Rapeseed oil

S

SJHeath

Member
I drive a 1.4 TDI and have just put in a 50:50 mixture of normal Diesel and rapeseed oil from a new company in my home town.

Basically the car starts warm and cold with no issues, however, under acceleration it judders very badly, which I assume is a result of the new fuel mixture? as the car did not behave this way before I did this.

I just wanted to know if anyone else experienced this? and if so whether the symptoms disappeared once the biodiesel was used up?

Thanks

Si
 
i posted a while ago regarding this, i've been experimenting a couple of years albeit on other vehicles.
my guess is you're using too much vegie oil for the cold weather conditions(zero at night this week), i would go 70/30 max until it warms up a bit, in the summer 50/50 is no problem you may even get to 70% vegie to 30%diesel but don't push it, all cars are different and injection pumps are real expensive, stuttering means it ain't happy.
i'm currently filtering used chip shop oil down to 1 micron(car filters are 10 micron)and it's going well, and it's free!
if i were you i'd stick some diesel in for now to dilute it then have a go at 30% shortly when it gets a bit warmer, say over 10ish degrees c.

ps. i'm refering to cooking oil not biodiesel, not quite the same thing.
 
Thanks Andy,

I thought I might have been a tad ambitous going for 50:50. I've used over a quarter of a tank so I'll take your advise and fill it up with normal diesel.

I've been taking it easy as I didn't want to push the injection pump as you pointed out. Hopfully it'll work it's way out the system with no lasting affects.

Thanks again
 
andyboy said:
i posted a while ago regarding this, i've been experimenting a couple of years albeit on other vehicles.
my guess is you're using too much vegie oil for the cold weather conditions(zero at night this week), i would go 70/30 max until it warms up a bit, in the summer 50/50 is no problem you may even get to 70% vegie to 30%diesel but don't push it, all cars are different and injection pumps are real expensive, stuttering means it ain't happy.
i'm currently filtering used chip shop oil down to 1 micron(car filters are 10 micron)and it's going well, and it's free!
if i were you i'd stick some diesel in for now to dilute it then have a go at 30% shortly when it gets a bit warmer, say over 10ish degrees c.

ps. i'm refering to cooking oil not biodiesel, not quite the same thing.
Click to expand...

So what are you saying Andy, Can we mix cooking oil with derv at 30% with no dramas?
 
cooking oil

Be careful on the cooking oil front as with all road fuels our great and beloved government want their cut, they don't care what you put in your beloved car as long as the dues have been paid(namely tax) and have employed a bunch of well meaning individuals known as the customs and excise who have a branch of their office who specialise in testing road fuels(they do it well ,regularly and with a passion the likes of which you wouldn't believe). I'm afraid to say if it can't be bought out of your local service station then you are commiting an offence by using it unless you notify them in advance and tell them your usage stats over a given period (they will monitor this by the way)all this will culminate in a bill dropping onto your mat for the excise due for that period:(If you throw caution to the wind and go for it anyway and get caught what happens next varies)
1: They generally thump you with an on the spot fine around £400-£500 paid immedietlly.
2: They can pursue you for the back tax due which they take from when you bought the car X the factory consumption figures X the average drivers mileage(per annum) X their excise % = £quite a bill.
3: They can also confiscate your car.No right of reply and no bus fare home.Whoever is in the car wife, kids, buggy the lot gets horsed out and walks home.:(
So although you may think you are in the clear and are doing no wrong beware of the road fuel testing unit.Another thing is your car smells like an old popadom on this stuff, alright I suppose if you like Indian grub;) Sorry guys
Ps this applies to any colour/type of road fuel not freely available at the forecourt pump.
 
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cooking oil is totally legal, up to 2500 lts a year(absolutely officer)do a bit of googling and the legal document will pop up, sorry i don't have it handy to paste link, the law was changed in 06/07 before that you had to pay duty.
the only way they can tell is by detecting the smoke with a probe to sense for vegie oil, dipping it may show but it's a similar colour so wouldn't be conclusive(unlike red)
what i'm saying is keep some kind of record showing reciepts/usage and you are absolutely fine.
going back to your question 30% vegie usually works fine in any tdi car any temperature within reason.
my current workhorse is 07 registered with a common rail turbo diesel 2.2 engine, it's covered 22k miles running various dilutions of new oil and now chip shop oil, so don't let anyone tell you it doesn't work, experiment but don't over do it, tbh i virtually never go over 50/50 even in the summer, just in case it kills the pump.
 
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here's the link to customs regarding the legal use of 2500lt per year, plus other usefull info.

http://www.veggiepower.co.uk/


there's lots of info on the web, one last point change your engine oil and filter at more often intervals i'm doing mine around 5k, a diesel engine absorbs a little of what it's running on and veg oil makes it slightly sticky, apparently.
it's also really simple to filter used oil, look on ebay for the filter bags etc.
 
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Veggie oil

Great stuff ,just felt a wee word of warning was needed, just in case.Didn't know about the law change though that changes things quite a bit;).Is the local chippy quite keen to get rid of it or does he want paid:(
 
So when you run on a mix do you not use the additional kit that heats up the oil?

