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Veggie Oil cars... thoughts


dragknee66

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So has anyone actually considered this?

I just saw another TDI that had a sticker on it.. powered by veg oil.

Im getting really interested in this lately. Wouldnt make for a bad DD at least.

 

Anyone here know anyone thats converted or tried biodiesel?

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My dad made biodiesel for a few years to run an old Rabbit and TDI Jetta. There are two routes you can take:

 

Biodiesel - You start with used vegetable oil, filter it, add some chemicals, and end up with fuel that will run a diesel engine with zero modifications. You also get glycerin as a byproduct, which can work nicely as a cleaner. Notes: Seems less willing to start in cold weather, he usually used a 1:1 biodiesel/diesel mix. Exhaust smells like chinese food (or w/e they cooked in the oil).

 

Pure oil - With modification, you can run pure vegetable oil in a diesel engine, again the typical source is filtered used cooking oil. From what I understand, you basically just need to install a fuel line heater (I believe just to bring down the viscosity). I don't think you have to do anything else, but I haven't seen it first hand so I could be wrong.

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how much does it cost to switch a car overr to b.d

 

 

Depends, how much are you willing to spend?

 

If it already had an oil burner, not a whole lot.

If it is a gasser, you will need to rhrow in the cost of a diesel engine.

Also, are you wanting to go the biodiesel route, or just run vegie oil? Straight vegie oil typicaly requires a second tank, unless you want a driveway ornament when the temp drops below about 50*

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There are diffrent ratings of biodiesel as well. B20 (which you will be at more pumps) which is a 20% oil blend with diesel requires zero modification. B100 doesnt require much at all.

 

The thing we have to realize is that diesel engines were designed to run on veg. oil, so farmers could manufacture their own fuel.

 

Also 100% veggie oil cars have a heater core installed in the gas tank and something around the lines to help the oil flow. (exactly what was said before...)

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Recently I have been thinking hard about getting myself a TDI VW or something of the like, because of all the nutso combinations of Oils you can run a diesel motor on.

 

This has nothing to do with veggie oil, but it is a cool video. Sounds exactly like the gas motor, except when it's idling.

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Guest CumminUndone2001
Depends, how much are you willing to spend?

 

If it already had an oil burner, not a whole lot.

If it is a gasser, you will need to rhrow in the cost of a diesel engine.

Also, are you wanting to go the biodiesel route, or just run vegie oil? Straight vegie oil typicaly requires a second tank, unless you want a driveway ornament when the temp drops below about 50*

 

most new trucks on the road today have fuel heaters built in them from the factory. my 01 cummins has a fuel heater on the bottom of the fuel filter, it has a return line coming out of it so the excess fuel runs back to the tank and heats the fuel in the winter time, and dragknee it wont hurt the injectors. after i change the oil in my cummins, i dump the old 12 qts of oil in my fuel tank and run it through em. makes it nice when you dont have old oil layin around

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Be sure to do your research before buying a TDI, (tdiclub.com), and throwing veggie oil in the tank. The 04-05 PD motors don't like veggie oil. They will run on BD though.

 

If I was looking to run a veggie diesel I would look at old MB 240D and 300D's. Less complicated, cheap, and run forever.

 

My 05 TDI makes 40+ mpg in South Florida summer heat with the A/C on running with the cruise set at 80. Best has been 50 mpg. I don't do the ghey hyper-miling crap either. I run the piss out of it and still get killer mileage. 92K on the clock and I'm on my second turbo.

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You still have to pay a road fuel tax on every gallon of veggie oil you use.

 

To be legal anyways.....

 

California is enforcing the tax and I've heard of a few cases in Ohio too.

 

fuck it. stick it to the man!

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http://www.greasecar.com

 

john, they sell complete kits with instruction's and all on how to convert a modern diesel to a greasecar. The kits are expensive, i think around 1500$) but they are extensive and you pay for the ease of not putting together everything yourself. I have seen at home kits where you can produce biodiesel at home but of course there would be weekly labor involved in making it yourself.

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I seriously thought about this for my DD '82 chev pickup (6.2L diesel) as http://www.greasecar.com has some well-engineered systems. The problem I couldn't get around is the fact that my family, career, and social lives made it nearly impossible to ensure that I would be able to get a steady supply of WVO from restaurants. Believe me...ever since diesel went to $3.50+ a gallon, a lot of people have jumped on this bandwagon and the food industry is getting savvy.

 

Better alternative, though more costly, is CNG. Diesels love it as an augment to existing fuel, and since you can fill from home very cheaply (about $2.00 per gallon equivalent or less) it's a little more viable for the long run.

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