Biodiesel and Land Rover

[Swifty]

Is Biodiesel ok to put into my Tdi300 engine? Its an S reg 1999.

There are plenty of links around the net, and a few threads in the hallowed halls of Ribnet, but they don't say if it is ok in a LR.
Saw the ex Scrapheap guy on the telly using it. Didn't say what he had to do to use it though

Is anyone using it and do you have your own 'still?

[Nos4r2]

I did a load of web research on this-all that I could really glean was if your diesel engine has a Lucas fuel pump then biodiesel is a bad idea but on everything else it appears fine.

There are different percentage biodiesel fuels too-what percentage were you thinking of using (B5=5% veg oil,B90=90% etc)

[MarkWildey]

A tdi300 should be ok on 100% BioDiesel as it doesn't run at such high pressure compared to the TD5 or many modern cars.

Have a look at http://www.vegetableoildiesel.co.uk/forum/index.php.

If you are thinking of making it yourself stay away from plastic processors such as the FuelMeister. Check out the forum.

Cheers

Mark

[Swifty]

Thanks for that guys. Will wait and see...
Quotes from the link you posted me:-

"Both the 200 and 300 TDi are fitted with the Bosch injection pump. These have proven to be very robust on vegetable oil. However, the engine itself is the problem. As they are direct injection, it is possible for the vegetable oil to not completely combust in the cylinder when cold. It can then condense onto the cylinder walls, get under the piston rings causing coking and find its way into the sump, where it polymerises the sump oil. Not very nice!

The way around this is to use a twin tank system as outlined above. This enables the engine to heat up on diesel and then when it is warm enough you can change over to veg....Some cars (not any Land Rover) will go on vegetable oil from cold with no modification. Generally any engine with a Bosch VE injection pump, or inline injection pump that is In-direct injection will be fine if you tip the fuel straight in the tank. It might go a little better if you loop the return and add a heat exchanger though.

I have converted a 2.25, and 2.5 TD and a 300 TDi, and all go very well on veg."

They then go on to say

You might now be wondering where to get your oil. It works out slightly cheaper than diesel to go to the supermarket (Tesco’s own in 3l bottles is the cheapest at the moment at 44 p/l) and then tax it giving you a total of 71.1 p/l

The conversion involves fitting a heat exchanger and installing a second fuel tank. Then a weekly trip to Tescos for 10 bottles of oil

[codprawn]

There seems to be a bit of confusion between SVO or straight veg oil and bio diesel.

Properly made bio diesel can be used in almost anything. Some diesels will run on SVO but they need the oil to be heated as it's so thick. I don't think I would fancy the SVO route myself.

The TD5 engine is actually MORE tolerant - according to some people - than the tdi engine.

Either way to remain legal you MUST pay 47p per litre over to the gestapo - sorry I mean Customs - or they will come down on you liuke a ton of bricks. As someone on here says - "don't steal from the government - they hate competition".

There are firms selling proper bio diesel - it actually costs about 5p MORE a litre than normal diesel!!! A local firm sells loads of the stuff - when I asked who would be stupid enough to pay for it they ran off a list of customers who appreciate the "green" aspect of it - ALL government organisations - and the government get the tax anyway so don't care!!!

The government keep on about caring for the environment etc and yet they tax "green" fuels just the same!!!

[MarkWildey]

Codders

I'm sure the TD5 runs at a much higher pressure and isn't advised for B100.

As you say SVO or cleaned WVO can be run as a mix once you've heated up the oil. If I was looking to do this I'd get waste oil, clean it and then use it.

I believe that most fast-food etc shops pay to have their waste oil removed, and therefor you could get it for free. You will need to register for a waste oil licence ( £140 or there abouts ). Then all you need pay is 47.5p/lt plus costs.

Tesco is just planning or building a huge Bio-diesel plant which will effect the current people making money out of it. And to make a living you need to produce/sell 25k litres per week.

Although I'm a computer geek I looked into this as I have a diesel cars and now a pair of diesel boat engines. Based on my usage it would have paid for itself in 18 months and that was at 50% production, assumimng I bought proper kit. As a geek I have trouble drawing a straight line with a ruler and woun't attempt to build a processer myself.

If you could make the processor yourself ( Appleseed seems the current No 1. ) you'd be quids in within weeks.

Cheers

Mark

[codprawn]

Or this

http://www.wired.com/news/wireservic...rss.technology

What do you mean

"Then all you need pay is 47.5p/lt plus costs."

ALL did you say ALL????