# vegetable oil with diesel



## 108872 (Dec 26, 2007)

A friend of mine is mixing vegetable oil with diesel,approx 40/60 and running his vw passat with it.He has been doing so now for about 5 months and reports no ill affects on his car.Has anyone on this forum tried it?If so how does your vehicle run? Dave


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## 106916 (Sep 8, 2007)

pricey007 said:


> A friend of mine is mixing vegetable oil with diesel,approx 40/60 and running his vw passat with it.He has been doing so now for about 5 months and reports no ill affects on his car.Has anyone on this forum tried it?If so how does your vehicle run? Dave


Pretty sure you can't use it with modern diesel engines - how old is your mates Passat?
My BMW says "No Biodiesel" on the fuel filler and the engine warranty is void if it is used. Modern DI engines use the diesel as a lubricant in the injector system.
There have been may threads here on this subject - try a search
Vidura


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## GerryD (Sep 20, 2007)

Fiats only allow 5% biodiesel in the X250, which is standard pump diesel on the Continent.


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## DTPCHEMICALS (Jul 24, 2006)

fuel companies spend a fortune in giving us a quality product that should not be messed with.
Plenty of forums out there with sad tales of damage done to engines.

Would your mate cook his chips in diesel if it were cheaper than vegetable/cooking oil.

Dave p


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## Pollydoodle (Aug 18, 2005)

My friend (also a motorcaravanner) works in the local supermarket and says a lot of people are buying cooking oil for their vehicles. Having said that, neither of us wish to risk it in ours!!


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## duxdeluxe (Sep 2, 2007)

DTPCHEMICALS said:


> fuel companies spend a fortune in giving us a quality product that should not be messed with.
> Plenty of forums out there with sad tales of damage done to engines.
> 
> Would your mate cook his chips in diesel if it were cheaper than vegetable/cooking oil.
> ...


I guess that you're in the business........ you're spot on anyway. Modern common rail engines are highly developed to run on specific grades (EN 590 in Europe) - the engine manufacturers spend a fortune on testing of engines and testing of the fuel that runs in those engines, so why risk messing up your engine for the sake of what is (big picture) a relatively small saving?

High concentrations of biodiesel will attack the seals in the engine, goodness only knows what chip fat will do. I have some wonderful samples of the crud that falls out of this oil when people half heartedly try to make F A M E out of it.

When it is cold, it goes into a slushy sludge - biodiesel does not have good cold properties.

Finally every 5 litres of corn/whatever oil you buy for fuel has deprived someone of a massive amount of corn/whatever for food either here or in the third world, which has caused food shortages and driven up prices causing starvation and also is a contributory factor to the current poor economic situation. A slight exaggeration, I know, but it helps make the point.

Off my soap box and grabbing my hard hat


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## 106916 (Sep 8, 2007)

duxdeluxe said:


> Finally every 5 litres of corn/whatever oil you buy for fuel has deprived someone of a massive amount of corn/whatever for food either here or in the third world, which has caused food shortages and driven up prices causing starvation and also is a contributory factor to the current poor economic situation. A slight exaggeration, I know, but it helps make the point.
> 
> Off my soap box and grabbing my hard hat


Spot on Dux. Bio-fuels make sense only if they are grown on set-aside land which is currently unproductive (ie that in the EU) ie where the sunlight energy will be harvested which where at present it isn't. 
Creating a MARKET for bio-fuel worldwide only produces the above cited problems - because capitalists only care about revenue and not about people - FACT! 
And governments care only about their image and not really solving real problems - VERY OFTEN & DEPRESSINGLY TRUE!
Vidura


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## teemyob (Nov 22, 2005)

*Oil*

Hello,

I have a Friend in france who runs her car on SVA. However it is an old Peugeot. If I had my old Citroen C15 from years gone by I would give it a go. However, with Modern Diesel Engines CDi, TDi, Pumpe Düse etc, not a chance. The fuel has to be injected often through piezo injectors at 2050 bar (a shade under 30,000 psi). Don't want to bugger them up with spry crisp and dry!.

Trev.


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## Rapide561 (Oct 1, 2005)

*biodiesel*



DTPCHEMICALS said:


> fuel companies spend a fortune in giving us a quality product that should not be messed with.
> Plenty of forums out there with sad tales of damage done to engines.
> 
> Would your mate cook his chips in diesel if it were cheaper than vegetable/cooking oil.
> ...


Rolling on the floor laughing and just know that somewhere, someone will have tried this!!!!!!!!!

