V70 P1 TDI vegetable oil?

[Aubergine S70]

Been wondering about running a car on used vegetable oil from the local chip shop. Obviously you filter the oil through various filters with different sizes and let it settle for a week. Been thinking about a 740 diesel but what about a P1 V70. Is the fuel system too complex and too new?
Thanks

[petrohl34d]

I had a mate who regularly ran his 1.9 TDi Bora on straight vegetable oil when he was stuck.

Didn't modify it or anything, and I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see him pouring it in myself.

That was years ago, and the car is still going.

As regards the V70 2.5 TDi, I can't comment, but you never know until you try

[kenny]

Been there, done that with an old land rover, yes it worked but I had no idea how much time it would take up and spent a lot setting up and to do it properly you need to contact customs and excise. I binned it got a life and a girlfriend now 14 years later still happily married and I don't smell of fish and chips.

[brickman]

Will run on pure new veg or treated/cleaner used veg with no harm yo seals etc.

However, viscosity at low temp (anything below 20c is low temp) it is hard work starting on pure veg. Needs a preheater.

Now diesel is back to sensible prices I just use nornal fuel again. Was obly when it was £1.50 a litre o decided to use all the world's veg oil (45p a litre in bulk cubies)

The hard starting isn't the only issue, it puts much higher strain on tye pump, and so in turn the pump belt, and the camshaft, and the timing belt. Personally I wouldn't bother again, risk of grenading a decent engine to save to save a little is too high for me.

[volvoid]

some people mix the veg oil with the diesel, proportions to be discovered.
In this cold weather forget it, will clog up

[brickman]

AFAIK your allowed 1500 litres of svo before having to pay duty.

[Clogs]

HMRC says 2,500 litres (not 1500) annually is duty free - use/make 2501 litres, and the whole lot is liable to duty, but how will they ever know?

2500 litres of diesel at 40 mpg = 22,000 miles

In cold weather veg oil viscosity is poor, so filters will clog and the fuel won't spray evenly. I don't know what they do in Arctic Sweden or Canada - probably you have to pre heat the engine (that is an available extra that can be fitted) but I don't think there is anything to preheat the fuel given the tank is exposed at the back of the car which will become like a block of fat at below zero temperatures. Just put some veg oil in the fridge and it soon turns into a sludge. Swedes probably don't drive diesels in really cold places.

[Donmac]

For 'hard core' all year round veg oil running the answer is to fit two tanks. In winter you start on dino fuel and run until the veg oil is warm enough (in it's heated tank) then flick a switch to change over.

Needless to say, it's imperative to change back to dino fuel before you park up for the night. Not much use if you only do short trips!

Also, running SVO long term doesn't always agree with the oil in older/worn engines so attention to oil condition is important. If it starts to thicken up it's probably polymerisation - change the oil and if it happens too often look for a suitable plant based engine oil.

[Martin Cox]

I believe the distributor type of fuel pump as used on the P1 V70s and 850s with the D5252t engine does not take kindly to SVO. I did briefly consider it myself and decided it wasn't worth the risk.

The older in-line pumps tend to be less fussy.

Martin