Veggie Diesel Mix

ballooba

I was passing by Aldi today and I decided to knock in and see what price veggie oil is at these days. It's 70c a litre. I was wondering could I run my 2001 Landcruiser Colorado on a Diesel/Veggie Oil mix to save a few bob?

Flora is 80c a litre which is still a good saving.

corglass

50/50 mix max. My bro does it with wexford oil. try it 70/30 first. Should work. his corolla see no difference except it's slower to start.

ballooba

Thanks corglass.

Can anyone else confirm this? I want to be double sure.

Pep

Do you have to make any modifications to use veggie oil?

corglass

Just so you know, toyota will probably give you the old "only use proper diesel...." with the worst that can happen from what i've heard is clogged filters because of the high viscosity.

Mixing with regular diesel tends to solve this.

ballooba

What about the acidity though? I've heard this mentioned about SVO.

3ps

check out your engine on www.elsbett.com online shop.

If in doubt DO NOT PUT VEGGIE IN

peasant

Veg oil isn't acidic ...that's Bio-diesel (methyl-ester)

Once you have the veg oil in your cylinder, burning it is not the problem. It burns just as well as diesel, some people even claim an improvement in performance.

It's getting it there that is the problem. Veg oil is "thicker" than diesel and it congeals quicker at low temperatures (some veggie fats come in blocks, remember?)

This can cause several problems:
your fuel pump may not be able to create sufficient suction (esp when its cold)
your filters may congeal (esp when its cold)

and lastly and most importantly, your injection pump may not like it at all. highly efficient modern common rail systems with their immense pressure are particularly susceptive to increases in viscosity ...your pump may simply not hack it, or worse, break

That's why most people will install pre-heaters and injector modifications when they're serious about running veg oil (and veg oil only)

Adding a bit of Aldis finest every now and then during summer time is usually no problem (10-30 %) add more or let it get cold and you will get into trouble.
Best case scenario you just need to change your diesel filter, worst case you fubar'd your complete engine.

So you always take a bit of a risk experimenting and a proper conversion is too dear for just trying it outand you'd need to do some serious mileage to get your investment back.

And then there would be the issue of legality.

See http://www.eilishoils.com/ for further information

ballooba

I read on a UK (LC Prado) forum about a guy running a 50% mix in summer and a 25% mix in winter.

I have put my motor on a 17% mix today. Works out at 99c per litre for 90 litres at 17% mix.

3ps

if you have a modern diesel HDI TDI type engine then you are taking a risk.

CJhaughey

From what I have read vegetable oil is quite hard on the rubber components in the engine, hoses etc and the elsbett kit includes the necessary pieces to replace these components.
I also heard that there can be issues with some fuel tank liners not liking the vegetable oil.
I haven't been able to try this yet so will watch your progress with interest.
Ballooba is yours the D4D or 1-KZTE engine?

ballooba

Mine is 1-KTZE. I've been told on the Prado Yahoo Group that it's not such a good idea now. Hard on the injectors. Might check out the local bio-diesel operation when I'm home today. Could be a better solution.