R


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## 113475 (Jun 19, 2008)

*veg oil*

Been there/ done it/ wrecked it/ just not worth the expense and trouble!!!!!!.


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## UncleNorm (May 1, 2005)

Evening all!

Watched some British Saloon car racing on Sunday, on telly.

I was surprised to see the dominance of SEAT. Aren't these a Spanish built car, from the same stable as VW and SKODA?

The cars on Sunday were highly tuned so I was further surprised to hear that the SEATs were running on DIESEL!! 8O 

One thing that was missing from the commentary, however, was mention of cooking oil being put in the diesel tank! Hey, if it's no good for Racing Seat, it's no good for Our Coral, on her X2/50 chassis, with her Iveco engine. Nuff said!


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## johng1974 (Jan 17, 2007)

I am going to try an experiment


South East Asia on used oil 

plenty of engine oil changes along the way...

8O


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## DTPCHEMICALS (Jul 24, 2006)

Hi Duxdelux
although i supply chemicals for a living i have no interest in the Petroleum industry other than i use their products.
I have driven diesel engined cars and vans for over 25 years and none have ever needed anything other than servicing.
Use the right stuff and you should be ok.
I must get at least a dozen enquiries from "potential" diesel fuel engineers for methanol and caustic soda to make their own fuel.
I will not supply either product.
Somewhere down the line someone will buy a vehicle that has been run on these home made fuels and will probably be buying a dud.

Dave P


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## duxdeluxe (Sep 2, 2007)

Hi, 

I'm in the fuel testing and fuel quality business, though my responsibilities keeps me out of the labs. We have contracts with a lot of manufacturers for fuel testing programmes and also the same for oil companies. We do a lot of other stuff as well...........

If GM/Fiat or Ford/PSA are going to spend billions developing a diesel engine to run on EN590 diesel then that is all I am going to put in it. Anything that does not meet the spec risks lasting damage and void warranty.

Older diesels - probably not a problem apart from dissolving oil seals


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## 100407 (Aug 7, 2006)

Interesting thread. We have just been given the go ahead to run our fleet of Vivaros on Bio Diesel but only the one sold by the company that has more reasons to shop there. ( you know the one. The surname of the dead singer out of the Doors) Apparently Vauxhall have given it the green light.


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## 114680 (Jul 22, 2008)

*Diesel engine*

Interesting reading the varied views on the subject.

Rudolph Diesel invented the Diesel engine to run in Africa on VEGETABLE OIL (Peanut) not a Hydrocarbon derivative, and the diesel engine will run on vegetable oil quite happily providing the vegetable oil's viscosity is lowered, usually by mixing with Diesel or passing it through a heated fuel filter prior to pump injection.

From what I remember from my experience in Hydraulics, vegetable oils can be used in a system WITHOUT detrimental effect on the seals in that system be they Natural Rubber or Synthetic, 
on the other hand Synthetic oil (hydrocarbon base) can ONLY be used in a system with synthetic rubber seals,

Here's an Interesting site that will answer all of your worries and concerns

http://www.dieselveg.com/ :idea:

Mickle


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## bigx (May 16, 2005)

Hi
Rudolph Diesel's first engine was designed for and ran on powdered coal,not much lubrication there.
Yours bigx


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## freestyla (May 28, 2008)

A mate of mine runs his 1992 VW T4 Multivan 2.4 on 40/60 veggy oil with no ill effects. :lol:


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## Texas (May 9, 2005)

*Quote.
A friend of mine is mixing vegetable oil with diesel,approx 40/60 and running his vw passat with it.He has been doing so now for about 5 months and reports no ill affects on his car.Has anyone on this forum tried it?If so how does your vehicle run? Dave.*

Ah! that explains it.

My neighbour has laid his Land Rover up and is currently usind an old Peugot diesel.

Every time he goes past there is a very pleasant, mouthwatering smell of fish and chips. 8O


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## 109380 (Jan 21, 2008)

*Veggie Power*

I have made and have used biodiesel in my 03 Focus TDCi. Started mixing with Mineral (pump) diesel and then ran 100% without problems. Just due to time constraints (always in my Hymer) I struggle to make the stuff all the time. I'm in fact thinking of selling my home-made bio-plant with shed if anyone is interested?

I currently run my Hymer 660S (Mercedes) 100% on veggie oil. Have now done a 1000 miles. No problems but takes longer to start on a cold day. During Winter I'll buy a proper conversion kit so the veggie oil viscosity is less of a problem. My used supplier dried up, so I buy from a wholesaler. It's 86p a litre and rising. However, just found out my neighbour works as a local restaurant manager so I may be in luck with the free stuff.

