount of info here.

To be honest until I get to know the car a bit better I will run on normal diesel. It was just to see what options might be available without risking a lot of expense reparing components ruined by the veg oil. I am gettingused to big cits again after a gap of a few years. I ran a BX TGD and TZD Estate for years but they died with major uneconomic repairs in the end.

I like the Xantia so far. I think I will thoroughly waxoyl all the pipes and love all underside linkages, along with a set of 4 winter tyres.

Thanks fr all advice given lads. Much appreciated.

[Spaces]

I do believe there is a moral incentive not to use food for motor vehicle fuel. But I place the blame on government's over-taxation of mineral fuels rather than the individual user.

Only a few lucky car owners are able to run their cars directly on veg oil (mainly us Citroën and Pug owners!) and that's a rapidly decreasing number as only the old, indirect injection engines without all the computerised injection crap can handle it. So the overall impact of these people putting a bit of veg in their tanks is negligible compared to the leather sofas people sit on made from Brazilian leather made from cows raised on cleared rain forest...or ethically speaking, the mobile phones we all use with components made from materials minined in dubious circumstances in Africa...or all those consumer electronic goods made in very crappy factories in China by people being paid b*gger all. So please, let's not get preachy about a tiny bit of veg!

I agree about the small quantities MPV, just voicing my personal take on the matter, not intending to preach. As I mentioned, I've found used oil goes better anyway - and it's available commercially for around 40ppl.

How smaller countries like us behave has a small effect on the overall picture when China's and India's populations are Westernising at such a rate. (Although they're so large they're taking the unsustainability of 'our' way of life rather more seriously than we are, since they know it can't go on as is now for too long, without massive trouble.) So long as people don't get on their high horse in the 'green-ness' of running on unused cooking oil...

[Spaces]

Mine was a piglet to start today..

really really bad..

I have 25l WVO and a couple of pints of unleaded in there this week...

John

I find starting without a drop of diesel is never as good - it's nasty stuff but it's full of clever additives. Mpg drops off without a drop of dino, too. Bosch Duraterm glowplugs are the best, I find.

[den169]

I do believe there is a moral incentive not to use food for motor vehicle fuel. But I place the blame on government's over-taxation of mineral fuels rather than the individual user.

Only a few lucky car owners are able to run their cars directly on veg oil (mainly us Citroën and Pug owners!) and that's a rapidly decreasing number as only the old, indirect injection engines without all the computerised injection crap can handle it. So the overall impact of these people putting a bit of veg in their tanks is negligible compared to the leather sofas people sit on made from Brazilian leather made from cows raised on cleared rain forest...or ethically speaking, the mobile phones we all use with components made from materials minined in dubious circumstances in Africa...or all those consumer electronic goods made in very crappy factories in China by people being paid b*gger all. So please, let's not get preachy about a tiny bit of veg!

Totally agree.And if we didn't get ripped off every time we fill up who would want to use veg oil.

[jgra1]

Spaces wrote : 'I find starting without a drop of diesel is never as good - it's nasty stuff but it's full of clever additives. Mpg drops off without a drop of dino, too. Bosch Duraterm glowplugs are the best, I find.'

Thanks Spaces..
I may resort to a few litres of Derv as it's getting cooler..

I pulled out the easy 2 plugs, and one was duff.. but worse still my spare plugs were all duff too

i quick trip to the wreckers got me 10 TD plugs for a tenner.. most of them looked very new...

replaced the duff one and the car was just as bad this morning.. grr.. I think my Gp's always seem to break in pairs !
will go back under the bonnet later and remove all of them...
John

[jgra1]

chaps, sorry bit OT (but maybe relevant to WVO/SVO)

Is there a simple way of showing the glow plugs health, without the faff of taking them all out and and checking them? I get through so many these days...

I know I can remove the feed wire and resistance check them, but even that is annoying..

Maybe if i re-wire them on single spurs, to a central accessable point? , so at least I can disconnect the wires and test them easier?

John

[steelcityuk]

Hi John,

Be careful of labelling a plug good just because it has a suitable resistance or heats up. I'm sure I've read that it's also how it heats up that's important.

Steve.

