LPG on diesel engines

I'm using a rapeseed oil at the moment but from threads I've read on other forums pretty much any veg oil will do. HMR&C couldn't care less what oil you use just so long as you keep the receipts in case they ask for them.

It my just be me, but I'm convinced the engine is quieter and power is slightly up on pure diesel ~ but don't ask me to quantify it ;-)

Much quieter on veg, to the extend that even after I stopped using it I used to put a litre in with normal diesel for a while as it seemed to like it.

Hi Austin,

Like you I spend a lot of money on diesel and I'd rather use a bulk supplier but so far haven't found one locally to me yet .. but I'm still looking.

Rapeseed is supposed to be the best in terms of engine performance and that is what I'm using at the moment. When the weather turn cold I'm planning to use sunflower oil as it's thinner.

I had to replace the fuel filter twice in the first 1000miles when I started using veg oil but it's been 3000 miles since I changed the last one (about 4 weeks motoring for me). The veg oil cleans out the crud from the tank and fuel lines but once it's gone it's gone (as they say).

Did you see the power boat on local BBC news tonight? Ah, maybe it wasn't on BBC Wales? They are fuelling it with used veg oil and planning to make a challenge on the round-the-world speed record.

See Dave L's references for the law change. When I spoke to HMR&C in August they were quite positive about the whole thing .. guess it means less work for them :-)

The 2500ltrs is veg oil ONLY not the total amount of fuel used. For my Discovery 2500ltrs will give me about 13,800 miles of motoring and, as I only use a 50/50mix, that's 27,600 real miles.

In the spring I plan to increase the percentage of veg oil to 75% and see how that goes and see if I can't stretch that to cover my 38,000 annual miles.

Dave, from what I've read elsewhere (there's a HUGE thread on this on=20 the mud club forum) common rail engines like the TD5 may not take too=20 kindly to running veg oil. It was a big factor in my decision not to buy =

a Discovery 2.

--=20 Regards

Steve G

There's a bloke selling kits on eBlag. Reckons it works out at 36p/ltr - dunno if that's right though.

SG: Yeah, they kinda kept that one quiet .. just like increasing the duty by 2p/ltr this week.

SG: For sure veg oils don't have the degree of lubrication that diesel does, which is why I've restricted my mix to 50%, so far. Of course, there are other additives you can add to the fuel to give lubrication but I'm not a chemist so don't know how they react with veg oils. Anyone?

My Discovery is a 300Tdi. Doubt over the long-term reliability of a Td5 running on veg oil was the main reason I chose not to buy a Series 2 Disco.

SG: What a great idea! Add crushed garlic to the fuel and they'll think it's the local pizza delivery man :-) It does smell a bit fishy though but as I'm sat inside and can't smell it I don't much care ;-))

On or around Mon, 08 Oct 2007 20:30:21 GMT, SteveG enlightened us thusly:

probably depends on where you get the oil. If you buy new oil at e.g. 40 ppl, then it ain't gonna cost 36 ppl. I saw a recipe that suggests 200ml of methanol plus a small amount of other stuff like lye per litre of oil - dpepends how much the methanol costs, I guess.

On or around Mon, 08 Oct 2007 20:20:36 GMT, SteveG enlightened us thusly:

Have you noticed any signs of wear on the pump running 50/50? Depending on oil supply, that could be worth it. The TDi uses much the same bosch pump as the nonturbo tranny, which some have said has problems, but I've a hunch that the biggest problems are those who run on 100% used chip fat, and if you use clean new oil and run at 50%, although you save less, you don't get so many hassles.

Do you just tip the oil in the tank or do you premix VO and diesel before filling it?

I haven't noticed any problems with the pump .. but would I? I'm not sure if I'd recognise a problem that develops as being pump related until it died completely :-)

Most of the time I fill up away from home so pre-mixing is not really an option. I do, however, carry 50ltrs of oil in the back of the Disco (2x25ltr containers) on days that I know I'm going to need to refuel and only fill up when the tank is almost empty. Normal routine is to pull into a patrol station and put 40ltrs of diesel in, then drive away from the pumps and pour 40ltrs of oil in. I've had some odd looks :-)

Quite, the 36p/l probably comes from getting free used oil from the chippy down the road and not costing in the collection/storage costs or paying any waste transfer/storage licences either...

I've just had a chat to the local diesel injection specialist. He isn't aware of any significant problems with the Bosch pumps running 50/50 virgin VO and diesel.

On or around Tue, 09 Oct 2007 08:03:52 GMT, SteveG enlightened us thusly:

summat like crap running, poor starting, misfires, excessive smoke...

On or around Tue, 09 Oct 2007 21:20:02 +1300, EMB enlightened us thusly:

I guess I'd better hunt some oil and give it a try. That plus the fuel card I just ordered (which is going to save me approx 5ppl on the diesel compared with pump price) might get the running costs back to something like reasonable.

Pity you can't put veg oil on the wheels instead of tyres.

In that case definitely not. Starts first flick of the switch, never mis-fires, goes as well as it ever did and smokes less than before - but that may be down to removal of the EGR system.

Pity you can´t recover the sodium methoxide - its the catalyst, rather than an ingredient in the mixture.

Also factor in the energy costs of getting the oil hot enough to mix.

Steve

I've just read a post in a forum somewhere with all manner of dire warnings from gumming up the rings with polymerised vegie oil to filling the sump with veggie jelly. What it said made sense but there wasn't really enough information about the fuel actually used. I can see there being a world of difference between 100% SVO and a mixture of SVO/derv, how big that world is depending on the ratio.

On or around Tue, 09 Oct 2007 21:07:33 +0100 (BST), "Dave Liquorice" enlightened us thusly:

yeah, I saw such sites too. Then again, most people running on a mixture seem to report few problems.

I suspect the biggest problems come with 100% waste oil, and the fewest with clean oil and blending it with diesel.

I agree but throw in the engine type as well. It's where along the line from "don't do it, you'll kill the engine" to "it's fine, no problems" a particular combination of oil, derv and engine sits that is hard to get any real information about. Even vague, moderately reliable, hear say, information is hard to come by.