Power is a wee bit down, but then it aint a modern horse and pulling 3.5t I aint worried.

Funny thing is, when I do the sums running my car on Pump Fuel at 130p/litre it is still half the cost of running the motorhome on veggie fuel just due to fuel consumption alone!!


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## alunj (Sep 5, 2007)

how many times are we going to do this to death.

Veg oil is NOT Bio Diesel

Most modern diesels will run on Bio (in fact tescos etc generally sell whats called B5 5% Bio and you don't even know the BS EN std allows them to use up to 5% Bio)

I run two VW T5 174 Tdi and a Merc Sprinter 2.7 on B100 , thats 100% biodiesel but again

Veg oil is NOT Bio diesel and running it in any recent Tdi engine is a recipe for long term problems.

here is the original Technical reasoning.

http://www.motorhomefacts.com/ftopicp-416105.html#416105


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## DTPCHEMICALS (Jul 24, 2006)

so thats it then.
Thanks for clearing the subject out alunj

Regards
Dave P


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## Mike48 (May 1, 2005)

There's someone on the Ford Transit forum who attempted to run his van on vegetable oil. Weeks later he is still attempting to get to grips with the problems caused. He's dropped the tank several times, cleared all injectors and done just about everything possible to even start the thing. Don't try it. It looks as though he will need a new fuel system.


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## aultymer (Jun 20, 2006)

I ran my Pug 406 for 4 years on 70% veg oil in summer and 30% veg oil in winter with no problems and a lovely smell. It is still running as a workhorse with the guy who services my Motorhome.
I would not recommend this to anyone with a vehicle newer than my old 'P' reg pug.
I do put the odd 3 litre bottle of Asda veggie in my Merc engined Motorhome if I need to stretch the range (there are areas with a grocers but no fuel) but it is neither Turbo nor computer controlled so will run on liquified coal if I can find it. 
This is my small protest at the price of Diesel but even that protest is being undermined as Asda increase the price of their veggie oil. All my motors get an oil change at recommended mileage or annually (whichever comes first) so I have avoided the jelly in the sump problem which has been reported by some veggie oil users.
It is up to you what you use v's what you have to lose.


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## teemyob (Nov 22, 2005)

*Nur Fur Biodiesel*



alunj said:


> how many times are we going to do this to death.
> 
> Veg oil is NOT Bio Diesel
> 
> ...


Hello there,

My T5 and MB Sprinter state "not for biodiesel"

Trev


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## rickndog (Apr 5, 2008)

Heard on my local radio station today that there have been fires caused by people manufacturing their own bio-fuel. They warned that if you do this at home and cause fire damage to your property many insurers will not pay out as they view the practice as an industrial activity which invalidates your domestic insurance policy.


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## 115229 (Aug 6, 2008)

Hi
I've been using bio-diesel in my Rover 75 for some time on a 50/50 mix and it has been fine although I don't think it's particularly cheap.
If you type bio-diesel into Google it's amazing the information you find there about using veg oil in your car, which of course is NOT bio-diesel and can damage your injectors as it is the wrong consistency
Cheers
ccasion5: 
Oldboy


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## johng1974 (Jan 17, 2007)

old boy, i am doing ok 

glad things ok with you


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## AberdeenAngus (Jul 26, 2008)

Anyone old enough to remember spending a sunday afternoon de-coking an engine ?

Anyone had to do it recently ?

I'm all for re-using, used veggie oil, but I don't really want to help push the price of new cooking oil up. That's going to hurt the poorest people most !

I think a better way of saving money on fuel costs is to urge our dear sweet government to reduce duty on DERV to the same as it is on mainland europe. 

This would also stop the european drivers from filling up before coming over here and gaining an unfair advantage on British hauliers !

And another thing........

Oh ok, i'll shut up now...

Rant over !


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## johng1974 (Jan 17, 2007)

got to decoke mine tomorrow morning


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## 117511 (Oct 16, 2008)

AberdeenAngus said:


> Anyone old enough to remember spending a sunday afternoon de-coking an engine ?
> 
> Anyone had to do it recently ?
> 
> ...


How do you go about de-coking an engine ? 
Thanks
Steve


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## johng1974 (Jan 17, 2007)

Hi Steve that was a bit tongue in cheek....


I took mine to pieces and put it back together, only took 60 hours  

Giving the internals a clean was a small part of overall job...

John


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