Bio-diesel

[tbourner]

Anyone ever made bio-diesel before?

I've been looking at it for a few days and there are so many conflicting opinions on the forums, some say just stick vege oil in up to 75%, some say you'll blow your piston rings and fuel pump seals if you do.

Some say it's fine to use bio-fuel on any car and some say only on pre-2000 diesels.

General opinion seems to be that making your own bio-diesel is the best option, and it works out to about 20p per litre after buying the Methanol and Caustic, and it will run exactly the same as normal diesel in any car except you should up your maintenance a bit just to make sure your filters aren't clogging etc.

[Shane]

Anyone ever made bio-diesel before?

I've been looking at it for a few days and there are so many conflicting opinions on the forums, some say just stick vege oil in up to 75%, some say you'll blow your piston rings and fuel pump seals if you do.

Some say it's fine to use bio-fuel on any car and some say only on pre-2000 diesels.

General opinion seems to be that making your own bio-diesel is the best option, and it works out to about 20p per litre after buying the Methanol and Caustic, and it will run exactly the same as normal diesel in any car except you should up your maintenance a bit just to make sure your filters aren't clogging etc.

 

 

Hi mate, yes I have been running my daily driver on all sorts of stuff over the past few years.

 

There are some engines/fuel pumps that are much more forgiving than others. iirc, lucas/cav are the weaker ones and dont like it up them and Bosch and many of the jap ones produced by Nissan, Toyota, Isuzu are fine. However you still need to determine if your pump will handle the viscosity of SVO when cold if you want to run 100%. I have found the 1.7D, NA Isuzu Engine as used in the Diesel Nova, Corsa, Midi etc to be bullet proof and have run 3 of them over the past 6 years all with no problems.The only reason I have changed the vehicle has been due to MOT failure rather than engine failure. The first one a Nova I had for over 2 years and had no issues running 100% SVO, this was changed to a Corsa that ran for a year or so before being replaced with a later corsa also with the isuzu engine.

 

There was a website called something like SVO.. which had been building a database of cars and how they survived when run on various mixes. I tend not to use it 100% all the time in the absolute peak of winter as it does get really thick when below about 2°C. The only down side that has come about now is that since the Government relaxed the laws regarding the use of veg oil in road cars the price has over doubled and unless you shop around constantly you are lucky to save only up to about 25p per litre and unless you are really commited to the cause or travelling 1000s of mile you have to weigh up if its really worth it.

 

Re-cycling waste oil is something I havent done yet as I am too lazy, but if done properly will run the same as normal diesel in 99% of cars and some claim produces more power. I can say that my engine is a lot quieter when running svo or a 50/50 mix then when running derv. I dont use a pre heater and I dont use a secondary tank which is oneof the reasons I tend not to use it too much in the extreme cold as cranking when cold is whenthe pumps are reckoned to give up.

 

The only other thing to bear in mind is that you do need to virtually flush it through every so often with diesel as the veg oil will cause damage to natural rubber parts and tubing after a while. They seem to go almost soggy and disintergrate, but this only happens when the rubber parts are in veg oil for long periods and so long as flushed every so often shouldn't be a cause of concern.

 

I first came across this in Romania when a guy I know used to run his truck on sunflower oil/deisel mix during the spring and summer. He had a plot of land full of sunflowers that used to keep his bees happy and also provide hime with plenty of fuel. But some say sunflower oil is not as good as others such as rapeseed etc, but mixed seems to be fine.

 

There are loads of great sites providing advice on this subject but seem to recall the "SVO" site with the comparison charts was invaluable to me when I first got into it.

 

Hope this helps.

[tbourner]

I'll be using it in my 1994 Mitsi Delica 2.8TD. the fuel pump seals are known dodgy on them though and I have no idea what make of pump it is, so I'm a bit scared of going onto SVO, I think I'd rather go all or nothing and either make myself some BD or not bother.

 

People keep recommending this guy, but it seems very complicated.

 

Someone on the Deli forum suggested an easier route and I've planned the attached, with this being the stages to follow:

1) V3, V4 open - pump in WVO.

2) V2, V4 open, heater on - pump it around and heat it to 60ish degrees.

3) V2, V3, V4 open - pump in a mix of methanol and caustic/potassium. Tritration test for quantity.

4) V2, V4 open - pump it around 30 mins.

5) All off and leave to settle for 24 hours.

6) V1 open - drain off crud.

7) V2, V5 open - pump out bio.

After V5 I'll need some inline filters down to 1 micron as well, then it should be ready to use in ANY diesel as a straight replacement!! Average cost about 20p per litre!!

 

But I'm still scared, ideally I wanted some more opinions from people who've tried it, see what mixes they've tried and whether they've washed it or done some shake tests to check for glycerol etc.