Veg oil in a 52 plate 1.7dti Astra?

[PiperCub]

A question from a mate at work who runs a 52 plate Astra G with the Isuzu 1.7dti engine. 

 

Pardon my ignorance here as I'm not well up on this subject as have never done so myself but can these motors run veg oil at all? Is running veg restricted to indirect injection units (this one is direct according to the interweb)? 

 

He does over 20K a year so would welcome saving money if it is feasible.

 

Anyone?

[Lacquer Peel]

Bosch VP44 pump. Not suitable.

[twosmoke300]

I thought the 1.7 was a Delphi or denso unit . Either way being an electronically controlled pump I wouldn't risk veg

[Lacquer Peel]

It's a mechanical pump but is based on the design of the Lucas CAV pump and has internal electronics. Some electronically controlled direct injection engines are fine like the pre-PD VAG DI engines.

[twosmoke300]

I personally wouldn't recommend using veg in a high pressure direct injection lump.

 

If you can find someone locally selling bio diesel from the pump that I think is okay. When you buy the fuel take a petrol car with loads of drums and claim agricultural or generator use ... that way you avoid the tax at the pump and it's cheaper than diesel!

Otherwise known as tax evasion

[Lacquer Peel]

I thought the 1.7 was a Delphi or denso unit . Either way being an electronically controlled pump I wouldn't risk veg

 

Based on the design of the VP44 pump I think.

[PiperCub]

Thanks for the swift responses gents, will pass on the info (albeit negative!). 

[DodgeRover]

Tried good bio in my mates one and it really did not like it one bit, MG ZT however took it in it's stride

[Rave]

I was under the impression that running straight veg in any DI engine eventually causes the piston rings to gum up and stick, at some point after which the engine begins to run off its own sump oil and grenades, if you don't manage to dump the clutch and stall it?

[forddeliveryboy]

I was under the impression that running straight veg in any DI engine eventually causes the piston rings to gum up and stick, at some point after which the engine begins to run off its own sump oil and grenades, if you don't manage to dump the clutch and stall it?

 

If you spend your life in traffic jams, start the engine then let it idle to clear the ice and snow then yes, even the VW engines with their veg-tolerant pistons will break especially if you don't change the sump oil before 10,000 miles. 

 

Otherwise, with the oil changed at 3-4k intervals as a precaution to veg contamination of the sump (which can then turn the oil jelly-like) the old VW TDis are generally recognised as being well suited to veg, provided 5% or more of the mix is diesel and a drop of petrol and/or fuel heating is used in winter.

 

The Mercedes indirect injection engines (especially the multivalve ones) have proved to be rather prone to ring-gumming, largely because they can tolerate 100% veg in the coldest weather, owners tend not to use the revs and as the miles pile on, timing retards leading to incomplete combustion. 

 

But if the veg is not properly dried (should be crystal clear), highly acidic (high temps and overused in a kitchen with the characteristic very dark colour) or not well polished (I filter through to half a micron) then it'll cause problems in the long run, just as sub-standard pump diesel would.

[DodgeRover]

@forddeliveryboy are you centrifuging your WVO? I used to settle for a month then cold filter the top stuff though 1 micron bags (so probably more like 5 or 10 micron) and never had any trouble with filter clogging.

Then the fatty stuff was swapped for bio.