[snurdette]

Hi Guys, I have just watched Quentin Wilson on the "Tonight" programme via the web.  He*/ showed several ideas to help reduce fuel costs eg. using waste veg oil, pure rapeseed oil and what I presume is a chip to improve power so you use less throttle.

I made a point of checking the year of the vehicles he used in the demo and the astra in particular was a 54 plate.  I'm assuming that this vehicle would have similar technology in its diesel engine as I have in my 2.0ltr 05 plate Cmax.  So what are the thoughts about using straight veg oil or chipping my engine?  Also anyone know how I can confirm for definate that it is possible to go down one of these routes?

Something needs to be done to reduce fuel costs as Quentin mentioned that it ccould soon be £2.00 a litre!!!!!!!!!!!!


Margaret

 

[lazyb]

you need to careful about waste veg oil as when it burns it produces glycerine i think and this can gum up valves and stuff. I only know this by listening to a chap at work. Since i got rid of my Galaxy Auto I have been much happier filling up the cmax

 

[lawe]

Ford will only allow 5% Bio or it will invalidate the warranty.
Seeing that mine is a 54 2.0 TDCI, I think I can say that mine is out of warranty

From what I have read so far, putting Straight Veg Oil (SVO) into a C-Max would give more problems than it is worth and ruin the engine.
I already do this though to my other car, being a Mitsubishi Delica that has a older engine and less electronicsin and runs fine on a 70/30 mix and also I run it on B100 Bio.

I know alot of cars have run on B100 bio diesel but I have yet to try the C-Max on it. This stuff 100% Waste Veg Oil (WVO) that has been filtered, washed and dried and has methonal added to keep it fluid.
There is a place in Thatcham, Berkshire, that sells it for £1.05 pl and is very good stuff.If you do use thisthen after the first tank, you should change the fuel filter as it will clean all the rubbish from the fuel lines.

Once I have made a couplemore enquires, I will try the C-Max on it and see how we go just not really sure yet due to theengine being modern compared to my other car.

 

[Richard G]

I think the whole country will have had more to worry about before we get to the £2 per litre for diesel

Threats of a repeat of the 2000 fuel blockade and the 1000 truck protest in London tomorrow should be the first step towards preventing this.

There is also a thought that there could be an amendment to the finance bill that offsets fuel duty against increased VAT as fuel prices increase

 

[Ravenger]

Veg oil in a diesel C-Max is a great way to ruin the engine. Modern common-rail diesels are engineered to high precision, and designed to run off diesel fuel with specified lubricity and viscosity.

You may be successful in running the car off biodiesel in the the short term but in the long term the fuel system would probably fail, landing you with a several thousand pounds repair bill.

The common rail engines in C-Max cars are so complex that even the dealers don't really understand them, so doing anything which could affect the reliability of the engine to save a few pounds is a false economy.

 

[snurdette]

I understand where your coming from.  But Quentin definately put a bottle of veg oil in a 54 plate 1.7CDTi vauxhall astra in the TV.  I am assuming that the diesel engine in that vehicle is common-rail.  According to Ravenger he is giving everyone that watched that programme  false impression.  Not only do we have to be careful about our own cars but also about possible purchases of secondhand cars in the future because who knows if previous owners have done what Quentin suggested!!!!!!!!!!!

Surely he would have done his research and wouldn't risk broadcasting false information.  Im still confused and am still on the side of caution.

 

[MetalMicky08]

Don`t what ever you do put this type of oil in your car! It will self destruct within 100 miles.Someone near me did this with a 1.6 tdci Focus on a 52 plate & he`s is still picking up the bits.

 

[Ravenger]

It varies from engine to engine, depending on the manufacturer of the fuel system and most especially the fuel pump.

Ford TDCi diesels use brands of fuel pumps which rely on the lubricity and viscosity specification of standard diesel. Veg oil is much thicker, and puts a lot of strain on the pump, even if diluted 50/50 with standard diesel. So the pumps are much more likely to fail if used with biofuel. When fuel pumps fail they distribute metal shrapnel throughout the fuel system. This clogs up the fuel pipes and injectors, which means you have to completely replace the entire fuel system at a cost of several thousand pounds, or replace the engine.

Other manufacturer's diesel cars sometimes use other brands of pumps which tend to be more biofuel friendly, so it's a bit of a lottery.

There's also the problem that biofuels get thicker when it's cold, so a proper biofuel conversion will include a fuel pre-heater to ensure the fuel is the correct viscosity before being fed into the engine. Proper biofuel conversions often have a switch so you can start the car up on normal diesel, then switch to biodiesel when the engine is warm and can more easily process the biofuel.

You may be lucky putting biofuel into a modern diesel that hasn't got a full biodiesel conversion, but most likely you'll just cause problems later on.

And yes you have to be VERY careful when buying a second hand common rail diesel in case it has been misfueled in the past. Misfuelling with petrol is another way to ruin the engine, and probably more common than veg-oil. I've heard of diesel cars being misfuelled accidentally, being run for a bit, breaking down, flushed out with diesel, then traded in or sent to auction. The engines may appear to run well, but once misfueled and run for a bit the engine is much more likely to fail in a few hundred miles or so.

Edited by: Ravenger

 

[snurdette]

Message received and understood.  Shame though as it would be nice to have cheaper alternative fuels. Mr. Quentin Wilson should have explained more.