Running my Vauxhall Astra on veg oil

greyngone

Jim:
Have you googled Vauxhall forums? There must be tons of help and info on the net. I received tons of help off a Mitsubishi forum before I considered bio fuel - one owner kept a 3 year, 96,000 mile diary on there of his experiences running his Shogun on WVO.
Ive owned Volvos and Saabs - the respective owners forums are brilliant - I successfully changed a steering rack because of the advice and help from Volvo forum members. Id never have considered a task like that armed with just my Haynes.
Filters are dead basic stuff - all you need is someone to tell you of the location of both. My old Shogun had 2 fuel filters - one 'in tank' with an inspection cover in the boot floor. No Haynes manual- location, procedure for removal and lots of photo's off the forum.

worried_jim wrote: »

I need to get some clean storage containers for my filtered oil which is ready to go, I am thinking of a camping water container.

Have you considered a water butt? You might pick one up cheap this time of year?? As far as camping gear go - do you have a good free ads paper locally? Its just that time of year when people will want to get rid of anything connected with decent weather?!

greyngone

Jim
regarding the Haynes manual - hope you dont mind - I emailed the seller and he says there is no mention of Isuzu. There is an identical book finishing today - 99p, £2.75 postage and no bids - wouldnt this be worth a punt?
Your car maybe a 1997 p - but when was it actually manufactured?... When did Haynes last update and revise that book?

Could you contact a seller of any of those listed and ask them the exact engine size or sizes covered - eg., 1699cc? I hope I don't sound patronising - sorry!!


Im sure its been said by someone else on here - but as I found when I first filled my tank 3/4 full of oil - it does have a 'cleansing' effect on youir fuel system. I ended up dredging the walls of my tank of all the crap that the petroluem companies dump in their diesel. This cloggerd up my filters,fuel lines and an injector.
I would, once Id increased the amount of oil to diesel ratio, build up the amount I put in to my tank progressively. Therefore avoiding cleansing it in one big disastrous go!

worried_jim

Absolutely right about cleansing the tank, I plan to add just a little at a time starting with 10L to 40L of dino.
I am getting plenty of help from http://www.vegetableoildiesel.co.uk although my Dad nearly died laughing this morning when I told what I was doing.
One of the advantages of doing the filtering in cold weather is that the fat solidified in the filter, I am trying to think of a good way to dispose of this and clean out the micron filter, all I've come up with is a pair of rubber glovers, bin liner and a bucket of boiling water. There is loads of it just from 30L of oil. I suppose I could use it as dripping on toast?

goldspanners

Im enjoying reading your updates jim, i hope it all goes well next week.
regarding changing your filters it should be easy peasy. spin off old oil filter,watch out for spillage,you dont want your drive covered in black oil marks. apply a film of oil to the seal on the new one and then spin the new one on.
your fuel filter should be easy too, spin old filter off (this will be full of diesel so prepare for some spillage,although if youve already dropped the oil from the oil filter the diesel might help to clean this off! if the filter housing on this izuzu has a fuel primer then dont worry about filling up the filter with diesel just fit the filter,again with a light film of oil round the seal, it saves them seizing and makes them easier to remove later,them pump the primer to lift fuel from the tank and it will fill the filter for you. if it doesnt have a primer then you should fill the filter with fressh diesel before fitting it.
draining your oil is just a case of removing the sump plug and letting the engine oil drain off into a suitable container,then refil from the filling point at the top of the engine,usually on the rocker cover.

worried_jim

Thanks gold spanners ! I know where the oil filter is on the block, the fuel filter and priming sounds a bit more complicated.


This is not my car but is similar enough. I think the fuel filter is the white cylinder on the bulkhead above the letter "d" for diesel.

goldspanners

worried_jim wrote: »

Thanks gold spanners ! I know where the oil filter is on the block, the fuel filter and priming sounds a bit more complicated.


This is not my car but is similar enough. I think the fuel filter is the white cylinder on the bulkhead above the letter "d" for diesel.

it certainly looks like it jim, it doesnt look as if it has a primer, so best just filling it with diesel then put it on.its easy to do.

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers!

The fuel filter will be inline with the fuel pump, on the supply side. You can find the pump by tracing the injector lines back from the top of each cylinder.

Make sure your battery is fully charged before you change your filter, as often a lot of cranking is required to purge the air out of the system.

worried_jim

Many thanks everyone !

mikey72

You can use the old oil containers for the clean oil, rinse them out with diesel, tip the contaminated diesel back into the next batch of oil. Or see if you can get any new oil containers from the place that gives you the used oil. (Side of our local pub has a waste bin full of them)
Best suggestion for the fat is to burn it on bonfire night.

worried_jim

Have just collected the filter after yesterdays filtering (approx 40 litres wvo). It was full of "lard". Fortunately as it was cool it has solidified somewhat. I gave it a good shake in a bin liner and got most of the goo out. Filled a bucket with boiling water and left to soak. It is now in the washing machine and hopefully it should come out as good as new. The kitchen stinks like a chippy! but by the weekend I should be fuelling my car for free.