My name is David and I use veg oil

[Tontastic]

Hi there ...

My name is David and I use veg oil. It has been one day since i ran on just diesel.

That is that out the way ... 1999 E300TD W210 E-Class estate, put in 30 litres of tesco diesel and 15 litres of Tesco veg oil. Nothing else involved, i have waited until it was reasonably warm before attempting by experiment, and i plan to maintain a reasonable mix of diesel to veg to reduce any chance of gelling that i hear about.

There is a vague wiff of "chips" but not that strong. Ran down to the cinema and back last night and i have to say I couldn't notice any difference. I had planned to put in 50/50 mix of diesel to veg but they only had one of the big drums at the local store.

So my reason for posting ... i've done it, i've made the leap. The car didn't fall apart. I wasn't stopped and had my tank dipped, the car hasn't suddenly started hunting for fuel due to gunk in the filter. Mental note ... must identify what part of that engine bay is hiding the fuel filter ...

 

[BlackC55]

I am with you there. I take it you have declared it with Customs and Exicse. I have been running it for a while too.

 

[jibcl500]

I ran a cavailer TD for 18 months on tesco veg oil, in the summer I used 100% veg oil and in the winter I would £10 of diesel in the tank and then the rest would be veg oil.

I found better economy, performace and the engine seems smoother.

did I declare this to gay gorden, no i didnt. europe dont pay tax on the use of veg oil!!!

jib

 

[daz250]

well done i ran a w124 300 td on it for almost a year, with no proplems and a shogun, as jibcl says in the summer you can, put it in neat but in the winter it is better to mix it with diesel, as i found it a bit lumpy on first start up due to the thickness of the oil. Ive used it for several years and had no probelem with this oil. Good Luck daz250.

 

[pcman_jh]

I too have a 1999 E300 on veg oil

I've been running mine for 15 months now, with a conversion made last Sept to a 2 tank system.

It's not been without its troubles, both before and after the conversion. Before the conversion I was getting worried about the noise from the engine when first cold started - sounded very tappety until heated up, with every other day having what turned out to be fuel starvation until fully heated (about 5 miles worth). I got the injectors refurbished at about 104000 miles which cured the initial noise. Having then converted shortly after this to the 2 tank system I was getting bad fuel starvation on first cold run of the day - it couldn't accelerate up even the slightest hill or get to 50mph until over 3 to 4 miles into the journey. This meant changing my route first thing in the morning away from hills (even slight). Once heated it was fine.

The cold fuel starvation was helped, but not cured, by buying a silicon wrap around fuel filter heater (from Diesel Veg).

While the car is running every day, although slightly noisy on first cold run of the day until heated (which hasn't/isn't getting any worse, and bearable) it runs absolutely fine with the odd slight fuel starvation if trying to accelerate fairly hard over 65 mph and going up a hill. If this does show you just have to tail off the acceleration.

Now the bit but - I'm now faced with excess oil consumption and the occassional very smokey cold start (1 out of 3 days!!). Oil consumption is about a litre every 2 weeks (circa 800 miles over this period). I also notice the odd oil leakage from the oil fillter cap, so am wondering if I have oil ring wear which is causing blow back. It's been like this since Xmas and isn't getting any better or worse. I'm frightened to get a compression test as I can live with putting the oil into it rather than a strip and rebuild. I've heard veg oil can stick in the piston rings and cause this symptom. Apart from this it appears to run fine- with no obvious loss of power which is a sign of low compression - either that or I'm used to the lower power having forgot what it could have been like. It's like watching your children going old, you don't notice until you've something to compare with!!!

Hope this helps.. but when it does run fine, it'll run forever!

 

[Bill312D]

When running with a 2 tank system with heat exchanger the veg oil shoul;dn;t be able to stick to the cylinders or rings, however using cold oil blends for a long period of time will allow this to happen...and usually a increase in oil level.
I've run oil/diesel/petrol blend sin my old vauxhall van and now run 100% veg in my Sprinter 312D witha Smart veg conversion kit...no problems just cheap motoring and the smell of chips.

 

[Tontastic]

Not so fast ... or a failure to proceed

My wife is loving this. Car refused to start this morning. Turning over without any problems, but not catching. I suspect that my fuel filter is either gunged with mayonaisse consistency veg oil/diesel mix, or the cleaning properties of veg oil working on a car that has done over 200K miles has dumped a ton of crap in there.

Laugh away ... is the fuel filter on a W210 1999 E300TD at the rear of the car, underside behind a flap sealed with two bolts? I guess I will have to try and give that a change. Of course that will depend on me getting to a dealer to pick up the part. If only I had a car that worked ...

 

[Parrot of Doom]

Its right at the front of the engine, screw-on filter near the radiator, and a pre-filter to the side of it. You can't miss them.

 

[Tontastic]

Its right at the front of the engine, screw-on filter near the radiator, and a pre-filter to the side of it. You can't miss them.

