Using used cooking oil in car

[ayabrea38]

OH has been experimenting and has filtered the used cooking oil a few times and now looks.....better.He is thinking of trying it in the car,just putting about 3 litres in a quarter tank of diesel.
Keeping it simple,and I don't want to start a debate on tax,Has anyone out there tried something like this?
Should he thin the oil down with white spirit or something?
Any experiences would be welcome
Thanks

[scotman]

As far as I know it is not suitable to use directly. I am not sure of the exact conversion process but there are sites on internet that explain it.

[chas2008]

needs to be 110% clean or you will get all sorts of issues...I believe McDonalds lorrys run on it but this would be produced on a commercial basis

[Mattk]

They ran a car on it on 5th Gear a few years back. As far as I can recall all they used was filtered oil with a capful of white spirit.

Although the car ran ok it did smell!

[Answerprancer]

Not quite the same thing but may help - a friend of mine was running his Merc 190D on tesco's cheapest cooking oil and the only thing he had to do was make up a warming device to ruduce the oil's viscosity. It ran fine and still is running fine today afaik.

[Answerprancer]

(Sorry about the advert at the beginning):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lqCwNReU1Y

[ayabrea38]

Hi.Thanks to everyone who answered,I've got a much better idea now of what happens.

[AlBags]

If it an old design diesl with an old mechanical pump .. it will run on just about anything .. chip shop oil at 25% .. anything .. it will stink, but it will run ok.
If it's a modern engine, you may well bugger it (at least all the seals and filters in the system)

[BillyBB]

You should change the fuel filter frequently and avoid places like Morrissons where the diesel already has veg oil to a small percentage. (Or does it all now the EU says we are should put food in cars?)
My 52 plate ran fine on proper bio from a place that processed used fat and the occasional top up straight from the bottle.
I won't try it in my new one though.

[scotman]

For Eddie

I think that the public can still buy methylated spirits.

[beso]

There are components in th oil that need to be chemically removed before it is suitable as a diesel substitute. It will damage the engine if not processed properly.

[beso]

Methylated spirits is mostly ethanol with a small amount of methanol added to make it poisonous.

[Ann]

My neighbour uses Tesco vegetable oil in his car - and he is ex-police so he should know what he's doing ........

[welshlibranr]

would never do it!........ruins your engine!........so why bother!......just pay the price for diesel like we all do!.........

[scotman]

For Eddie - again
When did this happen? When I were a lad it was methanol + potassium permanganate + pyridine.

[Answerprancer]

I bet in the long run, using cheap veg oil at the expense of f*cking up your engine still works out to be economically viable (in a s/h diesel, not new of course).
I am VERY skeptical about kowtowing to a government that makes people "pay the price for diesel like we all do" when the ridiculously high taxation of fuel at the moment is highly dubious.

[hc4361]

Ann86 - how much is he paying for that? Tesco veg oil costs £1.44 per litre, and how does he get rid of all those plastic bottles?