Red Diesel

[Jensen]

I am seriously tempted to use the red stuff. A contact has offered it for £25 for 50 litres. With todays prices thats half price and am thinking stuff the government and the tax on fuel what a rip off.
As long as I sort it with my local independent for servicing and he keeps quiet can you see any problems getting caught?
Car used for non business purposes ie not taxi

Is anyone at the moment using red diesel and if so how long?

Any other issues to think about?

 

[rallen]

In the same way can you not use vegetable oil? How much do wholesalers sell it for?

 

[Jensen]

Could do but can't be bothered with mixing with diesel and hasle to fill up. This would be straight out of a pump

 

[rallen]

I did not know it needs to be mixed.

Talking about tax I suspect if the government were to cut tax on petrol they would then raise road tax, or would introduce tolls. In the end it would probably cost you the same to drive from A to B.

 

[mjtray]

Odds of you being caught are probably fairly low, however, saying that I have seen customs and excise dipping fuel tanks on diesel cars in motorway services, and you most likely face a very stiff fine/court appearance if you get your collar felt!!

 

[Bradley]

If Customs, do check your car, and the dye is found, your car is seized (for evidence purposes)

 

[Chazchuzzlewitt]

I noticed only a few bottles of vegetable oil left in the supermarket the other day when I went to pick a few bottles up... for cooking purposes of course

I come from the West country originally and I bet there's a fair few 'non-farm' vehicles running red diesel there. Is there anyway to undo the dye process?

 

[fionanallan]

Red Diesel...no Way!

Whilst I can understand the attraction...it's half the price!, I don't know if I'd be to happy putting that stuff in my tank. Can you be sure it's not contaminated? Can you be sure it's actually diesel your putting in? I've heard of guys who have bought what they think is red diesel...turns out it was kerosene! Major engine problems! I'm not for one minute saying the price of diesel/petrol is fair, but at least when I go to the petrol station, I can be fairly confident that it's deisel I'm putting in! To be fair, I've also heard of guys who have had a bad experience with contaminated deisel/petrol from petrol stations, but they are in the minority! Anyway, good luck to you if you do it...I just aint got the bottle I'm afraid!

 

[rallen]

Unless someone tells me otherwise I would have assumed that burning vegetable oil is much better for the environment, much better than mineral coal, or oil, because it returns C02 which it has already used up in growing. Should the government therefore not encourage it rather than punish it?

 

[nicky]

I am seriously tempted to use the red stuff. A contact has offered it for £25 for 50 litres. With todays prices thats half price and am thinking stuff the government and the tax on fuel what a rip off.
As long as I sort it with my local independent for servicing and he keeps quiet can you see any problems getting caught?
Car used for non business purposes ie not taxi

Is anyone at the moment using red diesel and if so how long?

Any other issues to think about?

Red diesel is exactly the same as clear,only difference is the red dye and no tax..there is no chance of it harming your engine as most of the biggest and most expencive engines in the world run on it..............
But if you get caught your car will be confiscated,and be fined heavely....
ps you are paying too much for it anyway,a 45 gallon drum is sold for about £50.....................

 

[tom7035]

Seems to me a bit of a contradiction in terms -- running a Mercedes Benz AND moaning about the price of fuel! If you can afford the former you shouldn't be short of a few pennies for the latter! (IMHO).

 

[c250 turbo diesel]

Red diesel/ chip oil

If anyone is going to run on either Red diesel or chip oil, best to just get on and do it, and not blab on here, or to friends........... probably the best way to get caught !!! And don't anyone tell me that the person that goes into costco, or aldi and buys the veg oil for his merc is going to register with the customs and pay the duty !!!! Get a life !!!

 

[fionanallan]

Fionanallan...C220 CDI

Here's a thought.....You go to the pub and pay roughly 2 quid for a pint of your favourite ale, without a whimper! Or alternatively...roughly 4 quid for a packet of fags! In the grand scale of things, £1 for a litre of diesel, which lasts you twice as long as either of the above, seems to me to be not bad value for money! I'm finding it difficult to believe that there are people prepared to put red diesel (if it is actually red diesel your getting), or chip oil...CHIP OIL FOR GOODNESS SAKE...in a mercedes! Apart from the legal consequences, we all know the expense in maintaining and running this kind of car, and the importance of looking after it. So why does anyone even contemplate this ludicrous idea? (Only my opinion...every man to his own!).

 

[woodturner-fran]

Red diesel - (over here its actually green, not red) is exactly the same as the white road diesel with the exception that it has the dye added. It will not harm your engine in any way. The idea behind it is that its only for use in non-road vehicles eg diggers, excavators and tractors etc etc. There is a reduced rate of tax since these vehicles don't use the road network.

I know of a few guys who used tractors all the time on the road eg for building sites and they were dipped, caught and fined and now must use white diesel.

Fines are very stiff! ?2000 for a first offence AFAIK.

Never use the stuff that has been treated to get the dye out. Apart from its provenance which has to be through serious criminal gangs, they treat it with acids to remove/neutralise the dye. Some acid is left in the diesel and will harm your engine!

I just cannot see it being worthwhile using it.... honestly the veg oil would be what I would investigate first


Fran

 

[mjtray]

There is nothing ludicrous about running an older Merc or any other make of car for that matter on Veg Oil...its not penny pinching etc etc. The older style indirect diesels run just fine on Veg and Mercs are particularly good.

Wearing my green hat, its also a damn site more environmental than straight diesel and it does absolutley no damage to the engine and costs less than half the price.

The only reason why Veg will never be officially sanctioned by the government is that they would loose a stack of revenue as it would be hard to tax what is essentially a food product and its also fair to say that more modern diesels run at far finer tolerances, so veg is likely to clag the fuel systems up more as its more viscous than straight diesel.

 

[fionanallan]

If veg is likely to clag the fuel system, then I cant see the point in using it! The money you save on veg oil as opposed to diesel is probably less than the repair bill!
As I say...every man to his own!

 

[mjtray]

Veg only clags in winter at which point you would run it on a lower concentration. In summer a 50/50 diesel/veg or a higher concentration of veg is no problem.

But as you say each to their own.........if the car in front of you smells of spring rolls and its a light blue Merc, then your inhaling my veggy exhaust!

 

[paulcallender]

I view people who try and run their cars on red diesel, in the same light as those who use a car but without paying road tax. Why should some people do it while the majority pay our taxes? And in any case, the recent fuel price rises are due to market forces on the oil market, most significantly hurricaine Katrina - not any increase in tax. In fact, I believe the government reduced the tax, in order to prevent a bigger rise in the prices.

Maybe one benefit of these oil price rises, is that the price of fuel in USA will align with Europe - then they will "wake up and smell the coffee" regarding their usage.

 

[230K]

Is there anyway to undo the dye process?

Pass it through kitty litter.

If you do not believe try it for yourself.

230K

 

[davidsl500]

Maybe one benefit of these oil price rises, is that the price of fuel in USA will align with Europe - then they will "wake up and smell the coffee" regarding their usage.

Cant see USA prices aligning with europe in the near future. Fuel has gone up in the states since the disaster - about 38 pence per gallon. The average fuel price is still only £1.68 PER GALLON ! (and as low as £1.03 in some areas).

I believe that we are shipping some of our reserves to the USA to help out at the moment thus "fueling" price increases further (oops, bad pun..)