Cheap fuel - 1800 miles on vegetable oil. Life saver?

in #life6 years ago

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We set off from the UK once in a diesel car.


The car was nothing special, just a run around for work. It was a Rover 25 2.0l diesel. Our destination was Poland via Dover UK- Dunkirk France, Belgium, Holland, Germany then Poland. Before setting off I changed the fuel filter and filled the fuel tank and the filter up with vegetable oil. At the time cooking oil was around 40 pence per liter cheaper than diesel you see. We loaded up a supermarket trolley with 90 liters of cooking oil and filled the boot of the car with it.

1800 miles or so later we arrived in Poland. We stopped at a McDonald's in Germany to fill up the car with more oil. A German man and his wife stopped dead in their tracks to watch. They were amazed. The man knowing we were English from our number plates asked me if it was cooking oil, I replied yes, he asked if the car was Scottish. You see the Germans really do get our English humor. (We call the Scottish tight or skin flints, we call the Welsh much worse lol.)

So even if Petrol - diesel was no longer produced or available, a diesel engine will run on oil. In fact even old engine oil will keep it running! The design of said engine was originally devised so that it could run on peanut oil. Diesel was the big fuel industries successful attempt to make people pay more than they really need to - to run their own vehicles.

I also put some used oil in the car that I had made chips with or French fries if you like. It ran fine, though smelt like a chip shop from behind. People sitting behind me at traffic lights must have longed for some chips when they got home without knowing why. (It is safer to let the oil settle for a few days, so any water separates from the oil.)


Use of vegetable oils as Diesel engine fuel.........
In a book titled Diesel Engines for Land and Marine Work,[14] Diesel said that "In 1900 a small Diesel engine was exhibited by the Otto company which, on the suggestion of the French Government, was run on arachide [peanut] oil, and operated so well that very few people were aware of the fact. The motor was built for ordinary oils, and without any modification was run on vegetable oil I have recently repeated these experiments on a large scale with full success and entire confirmation of the results formerly obtained." Source of course.


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Why am I writing this?


Well I take notice of things and other peoples situations. 1 of the people on here is suffering power cuts in Africa. If said person gets a diesel electric generator, then even without diesel he can stay hooked up to some electricity.
Also in the event that the lunatics that run the asylum called the world decide they want to bomb somewhere closer to home for you. You can still get around even if there was no Fiat funny money left to buy diesel.

To switch over from diesel to oil is simple with a lot of diesel engines, the Rover for instance only required a fuel filter change, to stop the filter getting blocked up with a mix of diesel and oil. Sometimes I ran it with 20% diesel and 80% oil if it was cold outside as the oil can get thicker in colder temperatures.

Additives are also available over the counter to thin down diesel when it is cold, this additive works just as well with oil.


To conclude my story I would like to add, we also returned using only sunflower oil, so we did a round trip of approximately 3600 miles on oil.


Part of my new series of life saver posts.


Here is wishing you all a very happy holiday season, and may the drinks flow ahead.


Images Pixabay.

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Great article Shepz ... from the comments you got here, seems to me that you 'should' continue with similar helpful posts.

One time while I was in the Army, me and a couple of buddies tried to blow up an old diesel engine on a five ton truck, along with trying to wreck the trans, suspension or anything else that we could. First we added some old (unfiltered) oil from the mess hall, took it off road into shallow ditches, over fallen branches and logs & whatever else looked menacing...we tried grinding the gears too with each shift...but, the damn thing kept running, and nothing broke...???

At least we managed to relieve some frustrations of Army life.

Do you get top gear on TV over there? The English version? I say the English one as I know there is a American version. Anyway, they tried to destroy a Toyota diesel pick up truck and even blew up a building with it on top. The bloody thing still started after many attempts to destroy it.

If you have time. = This is the 4th attempt to destroy it

I think that I stumbled across Top Gear a while back...I'm sure I can find it again, to watch that Toyota truck stint :>)

There's a guy in Marana Az who converted his vehicles over (I don't think they are all diesel, but has been years since I saw this). He collects the used oil from many of the fast food places and strains it out. I thought that was genius. I wasn't aware that diesel was made to actually run on it. I will save that in my may need to know files if the shtf :)

I will save that in my may need to know files if the shtf :)

That is exactly why I am going to do a series of posts like this, we just never know anymore what "they" are up to. Cheers my friend.

