Hi all. Been using 90%veg oil with 5% diesel and 5% unleaded for 2000 miles now in my Marea Weekend JTD 105. It runs absolutely perfectly, seemingly a little quicker and quieter. I even like the smell more than diesel. But then, who likes the smell of diesel?
A lot of negative propaganda is being banded around by oil industry rumourmongers about engine damage from biodiesel and SVO (straight veg oil). The truth is, if you've got a bosch injector pump (lucas's are no good), and use only fresh oil, or WVO (waste veg oil) that has been filtered down to 5 microns, the chances are your motor will thrive on it.
The car makers are pro oil industry after 110+ years of close ties, so they are bound to discourage you as much as possible. It appears to be mainly bull****. The diesel engine was designed to run on peanut oil, the idea was it could be fuelled by whatever plant oil was available in the country of use.
Anyway, a fuel heater in the tank that you could switch on 5 mins before you use the car would mean 100% svo at all times and seaons would be possible. Even without, the mix I use is reported to work fine down to -5 degrees C. If you encounter starting stubborness, add another 10% diesel and all should be well. 50 50 should give no trouble even in norway. It is also worth noting that a lot of companies are profiting on those people paranoid their car will blow up by making us believe we need to spend 500 to a grand on conversion kits. I'm working on a heating jacket that takes some exhaust heat to the fuel tank.
The unleaded is used as a thinning agent, I have also used white spirit at 3% with identical results. I hear there are organic solvents available, but I'm buggered if I can find them. If anyone knows where to get some, please let me know.
I read about a guy with a JTD105 who lived in the NW highlands, and he ran it on 100% SVO for 60K miles without trouble. He chickened out when it didn't start at -10 degrees, but if he'd had a bit of diesel and unleaded in there, he'd have been OK. Diesel and Veg mix beautifully, by the way.
Of all the SVO's, Rapeseed oil is the thinnest and stays liquid down to about -10, therefore it is considered the best for the british climate.
I hope this is a bit inspirational for those of you who who haven't considered why the government isn't publicising this truly GREEN fuel, and why lots of oil industry people keep telling us it doesn't work. It oil boils down
to money, and they could never charge the food industry the same for SVO as they do for diesel. My first trip involved driving 5 of us 314 miles at a steady 90mph for a 16 pound cost of shop-bought SVO at 55ppl. Quite a shock after my outgoing 2.0 petrol, which would have drank at least 40 quid of unleaded over the same run.
But this dizzy feeling of renegade green motoring was nothing compared to the first 100 miles on WVO that I'd filtered from my local chippy. I drove to london and had to pinch myself at the thought that for the first time in the land of the great rip off, I'd travelled for FREE! Not only that, but I only released the carbon the plants had absorbed when they grew.
So there's some food for thought.
