Ecodriver

Cazzaroo

Hi,

Ecodriver came up in my newsfeed on my phone, about saving on petrol using this device.

I did a search on it to see if there were any reviews but not much has come up.  Reviews I did read were mixed.

Anyone know anything about it?

Thanks

Ebe_Scrooge

Never heard of it, but after a quick Google it sounds like snake-oil to me.  You'll save far more fuel by adjusting your driving style and just keeping your car properly maintained, and the tyres at the correct pressure.

It is possible to have your engine "re-mapped", but this is a specialist job and is not cheap - plus it's usually classed as a "modification" for insurance purposes.

TimSynths

If it was that good/reliable don't you think Ford etc would be using it/doing it already?

Cazzaroo

I guess so

Goudy

It's junk.
If you want to save a few quid on fuel easily, just take your foot off the gas 20 metres earlier on every junction and corner.

mobileron

Just done a 160 mile trip at the weekend got 60 mpg 2 litre Skoda, so what we need is non fossil fuel for diesel cars.
Just seen there testing some at the moment.

Its not the cars thats dirty its the fuel.

facade

mobileron said:

Just done a 160 mile trip at the weekend got 60 mpg 2 litre Skoda, so what we need is non fossil fuel for diesel cars.
Just seen there testing some at the moment.

Its not the cars thats dirty its the fuel.

If you look at the fuel pump next time you fill up, it will likely say B7 on it, like petrol pumps say E5 or E10.

B7 means 7% biodiesel (E5,E10 mean 5%,10% ethanol, it is supposed to be bioethanol).

So you are already using some non fossil fuel.

Some people run their diesels on cooking oil- they are the ones that smell like chip fat when they pass you.

The problem with biofuels is the plants take up loads of space, so they have to cut down forests to plant them, and there is less food available for people as the crops are sold for fuel production.

mgfvvc

mobileron said:

Just done a 160 mile trip at the weekend got 60 mpg 2 litre Skoda, so what we need is non fossil fuel for diesel cars.
Just seen there testing some at the moment.

Its not the cars thats dirty its the fuel.

For people living near major roads, sustainable diesel is just as bad as regular diesel. In the long run the greater efficiency, convenience and cleanliness of electric will out compete fossil juice for 95% of uses. We're still a way off, but but in a decade or less the progress in electric transport will make electric vehicles the obvious choice, at least in countries with a reliable grid.

Goudy

It might be worth clearing up the cooking oil thing.
Yes a diesel engine might run on cooking oil but there's more to it than sticking a few bottle of Crisp n Dry in the tank.

Cooking oil is thicker than diesel and modern diesels fuel delivery systems just aren't up to lifting it from the tank and pumping it to the injectors.
This can lead to all sorts of lift pump, HP pump and injector problems which tend be be very expensive, particularly common rail and slightly older direct injection diesels

Also as it's thicker it doesn't atomize the same way as diesel. It doesn't tend to atomize as finely as diesel.
This causes gumming problems in the cylinders. Globs of burnt oil turns to heavy carbon deposits (like on the rim of a well used chip pan) which clogs up the rings and can ruin the engine pretty quickly.

Proper biodiesel from cooking oils go through a process called transesterification which removes the fatty acids in it so you're just left with something that has similar properties to normal pump diesel.

Some older, pump timed, inlet injected diesels can handle cooking oil better but you usually have to take a few steps to make it run perfect, like preheating it to thin it out which usually means twin tanking, so diesel from one tank to start and oil from the other once the engine is warm (this then causes problems with where the spill off fuel returns to).

I've ran a couple of older diesels on used cooking oil in the past as back then there were a couple of engines that tolerated it very well.
There were a few ways to bypass some of the above, like using a solvent like acetone to break the surface tension which thinned it out enough to be lifted from the tank and atomise properly, though this can cause problems with seals and pipes, but at the end of the day they were cheap enough to bin when the problems started.
Mine also smelt of pop corn by the way.

These days many modern diesels will tolerate a certain ratio of properly made biodiesel, like B20 (between 6 and 20% bio) and that ratio will be in the handbook.

There aren't many that will run B100 (100% properly made biodiesel) without some serious modification.
Don't start pouring cooking oil in the tank unless you want serious trouble.