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        General >> Give/Need advice to/from others >> Bio Diesel
        
(Message started by: k1ng_james on Dec 31^st, 2008, 12:08pm)

Title: Bio Diesel
Post by k1ng_james on Dec 31^st, 2008, 12:08pm

Has anybody used bio diesel? I heard that the 2.5td engine will run just as good as mineral diesel. Just thought id get some opinions before i do use it! :)

Title: Re: Bio Diesel
Post by mijfife on Dec 31^st, 2008, 2:56pm

Hi k1ng_james and welcome to the forum :) The 2.5td engine fitted to the Scorpio will run bio diesel without any problems. I assume you are meaning proper bio diesel as bought from a supplier? The engine fitted to the Scorpio is made by an Italian company, VM, and is indirect injection so is actually very good for running on vegetable oil. My car is currently powered by used cooking oil with 10% unleaded petrol used as a thinning agent for the winter. In the summer months it runs 95 to 100% veg oil. It always starts instantly and runs brilliantly on the stuff and that's after 23k miles on veg :)

Cheers Jim

Title: Re: Bio Diesel
Post by k1ng_james on Jan 2^nd, 2009, 6:12am

Thanks mijfife :)

Yes i was going to run it on proper bio diesel. After reading this i may just use veg oil if the engine will run just as good on it. How often do you change the diesel filter?

Title: Re: Bio Diesel
Post by pinto on Jan 2^nd, 2009, 1:14pm

Righty - as im too lazy to type it all again.... ;D

http://www.fordscorpio.co.uk/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=Advice;action=display;num=1210922764;start=10#10

http://www.fordscorpio.co.uk/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=Advice;action=display;num=1172581614;start=5#5

http://fordtransit.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=18132&hilit=biodiesel&start=90

(page 7 onwards, tho the whole thread is quite interesting)

anything else you want to know, feel free to PM me :)

Title: Re: Bio Diesel
Post by mijfife on Jan 2^nd, 2009, 2:11pm

You might have to do a few filter changes after the first switch over as the veg oil can dislodge crud in the tank and cause blockages after as little as a hundred mile or so, it really depends on the state of your fuel tank to start with. Once the initial crud dislodging state is over, then I'd change at the recommended 5000 miles and always carry a spare filter in the car, just in case. When running on veg oil, it's also good practise to change the engine oil a bit quicker too.
Pinto raises a few good points in his articles but speaking from personal experience, my Scorpio has been brilliant on the veg oil. It's certainly worth making sure that the injectors and the glow plugs are in good order first as the veg oil is thicker when cold so cold starting can sometimes be harder. Mine still starts within 2 seconds of turning the key after a single heat of the glow plugs, even on a Scottish frosty morning so I've personally not experienced any problems with this. The only mod I have done is fitting a heat exchanger so that water from the coolant system transfers heat to the fuel line so that hot oil is entering the filter, once the car is up to temperature. This was to cure a fuel waxing problem I was having in the colder weather. I usually start the car and let it idle for 5 mins before driving off from cold and it certainly runs great :)
As for the pump, the Scorpio runs a Bosch unit which are recognised as being highly suitable for veg oil. As Pinto mentions though, it's not unheard of for a seal to fail when changing over, probably one that's on it's way out anyway and the veg oil just speeds up the process of failure! Again, I've had no problems.
The final point worth remembering if you're running on veg oil is that there is no duty to pay if you use less than 2500 litres per annum, just a requirement to keep a record of how much you use. I'd recommend having a look at www.vegetableoildiesel.co.uk before you switch as it is a very informative forum on all aspects of bio diesel and running on veg oil.

Cheers Jim

Title: Re: Bio Diesel
Post by pinto on Jan 2^nd, 2009, 7:51pm

Yep, the law on duty changed between me writing those bits and today as jim states :) Do bear in mind tho - Customs & Excise can (and probably will) change the law relating to this area at will, so keep an eye on the gov. website and the bio forums.

Title: Re: Bio Diesel
Post by PeteB on Jan 5^th, 2009, 4:16pm

I for one have now found the whole bio fuel a waste of time what with diesel now down to 94.9 hardly seems worth doing :( (unless your an enviromentalist) I suppose if your doing alot of miles per week it would work out great but for jo average the golden age of cheaper fuels is gone :(

Pete

Title: Re: Bio Diesel
Post by k1ng_james on Jan 5^th, 2009, 11:20pm

on 01/02/09 at 19:51:32, pinto wrote:

I work for HMRC so that wont be a problem :D

thanks for all the info, will come in very handy! :)

Title: Re: Bio Diesel
Post by Tompion on Jan 5^th, 2009, 11:39pm

on 01/05/09 at 23:20:00, k1ng_james wrote:

I work for HMRC so that wont be a problem :D

Special ceremony for you then when you reach 30 posts :D :o

Title: Re: Bio Diesel
Post by k1ng_james on Jan 18^th, 2009, 6:00pm

I just deal with Child Benefit tho (so dont hate me) :D

anyway off topic! thanks for all your help, im going to run a mixture of 75/25 wvo & mineral diesel :)

Title: Re: Bio Diesel
Post by mijfife on Jan 18^th, 2009, 11:47pm

You'd be better off mixing the wvo with unleaded petrol. 10% unleaded thins the wvo by the same amount as 40% diesel would! Anything up to 20% unleaded should be okay although a slight drop in power might be noticeable as the cetane level will have dropped. I'm on 10% unleaded with my wvo at the moment but I did fit a heat exchanger which has helped immensely in the cold winter this year.

Cheers Jim