Anyone know if you can use fresh vegetable oil? - Page 7

93fxdl · 10-01-2007, 05:32 PM

made another brew today but had a bit of a shock when it came time to pay as cooking oil has risen in price quite sharply from £1.55 for 3 litres to just under £2.00 and this at the same time diesel has gone up by 2 pence a litre with the duty increase! still the sedona still running fine (unlike my blood pressure!)
any way not long and its holiday time so a good run down to yorkshire which should give the sedona a bit of a workout
ttfn glenn

PeteB_2000 · 10-02-2007, 03:14 PM

My current mix in litres is 36/30/4 (Diesel/SVO/WS) yeah price shot up, good job I bought 200 litres @ .50p before the price hike

.

Mix also includes a shot of millers and 17.5 mm of acetone runs like a dream starts first time no problems coughs or splutters has been very cold here last 3-4 days aprox 5c on temp gauge, even running she purrs not like the old bucket of spanners she used to sound like on dino fuel, only annoyance is the fooking whine from the wheel bearing, not to keen on tackling as price for bit is £65 and job seems maybe top big for me lack of tools etc.

Old Corsa is fine running on approx in litres 42/8 WVO/WS bit of trouble starting after that she is fine, bit of a stinking horrible job cold filtering the WVO and the drive is a bit of a mess with it all

Thats my update for now
Pete

whisker · 10-06-2007, 02:23 PM

I've been thinking about running an SVO / diesel mix in my Sorento for a while now. I know this is not the Sorento area, but the forum search only revealed this discussion on SVO. Hopefully what's true for one Kia is true for all?

Anyway, my Sorento is still under warranty, so I'm a bit nervous of (presumably) invalidating that by using SVO, but am only planning on doing 10-20% SVO in diesel. Any advice would be greatly appreciated - I've Googled all over, and there are some saying 'just put it in', and others saying that dual-tanks, heaters etc are required. Some say up to 50% is ok - others 20%... Some seem to say 5-10% white spirit is needed, and some say a diesel additive (millers something) is required…

Based on my usual 60 litre fill up, and assuming 56p/litre SVO and 94p/litre diesel, I’d only save £4.56 at 20% mix – hardly seems worth it if there is any risk of problems - unless I want to do it from some environmental / anti-VAT stance!

I'm UK based, and given we're heading into winter, is this the wrong time to start experimenting? Or is the warranty issue more of a worry?

Cheers.

PeteB_2000 · 10-06-2007, 04:43 PM

Just bung it in is the answer no need for 2 tanks unless your going to go over 50% with the SVO

youve seen my above blends and TBH it runs like a dream much much quieter that straight diesel, if youre going to give it a go try at about 30% building upto the point where your starting to get a bit of bother starting it in the morning then back off a bit.

The warranty issue is upto you, I would guess that it would be a problem should something fail regarding the fuel system, anything else that fails should just be repaired regardless of whats in the tank

Pete

93fxdl · 10-06-2007, 06:16 PM

the problem with googling for info on veggie diesel is there are many different options for running it and many options as to which oil to use
it seems that the best oil to use is rapeseed (which is also the cheapest!) there are differing opinions as whether new or used is better to use (new is easier but more expensive used is cheaper but more work) then you have the choice of how you use it unmodified or slightly modified or full bio diesel or you have the option of modifying your fuel system (twin tank systems etc) this also varies depending on what type of injection system fitted to your engine
the current issue of car mechanics magazine has quite a good article on running veggie oil
as for your warranty full bio diesel made to the appropriate british standard "should" be ok but it seems a common complaint in these forums is kia or the dealer doing their best to wriggle out of doing anything
so to sum up there dosent seem to be any definitive answer
the question of whether to use or not and how much to use is up to you and the answer depends on many things so it looks like you will have to join us as test pilots but i would not attempt to go over 50% actually i only use 30% but then i am north of the border and its a bit colder up here
ttfn glenn

whisker · 10-07-2007, 02:51 PM

Cheers for the replies.

I think I'll try up to 30% initially, and maybe venture up towards 50% if I get brave.

Is it a given that all Kia pumps / filters / injectors can cope with upto 50%? At what point is some whire spirit needed, or is it always a good idea to add 5-10% of the SVO volume?

I can't be bothered with trailing round the chip shops, or bucket chemistry in the garage, so it's SVO for me. The monetary savings still don't feel that vast, but I suppose we all jump at the 5p/litre offers, and this is more like 11p off (@30%). Have noticed that rapeseed is around 66p now, but corn oil is at about 56p - heard that corn oil is thicker though.

Cheers.

93fxdl · 10-08-2007, 03:02 PM

i am sticking at 30% but as it gets colder i will tend to reduce this to avoid the risk of waxing i always add white spirit as this thins the oil again to avoid the risk of waxing and to ease starting just about any diesel COULD run svo if it is warmed up to reduce the viscosity its just the cold start where the problems occur the cold thick oil is to much for the pump which cannot turn so it breaks (the lucas type pump is prone to this as it has a weak shaft) common rail pumps are a bit different in the way they operate but the risk of damage if the pump stalls due to the oil being to thick is the same
as for using different oils the advantage of rapeseed oil is it is a good lubricant and was cheap but just about any oil can be used (i believe the first diesel ran on peanut oil!) somewhere on the web i found info on a car (skoda?) running on olive oil but this was a two tank heated system
so yet again the ball is in your court, are your journeys long enough to warrant a two tank kit? as then you can run svo and your annual mileage would impact how long it woud take to cover the cost of conversion
ttfn glenn

whisker · 10-08-2007, 04:56 PM

I mainly do just local trips, with the occasional long one. Conversion seems like a right faff. Sounds like I need to get some white spirit before I try it out then...

Not really been under the bonnet - do diesels pre-heat the fuel, and if so, is that prior to the injector pump? Isn't there also a 'lift pump' in the tank, and presumably that one is always working with cold fuel - but is that one less sensitive since it's not creating the high pressure part?

Cheers.

93fxdl · 10-09-2007, 02:43 PM

some diesels have heaters on the fuel filter housing most are heated by the cooling water so until the engine warms it dosent start to heat the fuel, possibly the jeep cherokee has an electric heater (not sure) but either way the fuel in the main pump will be still cold and thick
most common rail diesels have a lift pump and i have heard that this can be a failure point as often they have plastic components (from an ex mechanic) can fail on straight diesel (low sulphur problem?)
ttfn glenn

93fxdl · 10-21-2007, 03:03 PM

been away on holiday and the sedona did its duty perfectly ran fautlessly on 30% mix
on the run down to yorkshire it returned over 40 to the gallon but whilst we were there crawling up and down the dales it dropped to mid 30s but for a two tonne car i dont feel this is bad
so to sum up no problems with the veggie no problems with the sedona and no problems with kids (seatback dvd a marvelous invention!!!!!)