The Mitsubishi Pajero Owners Club®

maximillian · Posted: Sun Nov 23, 2014 4:15 Post subject: Veg oil !!!

Hi,
Right my swede is well and truly kettled !!!
I've been reading through the postings on this section ....
I don't know if I'm coming or going ....
I own a 2002 Mk3 3.2 DID,
My question is, is it ok to run it on a mix of diesel/veg oil ???
If so, what ratio should I use, are there any mechanical risks,
are there any performance increases/decreases etc. ?
What oil should I use ?
Any other information I should know ?
Thanks in advance for any help.
Max.

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clay*pigeon · Posted: Sun Nov 23, 2014 17:17 Post subject:

Don't run a Did on veg, you will kill it.......

clay*pigeon · Posted: Sun Nov 23, 2014 17:20 Post subject:

have a read through this lot,
Vegoil

AntonBgood · Posted: Tue Nov 25, 2014 16:22 Post subject:

So u dont recommend it at all? even if u have an older model like mk1? Neutral

rich r · Posted: Tue Nov 25, 2014 17:05 Post subject:

Fine on a Mark 1 or Mark 2 with 4D56 (2.5) or 4M40 (2.8) engines. But not on the direct injection engines (DID) as the injectors will not handle the viscosity of the veg oil well and will wear out or clog.

You can run 50/50 mix of veg oil and diesel without a fuel heater all year round in the UK, but once you get above 70% veg to 30% diesel you can have starting issues without a heater. Or switch to a twin tank setup so it starts and warms up on diesel then switches over to veg. EDC 2.8s are fine too, but make sure you keep the viscosity down by adding petrol (up to 5%) or diesel to the veg oil. The thing that the EDC pump really doesn't like is thick fuel that's not as runny as diesel - so twin tank is really a must.

Best oil to use is rapeseed (ie normally labelled as 'vegetable oil'). Sunflower isn't as good, and stay well away from palm oil or coconut oil. Those are fine in places like Malaysia where the air temperature is never below 25°C even at night, but in the UK they'll turn solid in the tank. Don't worry about anti-foaming agents such as E900, they put exactly the same in pump diesel.
Don't pay more than £1 a litre for it either - for example, Farmfoods do 10 litre bottles of rapeseed oil for £9.99, and with discount vouchers you can get this down lower. Cash and carry and Asian supermarkets are often cheaper still.

Mix with diesel before pouring into the tank, or it'll sit as separate layers. I tend to buy 10 litres of diesel in a metal jerry can, then when I get home pour it into a 20 litre jerry can, add 10 litres of veg oil, shake and then pour into the Pajero's tank.

There's loads of information on this site about running on veg oil, and it's definitely recommended on a pre-1998 non-direct injection model.

AntonBgood · Posted: Tue Nov 25, 2014 17:43 Post subject:

Great info. I appreciate that.. good to know to mix it with diesel before pouring into the tank. I must try it. Just the thing is that in Croatia veg oil is more expensive than it's in UK. so the cost effectiveness is not the same. But, nevertheless.. its a cheaper solution Smile

rich r · Posted: Wed Nov 26, 2014 10:07 Post subject:

Yes, this has been noticed before by people in other countries. In the UK we grow a lot of oilseed rape (also known as canola), which produces a good quality oil, as well as the pods making cattle feed and the rest of the plant being used in power stations to generate electricity. It's very well suited to the British climate and soil - hence the vast amount of fields full of bright yellow flowers you see right across the UK, Holland, northern France etc. Chances are you're already using it a bit, as a fair amount is made into biodiesel and blended with mineral diesel to produce the fuel you get from a filling station.

Elsewhere in Europe cooking oil tends to be from sunflowers or olives (which are more expensive to harvest and process), animal fat or it's imported, which often makes it more expensive than diesel. In tropical places, palm and coconut oils are often plentiful and cheap and work OK in diesel engines after a bit of processing.

There's always the option of taking waste vegetable oil (WVO) from kitchens and then de-watering it and filtering it. That can work out very cheap if you don't mind putting in the effort of processing it at home to make it suitable for use in an engine. Again, there's a lot of information on what you need to do online. If the oil's only lightly used then you don't need to do much more than heat it up to boil the water off then filter it through cloth to remove the tiny bits of food left in it.

maximillian · Posted: Thu Nov 27, 2014 2:36 Post subject:

Baaarstud ....
I knew I should've stuck to plan A and got another MK2 2.8 TD !!!
They are so much easier to play around with.
Aaah well, never mind, bit late now.

AntonBgood · Posted: Fri Dec 19, 2014 11:10 Post subject:

I bought some veg/sunflower oil on a special price, but im interested if its safe to use it during the winter? Because in croatia where i live its never below 0. Mostly around 5-10 degrees celsius. So what do u recommend? If its ok what should be the right percentage of mixing diesel with veg/sunflower oil?

rich r · Posted: Fri Dec 19, 2014 14:07 Post subject:

I was running a 50/50 mix of veg oil and diesel the other year when it got down to -19C here. Took a little longer to idle smoothly when started, but after 30 seconds or so it was fine.

Simon_W · ******* Joined: 21 May 2013 Posts: 4881 Location: Watford

I've run 50/50 diesel/vegetable oil at 0 deg C. No problem starting at all.

It may be that petrol is a better viscosity reducer than diesel. You can put up to 20% petrol in, is my understanding. I'm going to try this soon as it's a more cost-effective mix.

AntonBgood · Posted: Sat Dec 20, 2014 10:34 Post subject:

So even without a fuel heater at these temperatures its ok.. well thats nice to know Smile

Simon_W · ******* Joined: 21 May 2013 Posts: 4881 Location: Watford