I did read somewhere that a chap was buying large amounts of oil from his local supermarket who got suspicious and HMR&C got involved and somehow he ended up with a £500 tax bill. So is it now legal?
 
the guy or guys that were fined was years ago, remember the story from wales with the asda selling out of oil? all the yocals were using it in there cars and got fined, the law has changed now.
regarding the chippys selling it, most near me are happy to give it away, but it won't be long before they catch on, with diesel prices rising fast and people running on veg i predict we may have to cough up a fiver or so soon for a drum.
i'm not sure what they were doing with it in the past, i think some were paying for it to be removed and recycled some may have just chucked it?
there are twin tank systems that work a bit like lpg/petrol conversions(we run two of these also), the vehicle starts on regular fuel then switches over once everything is nice and warm, i believe the heat exchanger system warms the veg oil to thin it down a bit via 12v power or the cars own hot water in the cooling system.
tons of info is posted on the web, i'm happy so far with mixing it, though i recently spoke with a company that could fit and fully guarantee a veg oil kit to my car for 500 quid! you're then driving for free, interesting.
 
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Firstly thanks for all the replies guys.

As far as the legal side of things I got the oil from a new company in my home town, I think they have paid the required duty so the only concern I had was with what it could be doing to my engine. Plus all said and done, even if it was illegal, I think I'd be willing to take my chances.

As it turned out I took it to the local Audi specialist and they did a quick diagnostic and confirmed it was the Master air flow sensor and nothing to do with the fuel. They replaced it and bosh! back to normal.

Cheers

Si
 
Why buy vegetable oil and pay duty on it?

SJHeath said:
Firstly thanks for all the replies guys.

As far as the legal side of things I got the oil from a new company in my home town, I think they have paid the required duty so the only concern I had was with what it could be doing to my engine. Plus all said and done, even if it was illegal, I think I'd be willing to take my chances.

As it turned out I took it to the local Audi specialist and they did a quick diagnostic and confirmed it was the Master air flow sensor and nothing to do with the fuel. They replaced it and bosh! back to normal.

Cheers

Si
Click to expand...
It sounds strange that a company is selling you straight vegetable oil and paying the duty for you. Straight vegetable oil is expensive at the moment up to £1.00 /l without duty. What are you paying for it (if you don't mind me asking)?
Also as stated above, you do not have to pay duty on straight vegetable oil no matter where you are buying it from (unless you are using over 2500 l/y of the stuff). If it's reclaimed waste vegetable oil and has been filtered specifically for use as fuel then I could understand that the company may have to declare it but I think that this is highly unlikely.:confused:

Are you sure that you are not buying biodiesel?
Biodiesel is not just straight vegetable oil, it's vegetable oil that has been reacted with methanol and a catalyst, usually sodium hydroxide, to make methyl esters.
Anyone that produces any ammount of biodiesel for sale will have to pay duty on it. However if you produce it for your own use then you can make up to 2500 l/y without having to pay duty. That's what I plan to do as soon as I have teh processor made. :cool:
Your A2 tdi is certified to run on 100% biodiesel, biodiesel can be mixed with dino diesel in any ratio and there will be no engine problems as long as the fuel is made properly.
 
I put into my a2 3 litres of Veg oil from the Co-op last week
87p a litre.
Lidls is cheaper but while I was in the co-op I thought Id give it a bash.
seems ok so far:eek:
 
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As a veteran of using Veg Oil in TDI's I thought I'd be wise to add my comments..

'Back in the day' when I had my 1.9 TDI Cordoba, running on veg oil was no problem, infact I ran on mixtures of more than 50% without issue in the summer.. but this was a NON PD ENGINE.

Since then, all the TDI's I've owned (including the A2) have been PD's, and I have never once used Veg Oil. If you wish to use SVO in a PD, you MUST fit a pre-heater, just pouring SVO into your tank could result in injector pump damage that will be very expensive to repair.

Simply google SVO in PD TDI and you'll find many a person stating the same thing: DON'T DO IT! ;)
 
Please Research Earlier Posts Before Ruining Your Engines!

Chaps and Chapesses

Diesel prices will only get higher - last week saw £1.239pl and how long before it's £1.5pl or £2pl?

However by putting SVO,uncertified biodiesel or worse untreated WVO into your A2 you are courting engine death!

Please look back over the posts from the start of the A2OC

It WILL save you much heartache and sorrow!

If you live in Germany you can safely buy RME diesel made to the highest standard (EN14214) and regularly tested (this stuff does not store well - algae issues etc).

Very few outlets in the UK do the full EN14214 test as it costs around £900 a time!

If you want your A2 to run on SVO/blended Bio diesel of more than 5% (B5) then you should invest in the technology that's out there and in the long term save £1000s in terms of engine repairs and fuel costs.

Look here:

http://www.hydrotechnik.co.uk/

http://biomotors.co.uk/

http://www.elsbett.com/gb/elsbett-representative/ihre-wahl.html

And NO I don't have shares in these companies!
 
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