Veggie oil

[CitroJim]

and let everyone else get wound up by the madness.

My attitude entirely

[ekjdm14]

"Drivin' down the road at too many miles an hour" That's one of my faults, obviously having been unduly influenced by Status Quo at an impressionable age!

Yes! ME too, seen them 10 times now..

For me, it depends. Empty road - go fast. Heavy traffic, hide with the lorries in the inside lane, and let everyone else get wound up by the madness.

Quite a good way of going about things really, make progress where progress is safe and easy to do & when things get busier then drop back & enjoy the comfort of a good car. Even more so since we have the auto' as it makes negotiating heavy traffic so much less unpleasant.

[daviemck2006]

Auto helps me so much now in most driving conditions. At the moment Im in training to sit the Advanced Driving test. Most of it is good observation and anticipation, which you had to have when driving buses and coaches, but with various illnesses and the long time now since Ive driven a full size bus or coach I felt that my driving was deteriorating hence the reason for doing it. Driving smoother and with good anticipation is not necessarily slower, but safer and more economical.

[CitroJim]

All the best with the IAM test Davie... I once was keen to do it but now I don't believe my driving is anywhere near good enough... Possibly too slow and defensive along with reluctance to drive anywhere in heavy traffic!

[Michel]

Quite a good way of going about things really, make progress where progress is safe and easy to do & when things get busier then drop back & enjoy the comfort of a good car. Even more so since we have the auto' as it makes negotiating heavy traffic so much less unpleasant.

You just need to remember that the road is never busy if the traffic is moving away from you

[van ordinaire]

I assume that this is the fuel pump on the berlingo then. And I also assume that given the fact that Lucas is embossed into that black electrical connection means veggie oil is a no no for it.

Sent from my SM-G361F using Tapatalk

Yup, finally got round to having a look & mine's like that BUT while the leccie ancillaries are Lucas, the actual pump is marked Delphi! Another of Uncle Joe's aliases?

[van ordinaire]

Auto helps me so much now in most driving conditions. At the moment Im in training to sit the Advanced Driving test. Most of it is good observation and anticipation, which you had to have when driving buses and coaches, but with various illnesses and the long time now since Ive driven a full size bus or coach I felt that my driving was deteriorating hence the reason for doing it. Driving smoother and with good anticipation is not necessarily slower, but safer and more economical.

Most commendable, good luck, 'though I doubt you'll need it: your a braver man than I.

[CitroJim]

the actual pump is marked Delphi! Another of Uncle Joe's aliases?

Yes, in a way. Delphi took over Lucas CAV and branded the old Lucas CAV designs as Delphi... They still do as far as I know... The basic Lucas DPC pump - on which all these pumps are based - are not a lot different to the original CAV pump that first appeared in the early 50s. A very successful and enduringly good pump that truly stood the test of time.

They were also built under licence in France as the Roto-Diesel and these are seen in many PSA vehicles..

I believe they were also built in Japan under another name which currently escapes me - may have been Denso...

[van ordinaire]

Thanks Jim, that clarifies things a lot. I do remember Lucas CAV as a quite seprate entity but one, which for some reason, I associate with Bedfords. Then again, that would fit in with the Delphi GM connection - & Denso, which produces certain Cadillac components.

[elma]

Back to power/mpg for a moment.
Back in my uni days when I ran Xantias on veg oil I observed the following.

With new injector nozzles.
Diesel better in every respect.

With old (100k+) injector nozzles,
Veg gives Better mpg and feels like more power.

This was across several cars including 2 of my own plus a few mates.
We deduced that the more viscous veg oil atomised better in a worn injector and hence performed better, something I always wished to verify with a pop tester.
We disagreed as to weather new injectors on derv or old on veg was a better option.
I still maintain that the engines smoother and stronger on the new nozzles with derv.

Personally given the price of fuel filters and my time I don't think veg is worth the bother at any less than a 75% cost saving.

[Timmo]

But what if your running on straight Veg rather than waste? 80p/l as apposed 1.19 and a fuel filters a fiver a pop, i carry a spare as a matter of course, but is only a 2min job to change, so effectively saving yourself 40p/l on normal fuel??


*Edit* i am not trying to pick an argument, but am genuinely interested!

[elma]

I only ever used fresh veg oil. 50.50 in winter and up to 100% in summer but usually a bit of derv for lubrication. When it went up from 25p a litre to 50p I gave up. Derv was about £1 at the time.

the reason I stopped was that I didn't think the saving justified the extra parts and time running on veg demanded. I went through several fuel filter housings, 2 fuel hoses and a hand primer. Whilst none of these parts were expensive they usually went at the worst possible time and took the car out of action for up to a week. This cost me far more than just paying the pump price as I only have one car.

Don't get me wrong I'd buy a £100 scrap diesel and use veg in it until it broke. I just wouldn't put it in my own car which I value highly (moot point as I'm no longer on diesel). My last 2 Xantias were 1.9td though and I ran neither on veg as I needed them to be reliable.

[Timmo]

That all makes perfect sense, understandable for when you need the car,

[elma]

Probably would've been clearer if I'd initially said I'd run a 2nd car on it but not my pride and joy.

[van ordinaire]

Throughout this entire debate I didn't realise that some were actually running on veggie, as opposed to using it to eke out the diesel.

As I've mentoned before, I learned of the practise from a Pug owning mobile caterer (obviously in an ideal position to know about such things)& I understood that 50:50 was the most you could use. Perhaps that's why my Lucas pump has forgiven me, it's never had to cope with more than 1:2 mix & only then on runs when it would all be used in a day, 2 at the most, so the longest any would be left in the system would be overnight.

Not that it matters to me now, but I've not been able to get veggie for 80p for months, it's the fact it's price is within 10p of diesel that makes not being wise to use it less painful. I don't understand routinely carrying a fuel filter - is that a 100% veggies thing? but impressed with it being a 2 min. job. I would've thought 5 - 10 - the, maybe, 20 mins. to get the thing running again.