Any advice on how best to change this? I had a good trawl online, but can't find any threads.

 

[Pamberi]

Veg oil

Hi. My name is John. The wife and I have 2 diesels-82--240 and an 85--300SD. I'm keen on putting both cars onto a straight Veg oil diet. Will this damage the engines? Are there any experts out there who can lay out all the pros and cons. Would it be better to have a mix of 20% diesel and 80% veg oil. Would really appreciate some advice on this. Thanks

 

[Parrot of Doom]

Any advice on how best to change this? I had a good trawl online, but can't find any threads.

Make sure the battery is fully charged, remove the old filter, fill the new filter with fresh diesel, put it on, turn engine over until it fires, this will take some time as there will be air in the system. Don't over stress the starter motor, let it rest between starting attempts.

 

[Tontastic]

After much turning the engine over yesterday, i did indeed charge it overnight, so that should be fine. I picked up a couple of fuel filters at the local independent (£15 for 2) although he says there is no prefilter on this model. Interesting. I'll try and find some time at lunchtime to change it over, he even warned me that the bolt on the filter is pretty big (17mm?) to make sure I had the right tool to undo it. Here is hoping ...

 

[Parrot of Doom]

There is a prefilter, its under a black piece of metal to the left of the fuel filter. You undo a bolt that keeps the piece of metal clamped down, you remove the fuel line from the prefilter, and it comes out vertically (upwards).

You can see it here, on the upper left of the image. Where the yellowing fuel pipe terminates:

 

[Tontastic]

Thanks PoD ... i just tried changing the filter, and it wasn't all that bad ... the fluid inside was well .. fluid and not gunge. Perhaps the prefilter is the problem ... i will go back outside and have another look!

 

[Tontastic]

Still no joy. I've filled the filter up with some fresh diesel, i left the battery charging for several hours. Turned it over for a couple of minutes, without a hint of anything. Is this just a case of being patient, and repeating until whatever is blocking it clears? Is there anything I can try to accelerate the process such as introduce redex into the fuel filter/pre-filter? Should I be thinking about draining the fuel tank and filling with fresh diesel?

What concerns me is that the fluid that came out of the filter wasn't in any way thick or particularly dirty. There were specks of black in there, but not that much. Is there some other way to check that fuel is getting to the filter such as turning over when it is not in place, or is that a bad idea?

If i end up having to have this thing towed to the garage to get fixed i'll never hear the end of it :-(

 

[Maxbumpo]

Hi. My name is John. The wife and I have 2 diesels-82--240 and an 85--300SD. I'm keen on putting both cars onto a straight Veg oil diet. Will this damage the engines? Are there any experts out there who can lay out all the pros and cons. Would it be better to have a mix of 20% diesel and 80% veg oil. Would really appreciate some advice on this. Thanks

John,

This link is informative: http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_svo.html

Basically, if you don't (a) convert your car properly and (b) test your veg. oil acid level before using, you will suffer shortened engine life and increased maintenance costs.

 

[Parrot of Doom]

If you've had the fuel filter off you'll notice when the engine is turning many little air bubbles in the pipes around the filter.

2 minutes isn't really a long time to get it started again, it can take a long time to clear the air out. I'd try again.

 

[Pamberi]

Max-thanks for the reply and the website, which looks very interesting. Nothing is ever clearcut! The Barber in Bernardston, Massachusetts has a 82 CD. He uses straight veg oil from May to September and swore that his vehicle was/would be fine. I was a little skeptical but sorely tempted. Thanks again.

 

[Bill312D]

If you have removed the filters then it wont start unless you bleed the fuel system. without being bled the battery will probably go flat before the air is sucked out by the engine.

 

[Tontastic]

Thanks for info so far guys ... here is an update ...

Changed the fuel filter. It started *eventually* after much charging of the battery and getting the fuel through. I then took it for a long drive (3rd gear on motorway just below the red line) until all the diesel/veg mix was virtually gone then i topped up a tenner worth of fresh clean diesel which i then ran for several more miles.

Next morning ... it wouldn't start, and i had to go through the whole process of turning it over until the air is out, or whatever is stopping it. I charged it all day, and tonight i changed the fuel filter again after priming it with more fresh diesel. Eventually it started, but it appears to be leaking/dripping fuel at a fair pace from some of the lines behind and below the filter.

For anyone brave enough ... here is a video ... you can just about see the leak dripping down from one of the right hand side pipes at the back as i take the video with the yellow u/horse shoe clips on it.

http://www.tontastic.com/leak.mp4

Anyway ... my next step is to take it to the independent and get them to fix it, cos i've had enough. What i would like to know in advance is what the problem is likely to be, just in case he tries to stitch me up! I know that the veg oil is better at getting through seals than diesel, but from what i've read that usually sorts itself when you purge the veg oil out. Is it more serious than needing some seals replaced?