Well, after the death of yet another vehicle (Honda H-RV) I've revived my Hilux Surf. Nice to have the real 4x4 back on the road again, and it has one huge added bonus - it runs on vegetable oil.
Has the Bosch injectors fitted so in summer time I can run it on 15% diesel and 85% SVO (Straight Vegetable Oil). When I have the room (a garden) I'll be collecting WVO (Waste Vegetable Oil) so I can filter that down, remove the water and then I've got free fuel.
Now, you're only allowed to use so many gallons before you're supposed to start paying tax on it. I would have no problem paying tax, if they spent it wisely. But they waste it, so I try to avoid it at all costs.
Almost all diesel engines can be run on either SVO or WVO - youi just need to install the bosch fuel injectors.
The other thing I'm thinking of doing is installing a second tank where the spare wheel lives at the moment, that I can fill with cherry red. I'd need some sort of switcher system so I can choose to run it on either normal diesel or the red, but if the filling point is in the boot then no one will know. Very handy if I ever get "dipped" as the tank they can see will be full of the normal road use stuff.
I would not risk using red diesel they are doing alot of checks on diesel vehicles. If you use it declare it to TPTB.
(2 March 2012, 10:09)uks Wrote: [ -> ]I would not risk using red diesel they are doing alot of checks on diesel vehicles. If you use it declare it to TPTB.
You could only use it with a twin tank system. They take your vehicle and crush it if you get caught (and don't pay the fine)
I'd rent a field and use it to grow rapeseed plants that can be turned into fuel. This is actually one of the ideas I've got in my long term plan.
Anyway, you are better not risking cherry red. The penalty is too dangerous. You're better off using veg oil.
I was thinking about a seperate tank, but the effort required is rather large. That's why I was planning my own specialised BOV. I was going to fit a few tanks and say the vehicle was for long distance desert trails, if TPTB ever asked. But that's been shelved until I have my own place with a garden I can savagely change into a semi-open-air garage.
(2 March 2012, 10:25)Scythe13 Wrote: [ -> ]I'd rent a field and use it to grow rapeseed plants that can be turned into fuel. This is actually one of the ideas I've got in my long term plan.
Anyway, you are better not risking cherry red. The penalty is too dangerous. You're better off using veg oil.
I was thinking about a seperate tank, but the effort required is rather large. That's why I was planning my own specialised BOV. I was going to fit a few tanks and say the vehicle was for long distance desert trails, if TPTB ever asked. But that's been shelved until I have my own place with a garden I can savagely change into a semi-open-air garage.
I've been planning on getting a second tank for a while now (for normal diesel) the tank fitted at the moment is only 65 litres, so the range isn't much, but there's plenty of room under there for another tank. You can get one from Oz thats 125 litres, so you'd have 190 in total. Give a range or 600-700ish on one tankful. Would cost a bit to fill up though!
Apparently peanut oil is the stuff for diesels. The original diesel engine was designed to run on peanut oil (as it was agricultural) and doesn't take much processing to get it ready to go.Not sure how it'd fare in a new common rail diesel engine though?
(2 March 2012, 10:31)00111001 Wrote: [ -> ]I've been planning on getting a second tank for a while now (for normal diesel) the tank fitted at the moment is only 65 litres, so the range isn't much, but there's plenty of room under there for another tank. You can get one from Oz thats 125 litres, so you'd have 190 in total. Give a range or 600-700ish on one tankful. Would cost a bit to fill up though!
Apparently peanut oil is the stuff for diesels. The original diesel engine was designed to run on peanut oil (as it was agricultural) and doesn't take much processing to get it ready to go.Not sure how it'd fare in a new common rail diesel engine though?
Yeah, I heard about the peanut thing as well. The biggest problem would be growing the peanuts. They need a warmer climate to grow in, but also, they grow underground. Because they grow underground, it's more effort to harvest them.
(2 March 2012, 10:04)00111001 Wrote: [ -> ]The other thing I'm thinking of doing is installing a second tank where the spare wheel lives at the moment, that I can fill with cherry red. I'd need some sort of switcher system so I can choose to run it on either normal diesel or the red, but if the filling point is in the boot then no one will know. Very handy if I ever get "dipped" as the tank they can see will be full of the normal road use stuff.
