Running a diesel 4x4 on vegetable oil

Bill from Scotland · Oct 28, 2009

I have just bought a 1996 Diahtsu 2.8 diesel and am thinking about running it on a mixture of regular diesel and vegetable oil from the supermarket. Regular diesel priced at around £1.08/litre cooking oil £0.69/litre so there does seem to be a saving involved. Has anyone any experience or opinion on doing this?
Thanks
Bill

rrlund · Oct 28, 2009

Not straight off the shelf,no. A neighbor was collecting the used stuff a year ago and processing it into fuel though. I bought quite a lot from him. I ran the stuff straight. I don't know what the whole process was,but I know that after he cleaned it up,he mixed it with a 22% blend on methanol. It wasn't any good in cold weather,it gelled up. I've got a hunch that if you just poured the cooking oil into the tank with petrodiesel,it likely wouldn't mix on it's own. Not saying it wouldn't work,just probably wouldn't blend.

Ken 46 · Oct 28, 2009

Mechanic friend of ours in Elkhart Ks runs F250 on used oil and vegetable oil. Starts it on diesel and then switches over to the stuff.
Seems to run alright - Pump is awful noisy though

Brian Jasper co. Ia · Oct 28, 2009

It will run on it no problem. Like someone else said it will gel in cold weather. One of the potential problems with used cooking oil is higher moisture content and the corrosion that it can cause.

Wesley Stephens · Oct 28, 2009

a guy bought some chickens from me once and drove up in a Mercedes diesel that he ran on straight vegetable oil after starting it on diesel. He had a splitter valve for the 2 tanks and a sort of filter canister with either aluminum or copper pipe around it that had water from the motor flowing through it to warm it up and prevent gelling. He said he had good service from it and that it was a very simple setup.

buickanddeere · Oct 28, 2009

Cooking oil that has been heated, cooked with then filtered. It's better oil for diesels than "raw" oil.
"Cooked" oil has had the glycerin and other trouble makers "burned off".
Raw oil need the lye and methanol treatment then washed with water.
There is a controversial treatment using salt and exceedingly vigorous mechanical agitation plus air.
If you are going to experiment with biodiesel. The pump and injectors should be a very common off the shelf item. Probably the best is the old two stroke Detroit Diesel. If you ever did manage to wreck the simple injector/pump unit. They are easy to replace and rebuilt units cost peanuts vs. an inline or common rail system.

Anonymous-0 · Oct 28, 2009

When I was taking classes at the community college, Marty Hanka came by and gave us an up-close look at his VW TDI diesel he was running on waste veg oil. We heard it run, and we got to check out his setup. He'd replaced his spare tire with a tank for WVO, which had a coil in it that circulated coolant to heat the oil. The car started on conventional diesel, then when the coolant--and the WVO--was warm, the engine could be switched to run on WVO by the flip of a switch, with separate lines, solenoid valves, and connections for the WVO.

The veg oil was NOT mixed with the conventional diesel fuel!

After running on WVO, before shutting down, the system has to be switched back over to diesel before shutdown...again, with the flip of a switch. That way, the WVO doesn't get the chance to gel where you don't need gelled fuel.

My thoughts on the system? Well, for a demo unit to sell folks on the concept, it could've used some braided stainless lines with AN fittings...but otherwise it was a super-sanitary install.

For more info, check the link below:
Good Oil Boys

Ray · Oct 28, 2009

My nephew burns it in his old powerstroke diesel.He has a oil tank with coils inside that run the engine water through to heat the oil.He has trouble getting used oil,it's actually illeagle to burn veggy oil and the restaurants can't legally give it away because of epa regulations.The epa governs exhaust emmissions and laws regulate what restaurants do with used oil.

TimMiller · Oct 29, 2009

look into biodiesel, it will run in any diesel engine with no modifcations what so ever. I have run it in several trucks with no trouble. Veggie oil will mix directly with diesel.

T_Bone · Oct 29, 2009

Hi Bill,

I read a article from the UofID that ran 50% SVO(raw veggie oil) and they said they didn't have any problems in a 500hr test on each of several popular engine makes, about a 95' article date.

At greater than a mix 50%, then they had injector and top ring sticking problems but they also didn't preheat there SVO. They were using rapeseed oil.

According too the web forums I've read, heating 100% SVO resolves alot of problems.

I would test your mix in a freezer as that will tell you "if" you will have a cold weather problem. The VW TDI boys are using regular commercial made diesel treatment too treat a 50/50 mix with good cold weather results.

T_Bone

dieselpup · Oct 29, 2009

check out greasecar.com Their system uses a heated tank to keep the oil flowing.

Running a diesel 4x4 on vegetable oil

Bill from Scotland

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rrlund

Well-known Member

Ken 46

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Brian Jasper co. Ia

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Wesley Stephens

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buickanddeere

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Anonymous-0

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Ray

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TimMiller

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T_Bone

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dieselpup

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