veg oil again!

[lacroupade]

Found an interesting post relating to common-rail diesels that supports Ricks earlier comments very well...admittedly its talking about Bio, but it implies SVO would have the same issue. As has already been said, B100 and B50 are simply diesel derived from bio sources, and NOT straight veggie oil (B100/B50 = 100% and 50% biodiesel respectively - I think B30 is the highest I've seen on a mainstream petrol forecourt).

Mind you, I thought the earlier Focus diesels were PSA units, and SVO has been widely used in France/Germany for years due to its wider/cheaper availability (Citroens, Mercs, VWs and Peugeots)....so maybe if it isn't a common-rail unit...?

As a follow-up to my follow-up, I have been running my '53 plate Focus TDCi on B50 for some 20,000 miles. It wasn't too good on B100, so I stuck with B50. Then last month the engine kept cutting out, and wouldn't restart for 10 mins. I renewed the CAMSHAFT POSITION SENSOR (16+vat) and this vastly improved starting, but didn't cure cutting out. Eventually had to have RAC tow to Ford main dealer. Full advanced diagnostics, found the fuel tank was full of a white waxy substance and this was coming through and causing repeated CLOGGED FUEL FILTER.
Tank drained, dropped and steam cleaned out. Refit and fill with DERV. This appears to have cured the cutting out and non-starting, but the bill was 380 quid. Someone who is also interested in bio research has very kindly helped me with this cost, but I would warn everyone that BIO IS NOT FOR COMMON RAIL DIESELS (e.g. TDCi, CTDi, CRD, HDI etc).
The problem is believed to be with the very harsh treatment that common rail gives to the fuel. It is ultra-compressed to 20,000 bar, a pressure which would "cut through a spanner", and extreme high temp 100+ deg.C. Then most of the fuel isn't injected, but is depressurized and exposed to oxygen when returned back to the tank. This constant recirculation with high temp/high pressure treatment accelerates OXIDATION of the biodiesel, and the white solids were most probably oxidized biodiesel. The OXIDATION STABILITY of biodiesel is very dependent on feedstock, and due to high demand for used cooking oil nowadays, good clean oil is becoming hard to get hold of - everybody wants it. All you can get is heavily used, contaminated with animal fat, high FFA oil. Don't put biodiesel made from high FFA oil in a common rail! I hope that my brave / foolish research is of benefit to YOU.


Heres the whole thread if you're interested...

http://www.howtomendit.com/answers.php?id=99172

 

[iceman]

Had a look Zippy and it says for the Focus TDi that it needs a two tank system:doh So it will run ok but as Tezzer says , it may be a pain to start.
My wife has a Focus too, so I may exeriment a bit when she's not looking:sly

thankyou i was looking for a link like that last night without success, somewhat confused as like you makeitfit my wife drives a focus and it's never off the road it says 2 tanks but you going to experiment while the wifey is not looking, are you going to add direct to the tank and if you hear no complaints from her just use something like a 50/50 in the summer and diesel only in the winter.

what ratio are you running? 50/50 didn't ought to cause a problem but I believe its true that using SVO does tend to expose any existing weaknesses in the engines running....?

Mine used to sometimes splutter a tad when starting with a heavy mix but I cured that by leaving the glowplugs on a for a few seconds extra before turning the key to Start.....

i went the full hog and from empty to full it took about 22 bottles in total of 100% SVO, mate came up in his landrover discovery a 7am this morning to see me turn it over and it started first time a wee bit of fluttering idling for a minute, but i notice a big differance i'm one of these people who needs to have radio loud as i hate hearing little knocks and rattles but these 2 days radio switched off windows down and enjoying driving again, only downfall is when you stop you get a whiff of the oil but i can live with this.

after seeing mine working we both went to tesco's and i bought 6 more boxes and he bought 10 notice there was cheaper oil bottles unpacked on top of the boxes so took this 1 to the counter she scanned it and asked us why we had so much i was going to tell her why but my mate said we drink a bottle a day to clean ourselves out and make us more lubricut lol......oh the all the boxes contained the more expensive oil


he text me his landrover is atm at 50/50 and running great.


like to thank everyones input on this as it is made simple reading for thickos like me.

 

[lacroupade]

thankyou i was looking for a link like that last night without success, somewhat confused as like you makeitfit my wife drives a focus and it's never off the road it says 2 tanks but you going to experiment while the wifey is not looking, are you going to add direct to the tank and if you hear no complaints from her just use something like a 50/50 in the summer and diesel only in the winter.





i went the full hog and from empty to full it took about 22 bottles in total of 100% SVO, mate came up in his landrover discovery a 7am this morning to see me turn it over and it started first time a wee bit of fluttering idling for a minute, but i notice a big differance i'm one of these people who needs to have radio loud as i hate hearing little knocks and rattles but these 2 days radio switched off windows down and enjoying driving again, only downfall is when you stop you get a whiff of the oil but i can live with this.

after seeing mine working we both went to tesco's and i bought 6 more boxes and he bought 10 notice there was cheaper oil bottles unpacked on top of the boxes so took this 1 to the counter she scanned it and asked us why we had so much i was going to tell her why but my mate said we drink a bottle a day to clean ourselves out and make us more lubricut lol......oh the all the boxes contained the more expensive oil


he text me his landrover is atm at 50/50 and running great.


like to thank everyones input on this as it is made simple reading for thickos like me.

Nice one! :thumb2

Personally I find that sticking around the 50-60% SVO level avoids any little niggles like that...but you're right, it runs a hell of a lot quieter and, in my mind, a tad more sprightly despite what people say you should expect.....

 

[MontysMaverick]

Hi all, I have a "N" reg 2.7td maverick will this run ok on tesco finest veggie oil cause as they say"every little helps" if it will, would doing 50/50 mix be the way to go at first.

 

[Adz]

Hi all, I have a "N" reg 2.7td maverick will this run ok on tesco finest veggie oil cause as they say"every little helps" if it will, would doing 50/50 mix be the way to go at first.

Should do as mines ran on all sorts n bin t hell n back :sly :naughty :augie :thumbs

 

[zippy656]

well thats it!!

just seen Colin ( extreme) ...

so had the last 4 bottles of oil from Tesco...

so now running 50/50 ish...

sounds quieter.. but smells a little funny,

 

[Deleted account DD]

but smells a little funny,

In traffic qeues and what have you , you will sometimes get people looking around to see where the smell is coming from

One of the lads from work followed me in his car and bearing in mind we were driving down the road that leads to one of europes largest chemical complexes he cheerfully told me all he could smell was chips and donuts

 

[lacroupade]

well thats it!!

just seen Colin ( extreme) ...

so had the last 4 bottles of oil from Tesco...

so now running 50/50 ish...

sounds quieter.. but smells a little funny,

Its probably your bath week Zippy and you forgot again....:doh

 

[KillerPete]

Ran mine on veg oil last time fuel went sky high, ran on a 5o/50 mix, never had a problem, use to get it from Cosco 20L container for about £20.

 

[Darwin]

Ran mine on veg oil last time fuel went sky high, ran on a 5o/50 mix, never had a problem, use to get it from Cosco 20L container for about £20.

£1 a litre ? fook that.

 

[zippy656]

Its probably your bath week Zippy and you forgot again....:doh

humph