General Anyone Converted A D5 To Run On Veg Oil?

[RoyMacDonald]

Originally Posted by STE-MAL

No problem Roy.

I just hate the thought of someone with a GREAT car, doing some nasty damage to it for the sake of a few pounds.

I do hope you get the answers you want.

Best of luck matie!!!!!

I'm not planning to change fuels (just yet anyway) but it's a subject that comes up quite often, since the Government abandoned the fuel tax on SOV, amongst my friends and I like to make informed comments rather than just say no... bad idea without good reasons.

Roy

PS It's not a few pounds more like £1250 a year.

[GSMGuy]

I too am interested in this- - Surely a mix of SVO and regular diesel???

What concerns me, is that SVO is a LOT thicker than diesel......

Wonder if it's worth making our own Biodiesel.....

Like this guy......

+ YouTube Video

Mike

[GSMGuy]

Originally Posted by MATHIUS

Hi Roy,

I know someone who runs there D5 on a 70/30 ratio of Veggie oil and diesel. He said by doing this, the 30% diesel still lubes the pump and keeps everything running as it should.
So far, so good. Emissions were alot lower than a standard D5 on its last MOT!

SVO or Straight Veg Oil actually has BETTER lubrication properties than diesel once they are both up to operating temp!

I have been running my van (It's my own as self employed) on SVO for a good few months now, and have covered a couple of thousand miles with no probs @ approx £0.48 per litre... (1999 Citroen Dispatch 1,9TD with the all important BOSCH pump)

Anyway, now that a friend of mine who has a "wacky warehouse" type place a few miles away is now going to be delivering me aprox 80ltrs of WVO (Wast Veg Oil) a week, I am going to build my own filtration plant... Plus I am prob going to go the next step and build a reactor to make proper Biodiesel

Will keep you all up to speed as and when it progresses... Here we go on the way to 10p a litre Bio for the D5 and FREE Veg for the van!!!

PS I currently spend approx £400 a month on fuel for the two, so its a BIG saving...

Mike

[GSMGuy]

Ok, as an update... My GL Biodiesel processor has now produced it's 1st batch.....

The XC90 has been purring away on it for the last 2 weeks, during which, as the kids have been off - I have done over 800 miles (meaning replacement of 2 tyres )

But seeing as I am using WVO (waste veg oil - ie FREE) the cost, with the Methanol I've not been able to recover has worked out at approx £0.09 per litre

Fuel cost to me for 800 miles @ 27mpg avg, 134.51L (town) = £12.11

Fuel cost at pumps (£109.9 by me) for same miles/mpg, 134.51L = £147.83

Saving? = £135.72 or £1.01 per litre!!!! thats £70.70 on a 70l tank

Mike

[jimcolyer]

Well, in my old V70 (2002 model) I drove for over 30000 miles using varying mixes of normal vegetable oil (not BioDiesel).

I bought from Makro at £9.95 for 20 litres, and generally mixed at 50%-70% in the summer, and around 20% in the winter, the remainder I topped up with normal pump diesel.

Sold the car with 90000 miles, and still sweet as a nut.

[jezza5986]

Originally Posted by GSMGuy

Ok, as an update... My GL Biodiesel processor has now produced it's 1st batch.....

The XC90 has been purring away on it for the last 2 weeks, during which, as the kids have been off - I have done over 800 miles (meaning replacement of 2 tyres )

But seeing as I am using WVO (waste veg oil - ie FREE) the cost, with the Methanol I've not been able to recover has worked out at approx £0.09 per litre

Fuel cost to me for 800 miles @ 27mpg avg, 134.51L (town) = £12.11

Fuel cost at pumps (£109.9 by me) for same miles/mpg, 134.51L = £147.83

Saving? = £135.72 or £1.01 per litre!!!! thats £70.70 on a 70l tank

Mike

Glad it's working out for you. It's useful to get the info 'straight from the horses mouth' when it comes down to something like this.

Have you noticed any of the problems mentioned by previous posters regarding changing your fuel filter due to the bioderv being more of a solvent that dissolves the gunk out of your fuel system?

This is currently the only thing stopping me from trying it in my D5, so it'd be useful to know

Jezza

[DLM48]

Originally Posted by GSMGuy

Ok, as an update... My GL Biodiesel processor has now produced it's 1st batch.....

The XC90 has been purring away on it for the last 2 weeks, during which, as the kids have been off - I have done over 800 miles (meaning replacement of 2 tyres )

But seeing as I am using WVO (waste veg oil - ie FREE) the cost, with the Methanol I've not been able to recover has worked out at approx £0.09 per litre

Fuel cost to me for 800 miles @ 27mpg avg, 134.51L (town) = £12.11

Fuel cost at pumps (£109.9 by me) for same miles/mpg, 134.51L = £147.83

Saving? = £135.72 or £1.01 per litre!!!! thats £70.70 on a 70l tank

Mike

Very interesting BUT the set up costs are what?

[GSMGuy]

Set up costs?

Not totalled it all up yet, but between £100 and £150, certainly no more than £200..... Was in profit by 3rd tankful....

On the filters issue, yes I have a spare on hand, but bearing in mind that on the XC90, the majority of the fuel line is "post filter" as the filter is very close to the tank, then it's only any "gunk" in the tank and short line to the filter that will cause any probs, of which I haven't had any yet...

TBH on a fairly modern car like mine, with less than 60k on the clock, I presume the previousl (company) owner had a fuel card and as such used decent quality fuel.. So really can't see there being that much "gunk" in there in the first place....


And with the recent fuel price hikes (ie last couple of weeks) I am now saving approx £79 per 70l tank based on pump price of £113.9 at my local....

Mike

[GSMGuy]

Thought I'd update this after my last post - 10 months ago...

Have now been running both the XC90 and the van on home made bio...

Done approx "a lot" miles in the XC90 and about "the same" in the van..

Problems to report??

None whatsoever.....

Slight drop in MPG on the Volvo, of approx 2mpg.. But at a final finished fuel cost of £0.14 per Litre, I ain't complaining...

Passed its MOT in April with one of the lowest readings the tester had ever seen on a diesel car.....

no probs during cold weather, just add 5% regular diesel to an almost full tank to "winterise" the Bio - additives are available, but as my Bio is giving about 98-99% esters (very high quality - much better than you can actually buy it at) I don't have any waxing at all down to about -2 degrees... Then the 5% diesel will let it go to about -4...


All in all, I've save a good few ££££

I "brew up" about once a month, making about "Cough" Litres per batch, but of course staying within my 2500L annual exemption...