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Biodiesel


rbdazza
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So, just done a quick search on the forum for biodiesel and nothing came back! surprising really. didn't search for veg oil but not sure what age of motors people on here run!

Maybe i'll be the first on here running it? If there's any interest i can keep this thread going with progress/updates, let me know. the thing is currently on diesel which is killing me. i have run bio fuels on various cars over the last few years:

Passat PD130 - bio 20k

Astra 1.9 - bio 12k, killed it (DPF)!

BMW 530d - 25k bio

Seat Leon 1.9 - 5k on veg (piece of crap!)

Nissan Terrano - 14k on veg

So clearly i can;t wait to get the Audi on it.

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Hey Darren

Great thread! I will be following this, does the age of the car have effect on weather or not you can run bio? I'd be interested in learning a lot more about this, very interesting :) 

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well the unofficial line from the biodiesel community is that any diesel engine will run on it. Generally speaking the problems with new cars is the emission controls and potentially flakey high pressure systems (think ford), regardless of fuel used. 

The PD engine is renowned for being a fantastic bio runner. mine was a 2002 130 and never missed a beat in the 20k on biodiesel made in my shed. 

The reason the Audi isn;t on it yet is due to the DPF. by nature fuel makes its way into the sump with a DPF regen. diesel will evaporate, bio won't. there is the potential for oil contamination, worst case engine runaway as your sump is so full it sucks it into the air inlet (ask me how i know)..

So, step one for me is to get rid of the DPF and EGR for good measure. Step 2 is filling the tank with Bio!

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Awesome, interesting to know have do you get Bio then? and 

12 minutes ago, rbdazza said:

worst case engine runaway as your sump is so full it sucks it into the air inlet (ask me how i know)

how do you know?

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The wife's Astra, a 56 plate SRi. i knew DPFs were a pain but didnt really understand how they worked. so i gutted the DPF, welded it up and put it back on the car. booked it in for a remap to remove the DPF bits from the ECU but was a week or 2 later. the thing was constantly trying to regen as the inlet/outlet pressure was constant. luckily i was driving when it started to run on its engine oil/bio mix from the sump, unluckily it was an auto as was a bugger to stall. blew its turbo, lost compression, blah blah, scrapped! 

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Remap and work all done. Wow!! It's like a different car! Acceleration is phenomenal. 

Will leave it a couple of weeks to make sure everything is ok then I'll introduce it to biodiesel and let the savings commence!

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Tanks for of biodiesel now coming at roughly 25ppl. 400 miles down so far and hopefully many to go! 

 

Power doesnt seem affected at all although mpg has dropped but this but this is to be expected. 

 

Only other difference is the sweet smell from the exhaust 😂

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  • 2 weeks later...
Quick update. done around 600 miles so far without a drop of diesel and she's been running like a dream. still spins the wheels up in 3rd when the roads are damp!
slight delay in starting when the temps have dropped below zero but i've got some 2ehn on order that should sort that!
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That's great news Darren....all I can say is you must eat a lot of fry-ups to run your car....sounds like my kind of car :-)

I suppose the fuel waxes below a certain temperature then without additives?

 

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11 minutes ago, Trevor said:

That's great news Darren....all I can say is you must eat a lot of fry-ups to run your car....sounds like my kind of car :-)

I suppose the fuel waxes below a certain temperature then without additives?

 

haha, i hear it makes you hungry driving behind me!

Yeah, just like normal diesel biodiesel will wax at lower temperatures. the problem is with bio is that temperature is much higher. with bio made from rapeseed i think you're good down to somewhere between -6 to -10 where waxing is concerned but anything below 5 degrees and the fuel will be slightly thicker, hence the couple of cranks required to start. there are winterisers on the market which apparently work really well. other options are to add a %age of petrol of diesel, i;ve done both of these and never had a problem in winter, petrol is better as you need less for the same effect! usually 5% does the trick.

2-ehn is a cetane improve, basically the difference between regular diesel and premium diesel. this helps with cold starts, performance and fuel consumption. per litre it works out to pennies 

 

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Sounds like you've got it sussed...it is surprising why not many people decide to give it a go.

I know it used to be restricted to manufacturing around 3000 litres (if memory serves me correctly) is it still the same?

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more people than i thought do it, but you're right its not out there in the masses and i'm kind of glad, there's enough competition for used cooking as it is lol.

i think it is not for the faint of heart, you are basically using old cooking oil (that usually stinks), Methanol and caustic (both are truly awful chemicals) to create fuel to put in your pride and joy. yeah, come to think of it, what the hell am i doing haha.

I've been doing this for around 3 years, its a hobby, great for the environment and saves me dosh!

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  • 1 year later...

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