Best car for Bio Diesel?

Rolandtheroadie

bigjl wrote: »

Any of the pre cdi Mercedes with the old 6 cylinder lump are good to run on filtered waste cooking oil and new cooking oil.

E300, E250 or C250 i think were the ones. The early C220 might be ok but not sure when it went over to cdi.

I put veg in a 95 Xantia with the 1.9 XUD. Any XUD will do as long as it has the bosch diesel pump. I think all the 2.1's were not up to veg oil use.

There are some very good websites that can be more specific.

Have google.

I think the 2.2 and 2.0 dti lumps were ok for bio use but not sure about veg. Though most cars can be run on veg with a twin tank system.

One of the biggest issues with bio these days is getting a good supplier.

And unless you can find a source of really cheap used oil it will be economically unviable to make your own.

Sure the mercs suffer from ring gumming on veg and the 1/4 saddle tank issues are probably worse on veg.

Had a 2.2 DTI I was going to run on bio, couldnt get it to run on diesel, far less anything else. The Frontera forum seemed to think it would break it (VP44 pump issues I think).

OP, to pick a car? Do you care what you run around in? Previously ran Corsa B's and Astra F's, a Megane DTI and a 1.9JTD Punto.
I'm just about to break my twin tanked Merc 250d (just really ran it on bio) and currently have a pre 2000 Passat estate and a 2002 Grand Voyager on 100% bio.

If you are going to be buying it in, learn how to test it.

OddballJamie

bigjl wrote: »

Surely only an issue if you make it yourself or buy it without duties paid.

As the OP has a price for "road going" and one for "off road" the on road one must be duty and tax paid.

There was a lot of talk on the board i got my info n veg oil use about the 2500 litre limit and how likely enforcement action was.

Though 2500 is actually plenty per year and the genersl concensus was it was to help reduce people buying veg oil from Costco and pouring it in the tank and driving.

From looking at the website links the OP has provided it seems they are either going to be using the rather dubious one on Ebay or the off road product from the other site. Neither of which seem to be paying the right amount of duty or tax.

The on road product on the website is £1.30 a litre, seems a lot of hassle to save 6p a litre on general diesel. A cashback credit card could make the same savings.

forgotmyname

Especially when it waxes up in the winter or they find its mostly petrol and used cooking oil..

Red diesel with the dye removed. Seems they can still test that and even though the colour has gone some elements remain and they can find that in a simple dip test.

trubster

Is it a requirement to keep receipts? I buy a lot of diesel and don't keep receipts, why would bio be any different?

trubster

forgotmyname wrote: »

Red diesel with the dye removed. Seems they can still test that and even though the colour has gone some elements remain and they can find that in a simple dip test.

A simple PH test would show acid has been added to remove the dye.

Its not a clever thing to do as HMRC are on this like...... Yeah

westwood68

As mentioned....well made biodiesel can be used in any car and there is a lot of it about.

forgotmyname - can you give examples of people who have been caught selling used oil mixed with petrol and selling as biodiesel?

There can be issues with waxing in the winter so that's a good point that people should take on board.

As for the car being impounded for not paying tax on fuel used...even a 4x4 will be able to travel 15000 miles plus on that amount & a car like mine will top 20,000 miles. So unless you are exeeding that between MOT's, there will be no issue. & quite apart from that, how are they going to prove it's not your first (or second) tank of bio and you have been using regular diesel all year?

Scare stories about tax and problems on well-made bio are just that; scare stories and have no basis in truth

forgotmyname

forgotmyname - can you give examples of people who have been caught selling used oil mixed with petrol and selling as biodiesel?

Not personally but go on the bio diesel forums. People on there have had others join and said they add petrol to thin the oil down.
Also making it less prone to freezing.

The very same people that come on saying they have a free source of oil and offering to sell it after being processed. With added petrol..no thanks.
The thing is it probably works to a degree but its why some get issues.

It not proper bio-diesel.

Its customs and excise who seem to find you guilty then let you prove otherwise.
Ive been pulled in trucks where there were dipping the fuel tanks on all sorts of vehicles.
Farmers Land Rovers in rural shropshire was a popular one.

tillyscot

The older version of the Audi A3 and A4 are fine before it turned into a common rail engine!