Bio Diesel

[holyan]

Hello, guys. I`d like to talk about usage of bio-fuel on a6 c5 with 2.5tdi v6 AFB engine. The manual says it`s fine to put bio diesel in, but living in surrey, never tried that one. Did you experience any dis/advantages, how did the engine behave and what exactly did you fill up (soy, rapeseed, jatropha, mahua, vegetable oil, m&s olive virgin oil, etc?

[why.the.dots]

I ran my 1999 2.5 tdi on Biodiesel for 6 months.

The engine ran quieter,
The performance and fuel economy dropped a little (I keep a spreadsheet with all the detail)
It smelled of chips.
I got through 2 fuel filters while the bio diesel cleaned the gunk out of the tank (I was running 100 % Bio, if you only run up to 90% this cleaning won't happen - much on the web about this)
The garage reported at the service that they had never seen cleaner internals on a 100,000 mile car.

How I did it.
Bought some recycled cooking oil from ebay. 79p / ltr delivered.
Waited till 6 weeks before the car was due a service.
Waited till I had half a tank of regular diesel then topped up with bio.
I then just kept on topping up at half a tank. i.e. slowly increasing the %age mix rather then jumping in with both feet.

No worries starting, setting off early in the morning was much better due to not having a bag of spanners going down the street at 5 am.

I stopped because the stuff is getting like rocking horse pooh as everyone wants it.
Hope this helps.
T

[MikkiJayne]

I used it for a few weeks (3 full tanks) round the tanker driver's strike, and the car hated it

Although it says you can use bio in the manual the processed waste oil that people sell in the UK is very different to the official EN specification. The spec is derived from clean rapeseed oil, whereas the processed waste oil could come from anything and still contains many things which are bad for engines.

Mine was really hard to start, and always misfired from cold. It had no power, and dropped from 40mpg to 32 It was horrid and gutless to drive, and stunk of chip fat

I spoke to the guys at the local tractor workshop and they have had dozens of customers in with problems after running on this muck - clogged filters & lift pumps, and several damaged injection pumps.

Most places seem to charge £1.10 - £1.20 a litre, since it has road fuel duty and vat added. Given the loss of mpg and the potential for very expensive engine damage it simply isn't worth it.

I wouldn't touch the stuff again, and I certainly wouldn't ever just put raw veg oil in the tank - clean or used! Switching back to proper diesel transformed the car to its old self again.

Mikki

[veedubbora07tdi]

would not touch the stuff mate

[A62.5TDIV6]

I've run on a 60% bio - 40% fossil mix since last december. As yet no problems, the car seems to run well on it.

As previously mentioned, the manual does say its OK to use it. I've heard only on Audi's aged between 1998 - 2004. Maybe quality can be an issue depending on where you get it from.

I get mine from a bloke in Poole, on Holton Heath Industrial Estate @ £1.10 per litre. He's doing a roaring trade at the moment, his prices always seem to track about 20p per litre below fossil diesel.

I've never run 100% bio. Don't plan to.

FYI this is where I get mine...........

David Devine ( David.devine100@btopenworld.com)
Unit 30, Glenmore Business Park, Blackhill Road, Holton Heath Poole, Dorset, BH16 6NL
Phone: 07843696904

Oh yeah, I should say it is NOT just cooking oil. It is correctly made and processed/manufactured BioDiesel. I would never pour cooking oil straight into the tank.......!

[A62.5TDIV6]

I ran my 1999 2.5 tdi on Biodiesel for 6 months.

The engine ran quieter,
The performance and fuel economy dropped a little (I keep a spreadsheet with all the detail)
It smelled of chips.
I got through 2 fuel filters while the bio diesel cleaned the gunk out of the tank (I was running 100 % Bio, if you only run up to 90% this cleaning won't happen - much on the web about this)
The garage reported at the service that they had never seen cleaner internals on a 100,000 mile car.

How I did it.
Bought some recycled cooking oil from ebay. 79p / ltr delivered.
Waited till 6 weeks before the car was due a service.
Waited till I had half a tank of regular diesel then topped up with bio.
I then just kept on topping up at half a tank. i.e. slowly increasing the %age mix rather then jumping in with both feet.

No worries starting, setting off early in the morning was much better due to not having a bag of spanners going down the street at 5 am.

I stopped because the stuff is getting like rocking horse pooh as everyone wants it.
Hope this helps.
T

Just putting cooking oil into your tank DOES NOT turn it into BIO DIESEL!

Bio Diesel is made through a process which (I think) removes the Glycerin from the oil. Then alcohol is added to increase the cetane level so it wil ignite/burn correctly.

[MikkiJayne]

Even then it doesn't meet the ISO 14214 biodiesel specification that is stated in the manual. That is based on production from virgin rape seed oil. Cooking with the oil changes it's composition significantly, plus the waste oil that stuff is made from can be anything - sunflower, soya oil, etc, all of which have slightly different characteristics. The quality of the 'fuel' produced varies widely even between batches from the same producer.

Unless the supplier can show you certification that their fuel conforms to ISO 14214 I wouldn't put it in my car. Especially not in a 2.5, considering how troublesome the pumps can be!

[Mr Pid]

What about good old red diesel!?!?

I got caught short yesterday and had a can of red in my van so i chucked it in - did 100 miles on it and didn't appear to be any probs.