Running my Vauxhall Astra on veg oil

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers!

Good luck decoking your engine in a few months.

worried_jim

I have about 50L of ready fuel in cleaned out cubies. Added about 5L to the fuel tank on Thursday night and have now done about 100 miles with no ill effects and have started preparing the next batch. Water butt and filter seem to be working very well and I give the filter a shake in a bin liner to remove the solids.
The ready fuel will sit in the cubies for a few days to see if there is any change in colour at the bottom which would signify water, Then over time I will increase the % to dino ratio. No funny smells from the exhaust yet but everyone I speak too is interested in the progress.

worried_jim

I have now been adding a litre a day to the 2/3 full fuel tank and doing 30-40 miles with no difference to power or cold starting although it still double digits here on the south coast even at night. I 've taken the oil form the butt into a 1 litre water bottle. Its lovely and golden with no difference in colour and certainly looks good enough to cook with again.
I last brimmed my tank with dino 16/10/09 and have travelled approx 250 miles and slowly increased the wvo ratio daily since Thursday.
I must add its a very strange sensation pouring it into your tank and then climbing behind the wheel and turning the key, waiting for the glow plugs to heat up and then firing the ignition- almost an anti-climax, but it a nice way(the car still starts !). It may be physiological but when its up and running and flying along at 40mph+ it feels smoother.

worried_jim

Went into a car spares shop today to pick up some speaker wire.
A lady came in behind me and asked the assistant " Has my car passed the MOT?"
To which the reply was " Just failed on a couple of window wipers dear. It will be done in about 45 mins."
The woman was very upset about this ( Silly fool, I thought )
She mentioned that she had replaced them the day before.
The assistant did not believe her and argued the point.
She insisted that she was not lying, and got even more upset.
A second assistant joined in the argument, " Sorry love they are not good enough to pass the MOT."
Then the assistant went quiet and disappeared into next room.
Lady then told first chap where she bought them.
" I bought them from here love!"
SILENCE. You could have heard a pin drop.
Er, er we will replace them free of charge for you.
At this point I was almost in hysterics, and had to walk away.

worried_jim

I ran this current tank of dino with about 10L of wvo added at various points and its getting down to the last 10 litres in the tank so at some point this weekend I will half fill the tank with dino and then brim with wvo for a 50/50 ratio.
The temp is still double figures here on the south coast and the car has been starting and running fine with no differences. The filtered wvo has sat in the cubies for week and there is no difference in colour or sediment at the bottom.
The wvo experience continues....

worried_jim

The set up-



The filter-



Storage-



The lovely amber nectar ready to go-



I hope this works !




This better be made by BOSCH !

atrixblue.-MFR-.

worried_jim wrote: »

I have a 60 litre fuel tank and will just put 15 litres in. I've read that if you have a fuel pump manufactured by Bosch as opposed to lucas it will be more suitable, all I need to do is find out which one I have.

i worked in a motor factors and have seen many diesel pumps go down on all types of manufacturers. i would say 3 out of every ten we sold only to have a warrenty claim in the next few months after selling it we would send pump off for inspection under warrenty and usually reported to have gone down due to the use of cooking oil blocking the internal fuel routes seizing the pump to operate and the diesel stop solenoid, thus voiding your warrenty under use of improper fuel. some diesel pump are costly especially boch pumps rangeing from 300=vat to 1500=vat depending on the serial number. plus if caught by police useing cooking oil in your car can be seized for not paying duty on your fuel get intouch hm rev and see how you go about paying duty on the oil..... deisel vehicles useing cooking oil and agracutural deisels are easy to spot they smoke more than usual.

goldspanners

atrixblue.-MFR-. wrote: »

i worked in a motor factors and have seen many diesel pumps go down on all types of manufacturers. i would say 3 out of every ten we sold only to have a warrenty claim in the next few months after selling it we would send pump off for inspection under warrenty and usually reported to have gone down due to the use of cooking oil blocking the internal fuel routes seizing the pump to operate and the diesel stop solenoid, thus voiding your warrenty under use of improper fuel. some diesel pump are costly especially boch pumps rangeing from 300=vat to 1500=vat depending on the serial number. plus if caught by police useing cooking oil in your car can be seized for not paying duty on your fuel get intouch hm rev and see how you go about paying duty on the oil..... deisel vehicles useing cooking oil and agracutural deisels are easy to spot they smoke more than usual.

or simply go to the scrap yard and buy one second hand for a fraction of that price.

and regarding the hm revenue and customs, this has already been covered on this thread and im sure jim is fully aware of his limitations and is well under the limit he is allowed to use.
the extra smoke you mention i havent really seen to be honest,but i have seen cars running on pure diesel and they still smoke a bit so your rule of thumb for guessing which fuel the driver is using is poor. a good mix of oil and diesel (which diesel effectively is an oil anyway) will create no more or no less smoke than normal.

worried_jim

Wow ! I didn't realise GM offer 13 years warranties on parts,I sure am lucky being a Vauxhall customer and if it breaks I'll pop it along to my nearest dealership and get it swapped over. I'll stop at HM customs and revenue along the way and pop a cheque in to them, that is of course if I don't get pulled over by the police on the way for driving a polluting (thats a carbon neutral polluting) smoking car.
Glad you liked the pics ! (and sarcasm)

worried_jim

Am now running 50/50. It rattles a bit on start up but after 30 seconds settles down and drive fine. Have had contact from a chap who has been running the same model on wvo for 2 years with no major problems and he said-
"My fuel filter lasted over one year, I replaced it but after 300 miles symptoms of fuel starvation returned. I found the tank stainer blocked with gunge (not replaceable). I cleaned it as well as i could & got another 6 summer months out of it. This week I changed the fuel filter again & blasted compressed air into the tank through the flow & return pipes to clean any build up on the strainer & the car is noticeably quicker. I am now planning to remove the in-tank strainer & fit something removable/cleanable or replaceable."
Sounds promising and I am glad I am not the only one doing it. Taking my first m-way trip on Sunday 170 miles, cant wait. £26 of dino mixed with wvo has just done me 485miles.