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Mixing veg oil and diesel
Posted: Sat Dec 18, 2010 10:07 am
by Bully bongo
Hi there i have been looking on forum and still a bit lost.Can some one give me a bit advice.Can i just mix veg oil in with my diesel straight into tank.Will i have to modify anything or will it be ok.I was thinking about a 50/50 mix.Very abrehensive cos a dont want to break me love of me life.As i said i have looked at the threads and all the talk about seperate tanks and stuff is putting me off.Can i just go down to my supermarket buy some veg oil put it in and me bongo will be fine.All advice welcome.Many thanks again.

Re: Mixing veg oil and diesel
Posted: Sat Dec 18, 2010 10:23 am
by daveblueozzie
50/50 mix is too much to start with , the best way is half a tank diesel about 15 to 20 litres veg oil then top up with diesel.
I don't use veg oil in winter, i wait till it gets a bit warmer then the veg oil does not solidify, get yourself a fuel filter and after about a 1000 mile on veg oil mix change the filter.
You will soon find out the right mix for your engine, mine is about 25% to 30% mix and it runs fine ,any more and it gets a bit lumpy on start up.
Re: Mixing veg oil and diesel
Posted: Sat Dec 18, 2010 12:24 pm
by missfixit70
Loads of info in the "fuel & performance" section of the forum, basically, what Dave said, start off small, & use less in the cold than in the warm weather. I run at @50/50 in summer & 25% or less in winter. Always best to put it in either premixed or make sure you get it nicely sloshed around in the tank & mixed up, if you top up with veg & start from cold, you'll find it sits on the bottom & ends up basically starting on 100% veg. Best not to use it abroad as they don't have the tax concessions for Veg oil that we have.
Re: Mixing veg oil and diesel
Posted: Sat Dec 18, 2010 1:46 pm
by Bully bongo
Thanks for the info.I think i will give it a try.80-20 mix.If i have half a tank and put 10 litres of veg in and top it up with about 20 litres of diesel.Will this mix it up ok.Thanks again

Re: Mixing veg oil and diesel
Posted: Sat Dec 18, 2010 1:46 pm
by Triple/R
I still can't bring meself round to use cooking oil

Re: Mixing veg oil and diesel
Posted: Sat Dec 18, 2010 2:06 pm
by daveblueozzie
Bully bongo wrote:Thanks for the info.I think i will give it a try.80-20 mix.If i have half a tank and put 10 litres of veg in and top it up with about 20 litres of diesel.Will this mix it up ok.Thanks again

Just drive about a bit that should mix it ok

,10 litres veg oil should just about wet the inside of the fuel tank

Re: Mixing veg oil and diesel
Posted: Sat Dec 18, 2010 2:08 pm
by M 80NGO
Triple/R wrote:I still can't bring meself round to use cooking oil

I'm with you there, I have a thing in me called mechanical sympathy and it just doesn't seem like a longterm good idea to me, is there any members who have run vegoil over 40,000 miles with no pump / seal issues ?
Re: Mixing veg oil and diesel
Posted: Sat Dec 18, 2010 2:22 pm
by mikeonb4c
Triple/R wrote:I still can't bring meself round to use cooking oil

My Bongo seemed to run a little quieter and maybe with better MPG on a run with around 20% veg oil. But I can't see much point in adding it if ther isn't a useful price advantage (risk vs. return and all that) so am not using it at present (and certainly not in this cold weather!!!).

Re: Mixing veg oil and diesel
Posted: Sat Dec 18, 2010 3:00 pm
by scanner
M 80NGO wrote:Triple/R wrote:I still can't bring meself round to use cooking oil

I'm with you there, I have a thing in me called mechanical sympathy and it just doesn't seem like a longterm good idea to me, is there any members who have run vegoil over 40,000 miles with no pump / seal issues ?
Rudolf Diesel originally designed his compression ignition engine to run on peanut oil.

Re: Mixing veg oil and diesel
Posted: Sat Dec 18, 2010 4:42 pm
by MountainGoat
If you go to Tesco, Asda or any other supermarket just remember to buy bottles of the Pure Vegetable Oil rather than bottles of the thicker Pure Sunflower Oil.
Tony
Re: Mixing veg oil and diesel
Posted: Sat Dec 18, 2010 5:14 pm
by Diplomat
MountainGoat wrote:If you go to Tesco, Asda or any other supermarket just remember to buy bottles of the Pure Vegetable Oil rather than bottles of the thicker Pure Sunflower Oil.
Tony
And more expensive!
Re: Mixing veg oil and diesel
Posted: Sat Dec 18, 2010 6:01 pm
by David Edwards
eight years now no problems.

Re: Mixing veg oil and diesel
Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2010 10:35 pm
by chipvan
bongos love oil!!!!,
1,dont go ott on mix
2,and drive like a nutter and all will be fine...
kit only really needed if you want to run on 80-90%+ veg in main tank.
but as the way prices of oil are going up ,if you fit a kit you may pay more than diesel for the stuff later on.
done over 10,000k on veg using a kit on bongo and 40+k on vwt4,but we scrounge waste oil and filter our selfs,if i was using new oil i wount have kit,add a little in winter but stock pile ready for spring summer months..
just an idea,I prefeer to mix outside of the tank that way you know your % rate of veg/diesel.if you leave a can of pre mix outdoors it will give you a rough idea how thick the mix is,i have a hand pump to pump from can to bongo.
you can alway use a (pre mix can) one at a time and keep in a warm place,but the more fuel in tank less effect it will have from cold.We keep our tank full to the top!
Re: Mixing veg oil and diesel
Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2010 11:40 pm
by bigdaddycain
M 80NGO wrote:Triple/R wrote:I still can't bring meself round to use cooking oil

I'm with you there, I have a thing in me called mechanical sympathy and it just doesn't seem like a longterm good idea to me, is there any members who have run vegoil over 40,000 miles with no pump / seal issues ?
I couldn't tell you how long/mileage i started to use a veggy blend... But as an occasional user of low oil ratios i've had no problems thus far. I'd guess i started using it around 3-4 years ago, maybe 10k miles or so. I found the best scenario to use veg oil was when on a really long run. One one occasion i went from carlisle to the highlands of scotland on pretty much a 100% ratio of veggy. About a 3/4 tank full. I topped up with neat diesel when i was down to a quarter of a tank so i wouldn't get a lumpy cold start the morning after. The veg oil cost at the time was about 40p per litre as opposed to the £1.30+ per litre of diesel in Scotland at that time.
