Hi there, looking for anybody in Victoria who has a mechanic familiar with diesel tarago (townace). I'm purchasing one to convert to straight vegetable oil, and need some assistance.

- (#7184) Marcus, 18 Feb 03

Marcus, When you have converted I would be most interested in any changes/adjustments that needed to be made. I ran a litre of veg oil without any adjustments, just replaced feed and return pipes to the veg bottle and fired up ran ok but it was a static test so do not know about performance/consumption etc...
Wish you the best of luck and await the results.
Clive

- (#7307) Clive, 18 Feb 03

From the reports I have had, the vehicle will run fine on most types of veggie oil, but you do sometimes find they are hard to start from cold, especially in really cold weather, the oil becomes like wax, whereas commercially available diesel now has 'anti waxing' agents added to make cold starting easier. I also understand that most engines get a sticky residue builds up in the pre combustion chambers & the bores themselves, this means that most engines need a good cleanout with the head off periodically, whereas modern diesels now run quite cleanly. The other problem seem to be the lack of lubrication properties in veggie oil, you need a lubricant to keep the diesel pump oiled correctly, diesel contains a small amount of sulphur to lubricate the pump, although most diesels now have less sulphur, so it is useful to add a pump lubricant periodically. HTH Rob.

- (#7308) Rob Drinkwater, 18 Feb 03

I have ordered a conversion kit which essentially heats up the oil to 80 dec C. This solves most of the coking problems etc. The system works by starting on Petroluem Diesel and themn switching to the oil when the engine is at operating temperature. By operating a turbo timer, the engine switches back to diesel fuel when turned off to reprime the lines for a cold start. The kit not including a fuel tank, costs about US$350. I can get it here for about A$600 delivered. You can use any waste oil with the system, you just need to process it to get any solids or water out.

I am getting one of these kits for my nissan that I have been running on Biodiesel, but was hoping to find a mechanic in Melbourne who is familiar with the diesel tarago(townace) as they are not very common here.

- (#7309) Marcus, 18 Feb 03

There is a bloke over here in Perth WA from Murdoch Uni who runs a diesel car (not sure what) on fish and chip oil.

He hasn't changed the car at all as afar as I know, but he does process the oil. Of course he filters it to get rid of solids, but he also adds some other bits to stop solidification etc.

I think that the estimate is about 35-40 cents a litre with no adverse effect on performance - but he does get the oil for free (cost of pick-up).

Maybe check the Murdoch Universitry web site?

Dave.

- (#7366) Dave, 23 Feb 03

Loony car bloke over here in the UK by the name of Jeremy Clarkson did a demo on TV, supervised by the AA, where they drained down a diesel, filled it with used vegetable oil and it ran a treat. The only additive that he recommended was about a tablespoonful of White Spirit to a tank of oil.

- (#7367) Tom Lister, 24 Feb 03