The Mitsubishi Pajero Owners Club®

ogwamalc · ** Joined: 18 Jun 2004 Posts: 93 Location: Kent, UK

Hello Everybody
I have just found and joined up to this excellent forum. I have owned a 1990 LWB 2.5 TD pajero for about 18 months now and I, (and mor importantly my girlfriend) love it to bits. Just the other day it unfortunately broke down and has been diagnosed as having a cracked cylinder head. This is being sorted by a local garage who specialise in 4X4 vehicles with a little help from this forum locating another cylinder head for less than a king's ransom. My question is this. I have been "experementing" with using vegetable oil as a fuel over the past 3 months (whilst using the vehicle off road, naturally!) never neat but in various ratios from 10% to 50% and was wondering if this could have caused the cylinder head failure. My instincts tell me "no" which is borne out by various information from "biodiesel" websites but I just wonder if anybody here has any direct or relevant experience.
I hope it isn't the case as the Paj seems to run smoother and pull better on about 20% veg oil than on 100% diesel.
The man at the garage said that is was not uncommon on high mileage Pajeros for the head to crack so I'm hoping its just down to normal wear and tear!

Malcolm

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Guest · Posted: Fri Jun 18, 2004 15:48 Post subject:

i'm sure the veggee oil is not the problem Confused

...... have a search on 'over heating', this might throw some light on your problem.....
would be interested to know more about your bio fuel testing Shocked

8) and last of all

to the club ogwamalc.... hope fixing your paj ain't too expensive, all the best. Stevo 8) Very Happy

Doz · ***** Joined: 11 Jun 2004 Posts: 702 Location: southampton

HI and Welcome. I am fairly new to the pajero myself but I don't think your fuel cocktail is to blame. Tell me does it smell like a chip shop when you are running on cooking fuel Question

keefster · Posted: Fri Jun 18, 2004 23:12 Post subject:

Hi and welcome......can I get some fish with mine?

looneyarcher · * Joined: 28 Feb 2004 Posts: 47 Location: Great Yarmouth

HI , i am running mine on legal bio diesel ie veggie oil bought and paid for with Tax duty included.
It ,may be possible that this could have caused your problems , all i was told is it is recommended to check ie steam clean the intercooler & and regularly check and flush if necasarry your cooling system more often.
I think mine runs alot more economically on this , it also seems more pokey. 90 mph Plus on private airstrip of course
Regards Ian Shocked

nobby · Posted: Sat Jun 19, 2004 21:59 Post subject:

To The Club mate

ogwamalc · ** Joined: 18 Jun 2004 Posts: 93 Location: Kent, UK

The Paj is due back tomorrow with any luck. The bill is going to be on the wrong side of £1000 unfortunately, about 450 being the new head and the rest labour. I asked them to replace the cambelt at the same time seeing as they were "in there" anyway! A few years ago I would have tackled this job myself but as you get older it seems more attractive to pay somebody else to get covered in grease!
To answer your questions about my little experement, I started off by putting 40 quids worth of diesel in an almost empty tank then adding 20 litres of ASDA cheapy vegetable oil. It ran fine and yes the exhaust does smell like a McDonalds! I have tried various ratios since and it all seems to work OK. I think the veg oil would need a little thinning out in the winter but its fine in the summer. The engine does seem noticeably smoother when you use veg. oil.
I would love to use veg oil all the time as a road fuel but obviously would have to pay the duty on it which I think is about 27p/litre. I can get veg oil at about 45p/litre (probably cheaper in 5 gal. drums from a cash and carry) so it would still work out cheaper than regular diesel. The one problem I have is how do you pay the tax? Just send a cheque to Customs & Excise every so often? I have read that in Germany BioDiesel does not attract any duty at all. Shame they can't do that here!

PS I am trying to get my girlfriend to sell her Space Wagon and buy a Delicia. What do you think?

Malcolm
AKA OgwaMalc (see http://www.ogwa.co.uk) Very Happy

alan · Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2004 20:37 Post subject:

Hi
Interesting subject I have been toying with the idea of using veggie oil
(off road of course)but I just cant bring myself to pour the oil into the tank
yet.
Anyone in my area had go yet?????/
Alan

ogwamalc · ** Joined: 18 Jun 2004 Posts: 93 Location: Kent, UK

miketree · Posted: Thu Jun 24, 2004 12:55 Post subject: Re: Just do it!

athertop · Posted: Thu Jun 24, 2004 15:51 Post subject:

There was an article on the BBC about some folk from wales using old chippy oil as it was even cheeper than new stuff! All those bits of batter and old chips - Murder on the fuel filter I recon!!

Anyway, here's an article I just found on the beeb:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/2312521.stm

Cheers, Paul

p.s. Welcome to the forum ogwamalc Very Happy

Guest · Posted: Thu Jun 24, 2004 16:42 Post subject:

@athertop you have to filter it first...... or you might get a sausage in batter stuck in the pipes Laughing

bigt · Posted: Thu Jun 24, 2004 17:32 Post subject:

I have just discovered a friend of a friend is running his people carriers on veg oil. Although he is running Fords I thought the mileage he is doing might be of interest (he is based in Plymouth - thinks nothing of doing 2 return runs to Heathrow in a day..... Shocked

..) This is aswell as the Gatwick runs etc. With that sort of mileages on veg oil he is going to find out any problems long before any one else. I will report back as soon as possible

Tester · Posted: Thu Jun 24, 2004 23:05 Post subject:

@bigt - has he had a special kit added or does he just a straight subsitute oil for derv??

If anyone knows how to pay the tax can they post it pls

ogwamalc · ** Joined: 18 Jun 2004 Posts: 93 Location: Kent, UK

Well I have it back now Smile

the bill was £1,098 including replacing the cam and balance belts. (Thank God for Barclaycard!!!)
With regards to used chip oil, I too have thought about this, especially as I used to work next door to a fish and chip shop. Apparently you need to filter it to get the lumps out using kitchen roll in a BFO funnel. Too much animal fat in there can cause a problem also as can water. This can all be sorted using various additives so I am led to believe.
WRT keeping veg. oil in a can for emergency use wich might be too thick, if its summer time no problem but in the winter just mix in some White Spirit (what you clean paintbrushes with) in a ratio of 10:1, so in a 5 litre can of veg oil about half a litre will do it. This thins it down enough to make it runny in the winter. (Please note I havent actually done this myself as I havent tried it in the winter yet! but it worked on Top Gear!)

Just one more thing!
Some injector pumps don't take too kindly to veg.oil and it can cause premature failure. Pumps based on the Bosch design (such as used by Mitsubishi) are fine as are the VAG multi rail ones but other designs (such as CAV/Lucas as used in most FORDS) can be troublesome. Just thought I'd mention that as somebody here mentioned a mate who was running veg. oil in his Ford people carrier.

happy frying!
Malcolm