New synergie owner

[Firemoth]

Good afternoon. Just registered on here, thought I'd say hello. Bought my 1997 synergie TD in April, after years of saying I'd get one (and kept buying galaxys for practical reasons) but finally had enough of computers and blowing turbos, so I took the plunge and bought "Firefry"

We're a 2 Citroen family now (not quite sure how they happened but never mind ). My wife has a 2002 xsara picasso 2.0hdi

Both cars are run on veg, mine is 100% full time apart from when the the weather is really really cold, and the picasso runs 50/50 veg/derv in the summer, and ?/? veg/derv in the winter.

I'm an hgv driver from Preston, and moved to bacup 3 or 4 years ago or there abouts.

At home we're me, my wife, 3 kids (8, 10, 13) and a daft-as-a-brush staffy cross.

So there's a bit about me, looking forward to be involved in the forum

[white exec]

Hello, and welcome.
Have always liked the look of the Synergie, and its straightforward turbo XUD.

You likely have it already, but the Citroen Mechanics' Handbook for the car is worth downloading and printing:
viewtopic.php?p=590278#p590278
Just hit the red '2001' to download the pdf.

[Firemoth]

Yeah I've seen the through Citroen service. Oddly, it only lists the hdi under synergies, the xud is listed under the xantia sections but only auto. Which is strange

[white exec]

Yes, your're right. It's in the Xantia-XM-Evasion (2001) edition.

[mickthemaverick]

Welcome to the forum, there are some terrific people on here so have a good look round and join in wherever you fancy!!

[Skull]

Moths

I used to run my old AX 1.4D (Bosch pump) on new veg oil and it used to be worth it even buying new oil - that was 12 years ago!

I haven't tried it on my Xantia HDi though mainly because the price of new veg oil is only a bit cheaper than diesel nowadays

[Firemoth]

Works out 70p a litre. Is your hdi the 90bhp? If so, it's the same as my wife's xsara Picasso

[myglaren]

Don't use veg in a HDi.
Biodiesel is OK but veg is bad news.

[Firemoth]

Don't use veg in a HDi.
Biodiesel is OK but veg is bad news.

I'm part of a veg oil / biodiesel group on Facebook, and there's a lot of hdi owners on a mix of veg with no problems. I wouldn't encourage 100% by any means, but we've been running 50/50 without issue. Pre mixed because the in tank lift pump is supposedly weak so it removes the risk of it pulling a concentrated area of veg. We'll be reducing it to ? veg soon for the colder months (although my synergie will continue to chug pure veg down to freezing temps. Then I might do 20% derv)

[myglaren]

It does have a reputation of clogging piston rings and accumulating on the cylinder walls, as well as being unhealthy for the diesel pump.

[Firemoth]

It does have a reputation of clogging piston rings and accumulating on the cylinder walls, as well as being unhealthy for the diesel pump.

That's a general concern with direct injection engines as a whole. Regular oil changes is key

[mickthemaverick]

I ran my Mitsubishi Shogun and Delica on pre heated 100% used/filtered veggie oil for 4 years with no engine issues at all. However keep an eye on the fuel pipes and joints, as I developed a weeping leak in the heater output joint on the Delica. Because I was getting 26mpg for half the price, I used to think I was getting the equivalent of 52mpg on diesel, so I ignored the weep. Sadly, when MOT time came round, I discovered where the veggie had been leaking to, it had dissolved virtually all the front nearside rubber components in both the steering and suspension. Thus the economic thing to do was scrap it, break it and get my investment back in parts. Fortunately I had a workshop at the time and was able to strip the body bare and sell most of the usable parts for a total sum of £4260 which was £740 more than I had spent on buying and converting the vehicle. So I was lucky but the moral of the story is of course, if using veggie oil, make sure it only gets where it is supposed to and start the engine every day on diesel, switch to veggie after a couple of mins running and then switch back to diesel for a couple of minutes before switching off. That procedure ensures the pump seals etc, are not soaking in veggie overnight and so should not suffer. Running the veggie through a preheater was also vastly superior in engine smoothness and power output!!
This is the part I took to the scrapyard for the last £150!!:

[Firemoth]

That's unlucky. I've never had an issue. I use fresh veg which is less acidic that waste veg, the only part that's likely to become victim is the seal in the injection pump. If it were to weep, there's an uprated one that can be fitted, but touch wood, in the last 8 or so years I've been running veg, I've never had an issue in anything (not veg related anyway haha)

[van ordinaire]

I read an article on making bio-diesel &, as I recall, it's waste vegetable oil that's been filtered - although THAT process is a little more sophisticated than just pouring it through a coffee filter.

[Skull]

Works out 70p a litre. Is your hdi the 90bhp? If so, it's the same as my wife's xsara Picasso

No mine is a 110 HDi great engine but not ideal as a town car

70p @ Ltr is tempting but I should add that my mileage NOW is only around 5K a year and mostly short town runs so I feel it wouldn't be worth it in those conditions.