I have read a number of topics on the subject of Biodiesel on the site but was wondering if anyone has any experience of using it in their cars?
I have been using a WVO/ regular Diesel mix in my Bora for a good while now on a 40/60 % mix and have found it to be quite good.
I get it from a place in Hebburn that specialises in the stuff and who charges £20 for 25 litres, and have found that once you get your head around the pros and cons of using it, it is qute safe to use.
A random topic I know, but I am genuinely interested to hear if anyone is using it in their cars also?
Used to have a old Citreon Xantia you could pour straight cooking oil into it and it would run fine, infact it ran better on veggie oil than dino diesel.
Started off mixing 20% veggie, then kept on increasing it, could run it on 100% veggie oil in the summer but in the winter get problems with cold starts.
Its ok on the old cars but supposedly newer tdi’s, hdi’s etc… don’t like it.
Not sure if this is the same stuff, but here in west Dorset a bunch hippies (well, they have long hair and beards 
) bought a machine for a couple of grand that converts cooking oil to fuel. They rented an industrial unit to convert the oil and to sell it on, trouble is they kept it at the same price as the normal pump price. Believe it or not they are still in business with all their spin about saving the planet, I’m not convinced it’s any good though I’ve heard nothing to the contary.
Tiger
Theres something ypou have to remove from the initial product to make it better for the vehivle it runs on i cant remember what its called but if the oil has been used for cooking it is better to use.
This is by far the safewr method running your car on water
hydrogentap.com/hydrogentapllc_001.htm
I have thought about this thing so many times maybe one day I will do it.
It costs approximately 20p to make a litre of the stuff from collected veggy oil, and I reckon those hippies will be coining it in as the duty paid on it is peanuts compared to regular diesel.
I am also thinking of buying my own machine to produce my own stuff, but the £1000 outlay for a machine is a bit beyond my means at the moment.
The guy in Hebburn sells out by 11am, there is a q of taxis there waiting every morning, I just leave a 25litre barrel one day and collect it a few days later by arrangement.
There must be some serious quids to me made doing the stuff, but you need a waste carriers licence and other ‘stuff’ to make a business out of it.
if you are gonna run your car on waste oil you dont have to pay tax on the first 2500 ltrs
The stuff you really ought to remove is Glycerine which appears in far greater quantities in SVO than WVO although it would pay to ask your supplier if it has been removed in the cleanup process.
Glycerine is acidic and will rot your seals and injection system over time.
The home DIY kits I mentioned earlier when considering doing it for myself use Sodium Hydroxide to separate the Glycerine from the raw product.
bubsy06:
if you are gonna run your car on waste oil you dont have to pay tax on the first 2500 ltrs
And the beauty of that, is getting the Customs and Excise to PROVE you havent used over that amount if they stop you and dip your tank!!
The mrs has just read this and wants to know if she can use it in her van? I suspect not? It’s a 2006 Iveco 35S14 HPI (High Pressure Injection), any idea?
Tiger.
Try looking through this site, it was shown on the german television
when WETTEN DAS first started
GREEN
CLICK on the union jack
When Top gear did that race in the BMW, didn’t it blow loads of the seals after several hours of thrashing?
If even the BBC with its big coffers can’t keep on top of whats good and whats not, I’d just be too worried I’d get it wrong, to try it.
Alex
search the web,plenty of info on whats good to run it n whats not.ive a passat,vw say its engines are good for veg oil.i used to buy 4 3lr veg oil tubs from asda every time i filled up my old mondeo,but the price of oil has risen so much,theres not a great deal of difference from supermarkets?
I had an l reg fiesta1.8d and a k reg volvo 940 2.4td. I ran both of them on 50/50 veg oil from tesco’s, which at the time was about 50ppl. I did find though that i had to change the fuel filters a lot more often. Winter could be a ■■■■■ with the volvo on really icy mornings, because of waxing i suppose.
you will find that many people fit a heater system
for the feed pipes from the tank as this allows
better flow of the veggie oil in winter conditions,
brit pete:
you will find that many people fit a heater system
for the feed pipes from the tank as this allows
better flow of the veggie oil in winter conditions,
I did stumble across a company website from germany that sold a complete conversion kit for most car’s and truck’s for about £600.00. With the price of veg oil now though it doesn’t seem viable for an old run-about.
you can fix up a heater system for much much less than that
and there are lots of sites that give tips and helpful advice
you just need to search, but 600 quid thats a bloody down right
liberty,
If i remember rightly, it was for use with 100% veg oil. Some veh’s needed a second tank as well (for derv) to get the engine upto temp then switch over to V/O. I didn’t bother ! I think there is a link from a website called It’s not easy being green (a tv show on the bbc).
Fastrantiger:
The mrs has just read this and wants to know if she can use it in her van? I suspect not? It’s a 2006 Iveco 35S14 HPI (High Pressure Injection), any idea?
I wouldn’t. Anything that’s high pressure or ‘common rail’ should be run on straight diesel. The filters won’t take it.
Stan
