iuserford
December 6, 2008, 5:42 pm
I've done this in a Vauxhall Corsa for about 14 months. As long as the fuel pump is a better brand it will be fine. Basicaly with the Corsa, I had a Bosh pump, some vehicles have Lucas ones, if I remember right and these are the cheaper kind which fail. However, a 50/50 mix is usualy safe. Its all down to the weather outside. If its a hot May, chances are you could go more veg than diesel. However if its a cold December, veg oil thickens so you go 25/75,( more diesel). Also, this makes starting an issue. Don't be put off. Replace your Glowplugs if necessesary, and have a good battery. I wrapped a pair of black thermall socks around my fuel lines, and moved them closer to my heater pipes. In a proper SVO job, whereby you switch from diesel to Straight Veg Oil, you have pipes that is a pipe within a pipe. Your oil travels one way in the inner pipe and your coolant travels the other. The pipe is usually a couple of meters long and wound into a coil to save space. By time the oil travels through this pipe its heated. I just placed my pipes close together and cable tied them. I then used a piece of carpet to lie over the engine and bay. This helps when outside is frozen.
With regards to cold starting, turning the ignition on the glowplugs warm, you light goes out and the glowplugs run for several seconds more whilst you start your engine. If you have problems starting after the light goes out, just re-light the plugs, wait several seconds and re-light them, this pre heating method will shorten the plugs life, but will prevent continuous cranking of the starter and draining the battery.
Once I was running Tesco's veg oil, I found a smoother engine and it became a little more responsive. I even filtered our chippan through a sock to get the bits out and ran that, by the way, exhaust smells nicer. Have known the smell, if I walk down the street, I can smell who's doing it:)
I also thinned oil with white spirit. Give it a shake and pour it in.
I miss standing in the supermarket, pouring a 3 litre bottle into the tank and driving off, you get some looks. Lidl's the cheapest at the mo.
iuserford