[Xantidote]

Hi John,

Every so often, I do in-situ electrical checks of GPs resistance and current draw, if I suspect engine maybe not starting so well - usually find nothing wrong. Maybe one cylinder a little lower on compression, or winter's approaching. As you say, in-situ testing is bit PITA, but at least is possible without Lexia or other fancy technology

Not sure it's worth doing individual connections to GPs. The feed busbar across the 4 GPs may have, possibly, heat reistant insulation. Next time you remove it, worth checking there's no corrosion around where the individual eye terminals are crimped on to the busbar cable, as each crimp carries up to 18-20 amps according to Haynes

Like you, I use any old GPs I have, if just 1 has failed, but because it's already part way through it's working life, there's no guarantee how long it will last. Could be some of your GPs are an inferior make, not that I could name any, but several posts on FCF in the past have recommended Beru.

It should be the end of the GP that glows red when energised, but you can only test that once the GP's been removed. This may be what Steelcity Steve had in mind in his post.

PS. Sorry Ecohouse1, for hijacking your thread!

[Xaccers]

For the GP that's in the cam belt end behind the pump, come at it from around the back of the pump to the right of the pump rather than attacking it directly.
I found that much easier. An 8mm floppy headed ratchet spanner would help too.

[jgra1]

thanks all

Xac, it's ok, a dab hand now at them!

I had a bit of time, so took 1 and 2 out (from cambelt end) and 2 was gone.. so basically the middle two must both have failed at about the same time.,.. (2 failed like this 4 months ago)

no1 tested ok in the end but wanted to be sure.. I have a good way of getting at it now.. you can just get a 12mm ratchet behind the 2 injector pipes, and get a good go at it, until it's finger tight.. As usual i removed the small bore coolant pipe, and pulled the lift sensor plug apart and moved the three way coolant joiner..
so.. almost took nothing off the engine to get no 1 out! the hardest part of the job now, i think, is getting the 8mm back on no 2!! hateful!!

J

[MPV]

I've found that my XUD runs very nicely on 100% veg, even better than it does on diesel, so long as it's rape or sunflower. It doesn't like soya oil very much. For lowering the viscosity it's best to use petrol not diesel as you only need half as much and is cheaper than diesel. If you're using waste veg oil, mix the petrol outside of your fuel tank and leave it to stand for a while, as it can cause a lot of the water and crap in the oil to separate out. If you're having problems with 100% veg, check that you haven't got any air leaks in the fuel system - using veg will really show this up. Also consider using larger diameter fuel hose. Then also try the mod to bypass the thermostat in the fuel fiter housing, so the fuel is always heated with the inbuilt fuel heating heat exchanger. Cleaning this stat may not be a bad idea even if you don't do the mod as it frequently gets gunged up and stops the fuel from being heated.

[MPV]

I do believe there is a moral incentive not to use food for motor vehicle fuel. But I place the blame on government's over-taxation of mineral fuels rather than the individual user.

Only a few lucky car owners are able to run their cars directly on veg oil (mainly us Citroën and Pug owners!) and that's a rapidly decreasing number as only the old, indirect injection engines without all the computerised injection crap can handle it. So the overall impact of these people putting a bit of veg in their tanks is negligible compared to the leather sofas people sit on made from Brazilian leather made from cows raised on cleared rain forest...or ethically speaking, the mobile phones we all use with components made from materials minined in dubious circumstances in Africa...or all those consumer electronic goods made in very crappy factories in China by people being paid b*gger all. So please, let's not get preachy about a tiny bit of veg!

I agree about the small quantities MPV, just voicing my personal take on the matter, not intending to preach. As I mentioned, I've found used oil goes better anyway - and it's available commercially for around 40ppl.

How smaller countries like us behave has a small effect on the overall picture when China's and India's populations are Westernising at such a rate. (Although they're so large they're taking the unsustainability of 'our' way of life rather more seriously than we are, since they know it can't go on as is now for too long, without massive trouble.) So long as people don't get on their high horse in the 'green-ness' of running on unused cooking oil...

I totally agree with you about "green" biofuels...I think it's a really bad idea to use things like corn or wheat for making bioethanol, or grubbing up the rainforest to plant GM soya or palm oil plants, just so the UK can meet its EU requirement for 7% biodiesel. However, if a small band of people who don't a have a lot of time on their hands for dealing with WVO, but who know what they are doing can use a little bit of veg oil off the shelf to save a few pounds in these difficult times, I'm all for that. It's not about being "green" it's more to do with keeping your head above water when we have a crap public transport system and the government sees the motorist as a cash cow to be milked as and when they see fit...rant over!!!