Running a car on veg oil
By Roseanne - Posted on October 22nd, 2007
Tagged: Ideas, questions, discussion
I am getting conflicting information from mechanics and garage owners on what type of diesel car I can run using vegetable oil. They tell me it will wreck an engine. Also is Bio fuel available in Cork city yet?
Any thoughts?
Thank you,
Roseanne
There is plenty of information on the web about using vegetable oil in a diesel engine. You can add 10% with no problems, apparently (but don't take my word for it!). But there is a big issue here with using a food product as a fuel substitute.
Cooking oil is not actually BioFuel - that is a different product manufactured from a biological source such as grain. You may wish to look at the recent statements from the UN saying that the manufacture of BioFuel is a crime against humanity.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7065061.stm
HI Roseanne,
I spoke to a very good Diesel Injection/Turbo specialist he said that veg oil/ biodiesel is fine for older engines (non common rail diesel). It is best to leave about 20% Diesel for lubrication purposes. Also when running on veg oil the seals on the fuel system will not last as long.
The other issue with veg oil of course is unless you can buy in large quantities the carbon footprint produced in the manufacturing, packaging and shipping is greater than running on diesel.
matt
Hi, is there a project anywhere in the locality to collect and clean used cooking oil? presumably this might make more useful option. What happens to the stuff the Council collect? Is there a legal implication if dipped by the Gards?