There are a couple of places around here offering Biodiesel for resoanble prices (better than white diesel).

Does anyone run Bio Desiel? Any reason why I shouldn't run it in my Perkins?

If I do should I mix it with petrodiesel to "thin it"?

Hi
bio should be fine the only thing you can find is that the fuel fillter will want changing more often to start with
as bio will clean any crap out of your tank/fuel sustem
I have freinds who run straight veg oil at 50/50 with std fuel and the only prob seams to be slightly harder to start when cold
Mike

I have been running on Bio for about a week now and everything is fine, better than fine.

Engine runs very smoothly and no longer produces black soot at any point on the rev range, before on petrodiesel it would puff out a big cloud of soot whenever I put my foot down or under heavy load on hills.

It smokes a bit more when cold but soon clears up (I have to be careful when I start up in the garage, easy to smoke myself out!) and runs clean and clear.

It has won me favour with some of my green friends, I haven't told them it's becasue I'm a cheapskate!

Don't you have to be careful which type of injection system you have? doesn't the bio eat the rubber seals on one type? got a feeling Bosch is ok.... hope someone knows what I'm on about here cos I barely do. I can recommend Motor and Diesel engineering (mdengineering.co.uk) for advice and parts for Perkins.

Yeah, I have heard it rapidly dissolves rubber exposed to BioDiesel - the chief suspect being methanol in the BD....possibly others which I do not recall.

I had a 1998 BMW 325TDS. I had all the fuel system checked and renewed with synthetic seals when I ran Biodiesel. Just as well the costs were hidden into a complete Pump and injector recondition.

Its much smoother on BD or thinned Veggy oil. No difference on mpg or did about 2mpg worse than Dino. Smelt much nicer.

Supposed NOT to be a good fuel to use in Direct Injection vehicles like 200tdi. Something to do with poor atomisation (BD still slightly thicker than Dino) and Polymerisation. Just keywords you could investigate....

I am re-building at moment - one tank for diesel, the other for veg oil. Each system has its own fuel filter - the veg oil will be heated before it enters filter - still under construction - will let all know how it goes - Geoff

I like it.

How are you tackling the return(s)?

The return is going to the original fuel tap beneath the driver - and then will be controlled manually - Geoff

I wouldn't mind seeing a picture of your set up once complete. I have currently only got one tank in service, mainly because the return goes to one tank. But also because my change over tap seems to be blocked.

Hi,

I used to run bio diesel in my 200tdi which hated it - only put it in twice and both times had to drain tank. It was originally a 2 1/4 petrol so think it had a filter on the fuel pick up which got clogged as mentioned before it does clean things out.

however used to run it in 2 300tdi discos with no problems.

Re injector pumps have been told that cannot use in a 2 1/4 diesel as the lucas pump has rubber seals which rot (unlike synthetics). Not sure which pump the perkins has. did read however using 2 stroke oil with bio diesel to help lube the system - but never tried this so cannot comment.

Regards.

James.

Thanks for that. So far I have had no problems, I have been running mixtures of white and bio diesel sometimes just bio sometimes just white and sometimes both.

I have been making bio for the past 4 years now. I managed to get all the way to Andorra on it on a landy rally. I fitted an Iveco fuel tank in the back of my 110 and a 12v fuel pump so was able to refuel the main tank whilst on the move. I left the UK with a total of 320 ltrs on board. I have never had any problems only a fuel filter issue but I always carry a spare. I have also built a few systems for friends and they too have had no problems.

Biodiesel has a higher cetane value compared to pump diesel so you get more bang for your buck. and it only costs me 18p per ltr to make. On emission's test it goes straight through. They don't even bother to check any more at as it normally reads 0.51. The first time I took it in the tester he thought the probe had fallen out of the exhaust.

Making it is simple you just have to make sure you get the sodium hydroxide and methanol out after the process has finished. Bio is also more lubricating than dino diesel ( the fuel is the lubricant for the fuel pump) so your pump does not have to work as hard.

People get confused and also hear stories about how it ruined their fuel pump. But this is mainly caused by people using neat veggie oil as it is much thicker. You can make 2500 lrts a year without having to pay duty @ 17.1p per ltr. I like the fact that it is made from a waste product, as it's already served it's use in the food industry and would only go to land fill. Also it's another way of sticking it to the man. I've run series vehicles, Tdi's and the common rail Td5's. My only other advice is to keep some spare spill pipe hoses as they can perish a bit quick on it. Other than that it's happy days @ £16.20 for full tank on a 110

Wurzel,
How do you dispose of the Glycerine? I hear you get about 40% by Volume of Glycerine and I can only think you can wash the car with it only so much!!

Gotta admire you for making your own stuff, I am clean chickenshit when it comes to people mentioning Potassium Hydroxide, Methanol and heat together <shudder> I do about 26K an year, I can only dream of the amount of money I would save if I went back to a robust older IDI system and Bio making skills.

Hmm: http://www.google.co.uk/search?aq=f&sou ... +byproduct

You could make soap! Perhaps more interestingly you can compost it. I don't know but you might be able to dispose of it with cut grass. Could be messy.

My local tip has a waste oil facility and they are fine with me taking it there. You can put some into a composter but not too much. It's also good for degreasing things as it is a very strong soap. It definitely leaves the bucket nice and clean when I wash it out The hardest part about making bio is your supply of oil.