The Mitsubishi Pajero Owners Club®

[Diddle]

Well, I just wanted to share the experience with you all, in case anyone is interested in trying vegetable oil in their Paj. Last week, while v low on diesel and coincidentally passing a LIDL shop, the other half decided to take the plunge and buy some veg oil to try. We initially put in about 3 litres just to get us home, but we ended up having to go on an unexpected journey so we put in about another 5 litres. We then put in about 50 litres of diesel and topped up with oil, cos I was thinking of the recommendation I saw somewhere to run 20% veg oil. Just thought you might want to know of our findings anyway.

Well firstly, there seemed to be an immediate improvement in responsiveness at low speed, which I was pleasantly surprised with 8) . I've done about 350 kms now, both on country roads and motorways, and the second thing I've noticed is that the engine just seems to be running really sweetly. I can't describe it, but it seems to cruise better and even idle that bit better. The last (and possibly best) thing is that after 350 kms I'm over a quarter tank full. I consistently get around 350-400kms out of a tank, so I'm expecting that the fuel economy has definitely improved.

So all in all I'd recommend giving it a go 8)

Diddle

[Google]

[ichandler]

Keep an eye on the fuel pump, particularly in cold weather - I found Lidl's vegetable oil started a leak at the top of the pump, possibly because the oil got thicker than ordinary diesel in the cold. But I too found that the engine ran very well on it - and the exhaust gave off a nice smell like frying chips ...
I have been wondering how sunflower oil would burn in a Paj; the Lidl oil I used to buy was soya bean oil

Incidentally the leak stoped when I stopped using veggie oil

[Diddle]

[PoCUK]

Ahem! ... of course, nobody's actually owning up to using discount veggie oil to run our motors on the public highway in a public forum are we ... it's just an account of what we heard a friend tell us about their experience ... and of course, your friend sent in the duty on the veggie oil right?

8)

Simon

[Diddle]

Ahem, thanks for alerting me to that Simon ..... it was of course a friend who told me about it. I took the creative liberty of putting the post into the first person

My friend also has the cheque in the post for the customs 8) (altho in relaity she doesn't actually know where she would even post such a cheque to even if she wanted to!)

Diddle

[EvilEd]

Blame it on Trig, They'll have fun trying to test his Paj...

[PeteMillis]

Sunflower oil works very well. Probably the best to use is rape seed oil which is from those horrible stinky crops that badly affect hayfever sufferers! So long as there is some diesel to lower the viscosity of the oil then the fuel pump thing shouldn't be an issue. After all, the fuel pumps cope with diesel in extremely cold climates where the viscosity of the diesel will be even higher than that of veg oil in our climate. What I've found works really well (in controlled experiments off the public highway of course) is rape or sunflower oil thinned slightly. I've done the thinning with different solvents - namely methanol, ethanol, white spirit, parafin and petrol. I've found that less than 1% solvent reduces the viscositty quite a bit and works out cheap. Running 99% veg oil to 1% parafin and 0% dino diesel has worked well for me. Zero black smoke and a far nicer smell to boot.

[jackasss]

I,m up for trying this on my 94 2.5TD. D,ya wait till ya tanks empty of diesel before you put it in or can you mix it together.

[Tester]

of course you could have paid the duty so posting on here wouldn't be a problem

Nige

[alan]

Hi all,
If I went along and filled up at my local bio fuel station with
bio fuel I beleive I would be given a receipt with my car reg: on it showing that I had paid the duty
If I were silly enough then to use the duty paid bio fuel and fill up from the
local shop is there any way it could be detected in my tank as diferent
to the genuine thing ????????????????/

Alan

[GeoffL]

[pdwiggy]

I believe you can pay the duty on veg oil, lard or whatever you run in the local post office though I doubt very much the old girl behind the counter would know what you talking about let alone find the forms! How long each tankfull last you is a different matter

[Diddle]

Wow, that customs and excise story is a bit mad alright ..... they had records of his e-mails and he thinks they taped the conversation . If only they did the same for murderers eh

What annoys me tho is that it seems that a lot of people would like to convert for the sake of the environment etc, and there's no easy way to do it, no financial incentives, no education, no easy way to be honest about it and pay the damn tax etc. I'm not in the UK but it's even worse here, even our Green party website has nothing about alternative fuels, but there's plenty of people giving out about 4x4s on the roads using fossil fuels .

Sorry for the rant, I just think it's a bit ridiculous, especially now that we can actually see the effects of global warming with all the mad weather and floods and stuff.

As for using the veggie oil, I think I'll keep throwing in a few litres here and there and I might even look into a full conversion.

@jackass - I put in a few litres when the tank was all but empty, and then filled the rest with diesel. I don't know if it matters all that much cos they all get mixed around together anyway.

Diddle

[Felix]

Have a look at this:

http://www.vegburner.co.uk/oils.htm

for all the information you need on using alternative fuels for your off highway experimentation.

[ichandler]

Diddle, it occurred to me - is it worth using veggie oil in Ireland?

There is a temptation to use the stuff in Britain because diesel costs the equivalent of about Euros 1.20 a litre - I thought it was much cheaper in the Republic, hence the smuggling of diesel oil over the border into Northern Ireland.

In France diesel is much cheaper too - it is only the wretched government here that seems to regard motor transport as some sort of sin to be discouraged by punitive tax.

When I used the stuff in my Paj I never properly measured the proportions. And I also got fed up with having to get rid of the huge pile of plastic litre bottles