Running my Vauxhall Astra on veg oil

Skeksis

Sorry for not being on for a while! My Pug 406 1.9TD died a year ago, and I then went through another 2 petrol cars before landing on a Y reg Astra 1.7 DTi, it's had a recon engine before me owning it and there is a fault with fuel timing control solenoid overfuelling on the fuel pump, but a mechanic I took it to for a service didn't know if it was a pump replacement job or just the solenoid!

Anyway it goes from A to B and is fairly noisy, but I fire in some Miller's EcoMax every other tank and it seems to run a lot better, averaging 40/45mpg on my urban runs, but impossible to tell if it should be more with that fault and if that's the reason for it being overly noisy.

So I'm going to see if it needs much work for it's MOT in May and then I may get it repaired. I'd like a chip fat express again, but there is a big advantage in the diesels registered after March 2001 in that the tax is cheap, mine is 6 months/£52 and 12 months/£95, and the Eco4 model of mine is £30/year, so I may look for one of those!

worried_jim

Still got mine, although running dino at the moment. I do have 50 litres ready to go in the garage from last summer, probabaly wait till May though. MOT is up in Feb and I reckon I can get another year out of it. Scotsman- how is the Frontera running and are you using any special blends?

Wig

Family member has reported his Volvo V70 1998 S Reg diesel ( It's something like a 2.3 or 2.5 litre engine) is running well on the 100% bio diesel he makes in his garage. It costs him 40p/litre to make the stuff and he gets 48mpg on long motorway run, however he has had 59mpg being extra careful with the right foot.

This is miles better than I get in LPG and I will be looking very closely at this as a new car for myself - When I buy a house with a garage (which is the plan at the moment).

Rolandtheroadie

The fronteras getting work done just now before I get rid of the Astra. The plans initially bio, probably 75% with diesel. Twin tanking it is an option for the future though (as is twin tanking the wifes Voyager).

Bought in a bit of a rush at auction, probably wasnt the best buy in the world lol.

Road_Hog

Old mate, used to run his Landy on the oil from the local pub. The landlady liked it because she didn't to pay to have the oil taken away. I think the older cars run better on this stuff, as they're not so fussy as modern cars.

He used to mix the fuel or run a tank from the pub and then a tank of diesel. You could tell which he was using as it used to smell like a chip van on the pub stuff.

worried_jim

I very rarely smell any different, if sitting at the traffic lights in the summer with the windows down I may get a slight whiff of BBQ but that it- mind you I am not sitting behind the exhaust!

worried_jim

MOT is booked for 8am Monday morning, I am not too hopeful, I think this could be the end of an era. As far as I am aware there are no issues but you never know on a 15 year old car made in the UK, maybe it will just need tyres and a bulb, we shall see.
I often leave the house at 7am and it is damn cold at the moment and it took two slow laboured cranks to get it going on Wednesday so I had the battery off that evening and gave it a charge. I know that it could do with a new battery but it is fine out of the depths of winter and giving it a charge every couple of weeks through January and February is no big deal, especially when I don't know how much life is left in the car economically.
It would be great to get another years motoring out of it, but for £500 I could just buy another car around the corner like this one-
http://www.gumtree.com/p/cars-vans-motorbikes/rover-214si-2-lady-owners-fantastic-condition/96232639
Only time will tell and that time is just after 8am on Monday.

John_Pierpoint

I've a 10 year old Mondeo diesel that is smoking on start up - you can tell that one of the cylinders is not firing correctly when cold.
But as my mechanic observed: "How much do you want to spend on a car that is not worth 4 figures."

Now if I could get it MOT'd when hot.............

worried_jim

This is the thing- for the price of getting a car through an MOT you can buy a car with an MOT. I have an half hour slot booked for mine so it will be hot when I take it, especially as I have the first appointment of the day and will have spent 20 mins ragging the bollox off it up and down the Downs before I get there giving it an Italian tune up.

Rolandtheroadie

Good luck with the MOT, hopefully wont be too painful.

On a brighter note, the Astra F is cheap for bits.

You know the car, so even spending £400 to get another years ticket would be worth it in my book (assuming you like the car and dont want to change).