Dipping is one way. The other is a swab of the exhaust and they go around car parks doing that while you are out shopping. The red diesel exhaust will be detected.
A second tank is a good idea but I would make sure it was not red diesel which is easily detected. Keep the red diesel for off road vehicles and after an event.
(2 March 2012, 12:00)Skean Dhude Wrote: [ -> ] (2 March 2012, 10:04)00111001 Wrote: [ -> ]The other thing I'm thinking of doing is installing a second tank where the spare wheel lives at the moment, that I can fill with cherry red. I'd need some sort of switcher system so I can choose to run it on either normal diesel or the red, but if the filling point is in the boot then no one will know. Very handy if I ever get "dipped" as the tank they can see will be full of the normal road use stuff.
Dipping is one way. The other is a swab of the exhaust and they go around car parks doing that while you are out shopping. The red diesel exhaust will be detected.
A second tank is a good idea but I would make sure it was not red diesel which is easily detected. Keep the red diesel for off road vehicles and after an event.
Ah, I didn't know that. Thanks for the heads up, I'll stick to normal derv!
I have a friend who has been running his van on red for a long time now, never been pulled. if you get caught they fine you for the unpaid tax on the fuel the tank can hold. Peanuts!
(2 March 2012, 19:00)Reality Jones Wrote: [ -> ]I have a friend who has been running his van on red for a long time now, never been pulled. if you get caught they fine you for the unpaid tax on the fuel the tank can hold. Peanuts!
They have no way of knowing how much red you have put through the engine
I did a load of research into this WVO thing a few years back. At the time I was happily running a 300D merc & Disco landie on Biodiesel & straight veg oil a lot of the time - that was until they put the prices way up on veg oil and also when the biodiesel outlets mostly closed down as the suppliers concentrated on big haulage companies only.
I started looking into the WVO option. there were loads of sites on different ways to do it. After quite a lot of searching, I came across a site that was run by a very experienced vehicle racing engineer and he explained some very important facts that were omitted from all the other sites. This is that WVO is not the same as Veg oil with just food waste bits in it. He explained the complex chemistry as to a lay person. I can not remember it all, but basically - When the veg oil is used for cooking, typically in a Fast Food outlet, then it undergoes complex chain molecule changes. Also this is enhanced by the repeated reheating of the oil in the fryer units of the restaurant. Often the oil is used all week with just the particulate matter scooped out - until the end of the week, when it is changed completely.
These molecular changes produce some very bad chemicals that are now contained within the oil. Cleaning at home & removing water etc with the conventional kits does not remove these chemicals. This means that when you then burn it in your engine as a fuel, it not only produces various toxic gases exiting from the exhaust, but also these chemicals can have serious effects on the longevity of the engine and its associated components, like seals etc.
Also, the engineer had stripped down quite a few WVO engines and found that bore glazing was common place. This is the result of incomplete combustion of a very small amount of WVO, especially when the engine was cool. (It pays to start up on normal diesel). this glazing was absolutely miniscule per operation of the engine, but it built up in layers over time, until it impeded the piston ring movement within the bore and causes piston ring break up or chamber damage due to "gumming up". The glaze proved to be almost impossible to remove without re-machining. This was due to the multilayers all being effectively baked on as a hard glaze.
Different engines were effected more or less by this but it was characteristic of the chamber burning process of the fuel.
I do hear many mutterings about veg oil cars generally having engines that do not last as long as they should. I do not know if this is true and I sold mine before it ever had any problems.
I believe this glazing problem applies to WVO & straight veg oil.
I do not now have the web address of the article, but it may be possible to locate by searching the web.
I am listing this info for general knowledge on the subject and am not able to verify its content. also, It may or may not be useful to anyone considering WVO or veg oil.
(Some engines & fuel pumps can be seriously damaged by running on veg oil or WVO - pls do your research - info for novices only)
Regards, TL