Veg. Oil is it worth the effort?

[edition]

Hi,

I'm looking for a second car that will be cheap to run and large enough to throw car parts and so on in the boot. I'm thinking an estate of some kind....

Is running on used oil or even fresh veg. Oil a suitable option or is it a right pain in the balls?

Thanks in advance!

[steve_bmw]

I did run an old transit years ago on 80% pure veg oil, it was less than half price of diesel and the van never ran as good!
However I think the shops caught on and even the cheapest veg oil is only marginally cheaper than diesel.
If you have an old Diesel engine you should be ok but don't try it with a modern high pressure system.
Check on forums to see if there are any problems before you buy a car to make sure it's ok on oil

Edited by steve_bmw on Friday 26th October 09:15

[Fubar1977]

Merc W123 Diesel estate.

[HustleRussell]

It's a bit of a PITA especially in winter where you have to keep an eye on your oil/diesel ratio... The car running on veg can be slow to start from cold and many fuel pumps don't like it at all.

[Motorrad]

My 306 non-turbo diesel with Bosch fuel pump runs perfectly on filtered waste oil or straight vegetable oil. I just stick a few ltrs of diesel in it for cold starts every tankful. Every now and again I'll also stick some cetane booster in it, so far I've done 6K trouble free miles in a few months.

So I'd say if you get the right car (which seems to be something with a Bosch fuel pump as far as I can work out) then it's well worth it as it costs me about 15-20 quid to do over 600 miles.

[crofty1984]

Lucas fuel pumps don't like it, but Bosch is fine. It will work on Lucas, but drastically reduce the life of the pump IIRC.
Modern Common-Rail diesels are a no-no.
If my car had a bosch pump I'd be using a 70% mix of veg oil.