Running on chip oil

[AlanDeejay]

One of my reasons for buying the basic 1.9D engine was that I'm thinking of doing some travelling and I thought if things got a bit tight I could run my Berlingo on filtered waste vegetable oil.

Has anyone tried this? Am I at risk of destroying the engine and injectors or is this just propaganda put about by the petroleum industry?

I've read that Rudolf Diesel ran his early engines on peanut oil and hoped this would be useful in countries where petroleum-based fuels would be difficult to obtain.

However, I imagine the engines have changed a bit since the late 1800's.

Anyone running on chip oil?

[polar]

i Haven't used it but know lots have in a 1.9. oil changes need to be more regular and fuel filter will require changing more frequently.

It can eat away at some rubber fuel lines.

[cancunia]

Straight unused veg oil is slightly cheaper than diesel at the moment, and a bit of searching will probably find it a fair amount cheaper. From reading on this subject elsewhere, veg oil has a tendency to gum up the pumps & injectors so it's best to start and finish on real diesel.

More here:
http://www.vegetableoildiesel.co.uk/introduction.html

[dieselj]

I know some of the Isuzu Trooper lads run on veg oil. The trooper 3.1 can when its warm run full 100% on veg oil. most mix it I think its something like 70/30. the 70 being veg oil.
they all say, carry a gallon of diesel and a spare filter with you. and i think alot of them do 3 tanks veg oil and then 1 tank of straight diesel.

[cancunia]

I read that Lucas / Deplhi pumps are not suitable for veg oil, probably worth checking in a bit more detail.

[ron]

Before my Berlingos I had a C15 1.8d.I ran it on 25% diesel in summer & 50/50 in winter.I did 50,000 miles on this brew until I sold it @185,000m.In those days veg oil was cheaper than diesel.It gave better mpg & MOT emmisions were lower & ran more smoothly.I had no fuel filter probs at all.I used to put Forte through it every 6 months & reckon it dissolved any thick bits in the f filter.You can't put veg oil in HDi's but you can run them on E20 biodiesel which I use when in Germany.HTH.PS The C15 had Lucas inj system.

[dieselj]

out of interest. how old is the vehicle you are thinking of running this on?
if its an old un and towards the end of its life, you aint got to much to lose running it on veg oil.

[AlanDeejay]

out of interest. how old is the vehicle you are thinking of running this on?
if its an old un and towards the end of its life, you aint got to much to lose running it on veg oil.

2003 1.9D with 130,000 on the clock so only middle-aged really.

[dieselj]

out of interest. how old is the vehicle you are thinking of running this on?
if its an old un and towards the end of its life, you aint got to much to lose running it on veg oil.

2003 1.9D with 130,000 on the clock so only middle-aged really.

so not alot to lose.

go for it. and let the rest of us know your findings. 

[geoff]

Chap I worked with used to run a 1.9D Berlingo on Veg oil, both new and filtered used oil without issue for around 100k miles, he also used to dilute it with used filtered hydraulic oil when it became available in work - 50 gallon drums, also ran on other waste industrial oils too !!! In later days he also made his own bio diesel for the 1.9d ... interesting chap to work with.
I wouldn't suggest using anything other than veg oil