Bongo Fury

I am a regular 100%-ter subject to starting on diesel mix. Once warm, add sufficient oil to get to within say 2miles of destination. Then add a couple of litres of diesel,so the bongo is easy to start the next day. Repeat ad nausium or until H.M Government cease the daylight robbery called petrol duty.

I buy used vegy oil at 70p a litre and have some given to me.I filter that and then carry both diesel in one can and oil in another, so if I misjudge the quantity (i.e. run out before destination I can determine wheather I put oil or diesel in. Though these days I am getting more accurate.
Ian G

PisceanJoy wrote:IsAre those percentages on an unconverted engine?

How do you "convert" an engine?

lancyman wrote:Surely this is the holy grail of bongoing. Ok so, to be straight,
I put in say twenty litres of diesel, warm the engine up, then add 2 - 4 litres of veg
Oil straight into the tank and away I go? Just had full service so system should be pretty clean.
Are their any oils to avoid, and any that are really good?

I just add 20 or 30 litres to a half full tank before a long run.

Excellent stuff, but to cut down on hassle, if I use a mixture all the time,
Everything will be fine? Even if its 50/50 of diesel and oil? Also, if I could blag used oil from the local chippy,
How do you filter it?

lancyman wrote:Excellent stuff, but to cut down on hassle, if I use a mixture all the time,
Everything will be fine? Even if its 50/50 of diesel and oil? Also, if I could blag used oil from the local chippy,
How do you filter it?

You can buy proper filter equipment, as chipvan has, or just pass it through a couple of coffee filters like I do. However, it is important to let it settle for about a month before filtering, as this lets a lot of fat and starch settle out. Then just syphon the clear oil off the top and pass it through the filters.
There is no doubt that chipvan's oil is better, but I've never had any problems.

true,Look at the end of the day ive tried all sorts as i was doing testing for a guy that used to sell filters,and we found the lower you go in micron the better the oil can stand the cold before it gels.I used reverse osmossis filters,carbon filters,0.1 micron the lot.yes they work,yes they are expensive BUt the block quickly too.


Iam now running the standard 5 then 1 micron filters,and when it gets cold add more diesel,some add petrol but you loose power and if you have a heatexchanger fitted you get a (vapour lock)

let it settle out,water and fat goes to the bottom,pump from the top or syphon.

and go down to 1 micron or below if you can,dont really matter what you use tbh,but try and use a meduim that had some kind of quality control like francophile1947 coffee filters,if you get bits in your coffee not good so they have to work!!

also before you get hold of 200 ltrs of free lard post on here ,you may end up with a batch of waste from someone who makes biodiesel,there are some rotten trick that are being played as there is a oil war going on! your be really lucky to get hold of any waste oil these days!!....

someone pinched my oil collection once,but like to see how he gets on with 20ltrs of washing up liquid and fat from the bottom of my barrel..and i didnt know but i took someones collection and i found one week there was a turd in it...be ready for all this too!!!

Your chipy wont use oil,its like a solid lump of lard! palm oil mostly yum yum..

be aware of what your collecting,if its white and lumpy no go if its clear and wobbles yipee..water in oil no probs just make sure its oil in liquid form

yes been stitched up there too..chineese oil stinks and is mostly fat!

chipvan wrote:Your chipy wont use oil,its like a solid lump of lard! palm oil mostly yum yum..

be aware of what your collecting,if its white and lumpy no go if its clear and wobbles yipee..water in oil no probs just make sure its oil in liquid form

yes been stitched up there too..chineese oil stinks and is mostly fat!

Very true chipvan. I used to get my waste oil from a little restaurant which changed the oil weekly. New owners only changed it every 2-3 weeks and the difference was very noticeable I could use about 90% of the original oil, but only about 50% after the change of owner. Originally they only cooked chips in the oil, but I dread to think what the new owners cooked - loads of fat in it
I've looked at some of the stuff sold on Ebay and, in some cases, it's just not worth the hassle - some of the containers appear to be mainly fat and starch, which you are still paying for

Hi all,

On my run around this morning I spotted 4 or 5 drums of what looks like used veg oil at the
back of a local chippy. Is it worth me taking these, storing them for a bit, and then filtering
them? Or is this too big a risk?

Thanks.

You need to check with chippy first. They often have contracts with disposal companies who buy the used oil off them. Just taking it is a definite no-no, especially as you don't know what it is.

I'm so glad I found this forum. Iv got a diesel van and I was shocked at the price of it. I died and gone to heaven xx I'm a head chef in a hospital and I have the oil changed once a week... It's going into my Tank woop woop lol
Terri x

Terri & colin wrote:I'm so glad I found this forum. Iv got a diesel van and I was shocked at the price of it. I died and gone to heaven xx I'm a head chef in a hospital and I have the oil changed once a week... It's going into my Tank woop woop lol
Terri x

Pm Chipvan on the do's and don'ts of using used veggie oil. You'll be in trouble if you don't do it right. But lucky you, having a regular supply.

I run very high % of veg oil.

Rapeseed appears to run the smoothest.


I do nearly 100% on a run then put some diesel in when I get to my destination. Love the stuff.

I did have a the fuel pump resealed though. Older marginal seals will leak with veg oil.

As another new Bongo owner I'm very confused

Some years ago, when diesel first started rocketing in price, I looked into using veg oil and found that there were quite a few pitfalls. Some of these have been covered here, but the one that no-one is mentioning is the fact that duty hasn't been paid, and HMRC don't like it a lot

At that time, and for some reason mainly in South Wales, the police were sniffing and pulling in any "chippy" smelling vehicles and testing the fuel. Quite a few were confiscated and presumably crushed. Have they now given up this practice or is everyone just lucky? It was possible to register as a "small producer" and pay a nominal rate of duty. Is anyone doing that or have the rules changed?

I used a percentage of veg oil for a time but the smell was so strong I thought it was prudent to give up, and I needed my van!

Incidentally, there was quite an industry in producing pre-heaters for anyone wanting to use 100% veg oil, using diesel to start the vehicle and switching over once warm

When we first cottoned on to using Veggie Oil the price of a litre was about 50p. These days it is only woth while looking around for special offers. I went in Asda yesterday to see if it was worth getting a few bottles for a coming MOT test, it was ½p a litre more expensive than the diesel for sale in Asda's forcourt.

I will hang on for a week or two until the MOT date to see if I can get some veggie oil cheaper, if not I will have to bite the bullet and buy a few bottles at a more expensive price than diesel. There is no getting around the fact that most diesel owners have reported that a few bottles of Veggie oil added to a tank of diesel then followed by an Italian Tune Up down the local roads works wonders on the results of the MOT emission test.

Tony