So awesome 😎

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Cheers my friend.

You can also run a gasoline engine on ethanol with a few tweaks on the carburetor.
Ford Model T had a regulable carburetor capable of running either on gasoline, kerosene or ethanol.

Yes very true.

Nice story. I know that procedure also. With old Diesel engines it works fine.

Cheers my friend, and yes it works superbly, I just wrote it in case some people do not know. Have a superb day ahead.

I have heard about this before. I would have to go and collect used oil from the takeaways here as sunflower oil is about 30 percent more expensive than diesel.

Used oil is superb as long as you separate it from any food particles (filter it first) and let it settle to remove water. And I had you in mind with this post. :-)

I gathered lol. Thanks man.

Welcome. :-)

Quite a few people here in Australia using veg oil mainly used from the likes of fish and chip shops. I actually use some 2t oil mixed in with the diesel for my motorhome. It helps to quieten down the injection pump etc as it is a lubricant and helps keep the system clean as well. I may try and get some used cooking oil to try soon :) love this idea of life saver post mate :)

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Cheers bro, as I said though, let old/used oil settle for a few days so you can drain off excess water when it settles and floats to the top. Also filter any food out, though that is common sense I would think. :-)

Yes mate you are spot on :) Hope you have a great day.

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Having a superb day thanks, and wish you the same.

Cheers mate :)

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Interesting read and comments. I never knew all that.

You do now. :-) Thanks.

Hum , Diesel invented his engine on and for hemp oil .
Ford didn't make him come to America for the oil industry .
Diesel never arrived , he mysteriously disappeared during the journey at open sea .
If i in the Netherlands make my car run on home made fuel or sunflower oil from the supermarkets the government will tax me to death if they would catch me doing it . Tax fraud they call it . ;-)

What country you in? Even the UK you can use a certain amount tax free via veggie oil. And according to Mr diesel himself, he states as fact it was designed for peanut oil so not sure where you get the hemp part from.

It was in the year 1893 that he was successful in putting out the first model that was able to run with its own power and with an efficiency of approximately 26%. This was more than double the efficiency of the steam engines of that time and was a great stride for the efficient engine and a great start to the engines of today.

It was in February of 1897 that he accomplished a great achievement and produced a diesel engine that ran at 75% efficiency. This was the first one of its kind that was deemed suitable for practical use and was demonstrated at the Exhibition fair in France in the year 1898. This engine in particular was run on peanut oil and in Diesel's vision was great for the small business owners as well as farmers as it used an economical fuel source that was a biomass fuel. It was his use of a biomass fuel that continued until the 1920's and is starting again today. Source

The idea was so that farmers and rural communities could make their own oils.


And yes the mystery death, I plan to write about that one day soon.

I live in the Netherlands , only true a monopolized structure you can run a car on biofuel . Your profit on doing so will diminish by high tax and Expensive certified company's that where allowed to use this thech . For me only swapping an engine of other quality and performance makes me commit crime . To get it legal i would have to spend twice the cost on a engine swap true taxes legislation and registration . It's not illegal to build your own transport , but it's made impossible for the common man .
Still they do ;-) , because a 94 Civic is so mush more fun with a 2ltr turbo a plasma ignition and a H2o bubbler . 300+ hp that can be as cheep in use as a Prius . Big toe driving , a friend of mine calls it .

Well peanuts it is then , as the connection with Henry Ford points more to hemp , it must have confused me . Then again , i am Dutch , on hemp we sailed the golden age (1700) , i probable have hemp strains in my DNA ;-)

Yes Henry Ford was big on hemp, he even made a car from it, and the first electric cars, he abandoned both for the same people, big oil!

I saw a article about turning hemp in to graphene to make batteries .
Less pollution when fabricating batteries was the main goal .
The structure hemp turns in to is almost ready for use they claim .

There was never need to drain the planet from lubricant , let's hope it did or dos no damage to the whole system ;-) . No lube means friction means heat building up ,... there you have the problem , i just solved global warming . Put the damn oil back and give me a Nobel prize ;-)

Veggie vs HHO? how would a diesel engine compare on these options?

Browns gas will aid a diesel as it does a petrol engine, it may burn cooler also if used neat, though you would lose the lubrication qualities of the fuel (oil or diesel) I am going to do a post soon with regards to making browns gas via salt water. And it's application to car vehicle with regards to saving money.