Running my Vauxhall Astra on veg oil

rev_henry

worried_jim wrote: »

Just put 20L of ktc Rape in. Its brand new and cost me £15.65 (78p Litre) as my filtered stuff is still a bit thick. Funnel fell out half way thru and the stuff went everywhere, I might get a watering can and use that in future.

You can get special funnels with bendy tubes on the end, designed for not spilling screenwash, engine oil etc when putting it in. I think Halfords and Asda do them.

worried_jim

Bit of a disaster last night, clutch cable snapped on way home from work leaving me blocking a junction. Got home 3 hours later after paying a hefty fee to join the RAC who did manage to repair it for me. Besides that the car is flying on the rape, the engine loves it. Cheers for the Halfords tip, I've got one but it keeps falling out so I'll see if there are any bigger and sturdier.

Rolandtheroadie

Ouch, you'll need to practice driving without a clutch. It's pulling away thats the biggest problem, but after that, it's not too bad.
The filler I use has an 8 inch flexable attachment but it doesnt let it flow fast enough. Normally rest it against the open filler then use my knee to hold it upright whilst pouring (quite a sight i'd imagine lol).
The wifes cars off the road just now, once we get that back, I think it's time to sell the Corsa and get something bigger that runs on veg.

rev_henry

scotsman4th wrote: »

Ouch, you'll need to practice driving without a clutch. It's pulling away thats the biggest problem, but after that, it's not too bad.
The filler I use has an 8 inch flexable attachment but it doesnt let it flow fast enough. Normally rest it against the open filler then use my knee to hold it upright whilst pouring (quite a sight i'd imagine lol).
The wifes cars off the road just now, once we get that back, I think it's time to sell the Corsa and get something bigger that runs on veg.

I am seriously considering doing this with an S-class when I'm 25 lol.

worried_jim

car is flying on the 50/50 mix at the moment. No problems on startup, no smells and drives just as well, if not better- added bonus, gear change is really smooth now with the new clutch cable.
I have some oil in the garage from a prev petrol engined car will it do any harm using it as a top up in my diesel engine or should I go and buy some oil specifically for a diesel engined car?

mikey72

worried_jim wrote: »

car is flying on the 50/50 mix at the moment. No problems on startup, no smells and drives just as well, if not better- added bonus, gear change is really smooth now with the new clutch cable.
I have some oil in the garage from a prev petrol engined car will it do any harm using it as a top up in my diesel engine or should I go and buy some oil specifically for a diesel engined car?

So long as it's an A3/B3, and not just an A3, it'll be ok.
If it's just an A3, put it in with the veg oil.

Kilty_2

Hmmm I'm looking for a banger, and a diesel veg-friendly banger would be even better :rotfl:

I assume it's a MK3 (F) 1.7 TD?

mikey72

Kilty wrote: »

Hmmm I'm looking for a banger, and a diesel veg-friendly banger would be even better :rotfl:

I assume it's a MK3 (F) 1.7 TD?

You need the old mechanical injection pump, and the bosch pump, not lucas.

worried_jim

Kilty wrote: »

Hmmm I'm looking for a banger, and a diesel veg-friendly banger would be even better :rotfl:

I assume it's a MK3 (F) 1.7 TD?

mine is a 1997 with the GM engine and bosch pump. If you can find one with the isuzu engine then I believe this is the perfect combination, but it must have a bosch pump. I got mine for £575 and am now really happy with it as I've sorted out the niggles. MOT due Feb and it is now flying on the veg, it runs so much better then just dino. If I usemy free source of wvo then the running cost are zero and at the moment I am using KTC rape oil @ 78p a litre. Let us know how you get on !

housesitter

Just an update.
Car is still running well on the veg oil. Now sitting at 206K miles. Nearly 100K of those on veg oil in my ownership! (Astra Isuzu with Bosch IP - or the most amazing Lucas ever!)

It suffered in the cold snap. Seriously low temperatures. I didn't expect it to cope to be honest and actually it surprised me.
I was cranking her over and it was making a sound like bits of piston were knocking around. That's the pretty near solid oil in the fuel pump for you !!
It flattened the battery trying to start it one morning (and it's an oversized battery from a fontera), so I caved and took the weekend car which is a petrol.
But not wanting to be beaten, the next day I warmed up the intake manifold with a blow torch and the injector pipes, and then sure enough she started up in the snow and cold with a glourious cloud of white chippy essence.

The key is getting the combustion cycle going.
Once you're doing that then keeping the veg going isn't that much of a problem at idling engine speeds.
Give it a small amount of time to warm and then whilst sluggish, it will cope with low speeds. ie: enough for snow.

I was tempted to cave and add some derv but I had a 4WD petrol to play with in he snow so not that bothered.
Once the weather improved a few days later everything was back to normal again.
I was satisfied that it would start in the cold, so no need to be pushing it every day to do so.

Now we have good weather (feels like a british summer already!) it's the same as normal. No problems running.

Left it for 3 weeks as we went away on hols. On return it took a few seconds longer but again it fired up. Good old diesel engines.

Only the MOT to worry about now. Snapped front and rear spring on one side, leaking zorst and a small rust patch to plate over and paint. Not due till June so plenty of time to fix it.


C'mon, go 100% WVO/SVO, it'll cope !