How to convert a diesel engine to run using veggie oil

hi this video we'll look at how to convert a diesel engine to run using vegetable oil this was actually created as part of our UK veggie oil tour which is part funded by the European Union we will talk about that at the end of the video but first of all we're going to look at using vegetable oil in a diesel car now petrol prices could reach a new record petrol has become much more expensive over the past 10 years been a lot of talk in the newspapers and on the radio this last couple of weeks about people running their cars like diesel engine cars I should say on vegetable oil it's used cooking oil the gunk that gets left at the bottom of deep fat friers anybody who had a diesel car could just pour the stuff straight into the gas tank and it would run fine good idea [Music] oh [Music] the best things in life are [Music] free to filter waste vegetable oil you will need a stack of old newspapers some ridiculous looking overalls a suitable rainb work space and a large storage container with a t various sized funnels plenty of waste vegie oil a 400 micron filter this is the first filter to use and it will basically just remove the chips and other chunks of food that have been left in the oil alternatively you could just use an old pair of jeans these two filter well but get pluged easily and make a Little More Mess three sock filters a 10 Micron a five Micron and a one micron the three sock filters slot inside one another so you P the oil only once but it filters through all three make sure that the one micron is the last to receive the oil in case you're wondering one micron is equal to 1 1,000 of a MM all of these filters can be purchased on eBay before you start filtering the oil it is recommended to leave it to settle this means that all the thick fatty oil will sink to the bottom in winter only use the thin oil which floats on the top label it summer oil and use it when the weather warms up so the oil will stay thin in your tank once filtered to one micron be sure to leave the oil to settle once again this time ideally for a month any water in the oil will have time to settle to the bottom and the good oil can be bumped off to use the water gets into oil from Frozen Foods and it's important not to have water in your engine and that's it that's how to get down to virtually zero on your diesel consumption consider the average diesel car produces nearly 3 tons of CO2 a year by switching to waste vegetable oil you can expect to cut your driving emissions to zero not only is it legal in the UK you can also use 25,000 l a year tax free how to convert a diesel engine to run using vegetable oil cold oil is thick this is the only real difference when considering oils as a fuel so if you heat it up it will become thin like diesel let's talk about the two tank system we'll come back to this diagram for the two tank system in just a moment first we're just going to talk about how the system works an auxiliary diesel tank usually 20 or 30 L is fitted into the car boot the diesel in this tank is used only to start and run the vehicle from cold until the engine and vegetable oil are at operating temperature this usually only takes a few minutes vegetable oil is stored in the original diesel tank as this is larger often around 60 plus lers the vegetable oil in this tank passes through a variety of heaters ensuring that by the time it reaches the engine it is thin and ready for combustion the heaters turn on at the flick of a switch once the engine is at operating temperature warmed vegetable oil can be used for the entire Journey a few minutes before arriving at the Final Destination the system is switched back to use Diesel from the auxiliary tank this ensures that fuel lines are flushed through to prime it ready for the new cold start you must first turn to flush then after a few minutes return to diesel before converting your engine try on a warm day to see how it runs using a 7030 vegetable oil diesel mix if there is no change in how it starts or accelerates alter the ratio to 50/50 finally increase the amount of vegetable oil in the mix to 70% whil is reducing the amount of diesel to just 30 if you don't notice any real changes in how the car starts and drives you should be ready to consider a two-tank engine conversion something else to consider is the age of the car diesel cars manufactured pre-2000 have basic computer and electronic systems our Mercedes veto was a 2003 model and consequently had a computer system that needed attention even before we filled it up with v oil that said once converted we did run several thousand miles using wvo but our lesson learned and thinking now is to convert older cars Vans and trucks Okay so we've made up this diagram this is for the two tank Vig oil conversion system it lists the components and also where they go in line and what happens at each stage so top left is what used to be the original diesel tank this is now what you use for your vegetable oil and then on the top right you can see the auxiliary diesel tank this would be the tank that's inside of the boot and only used for diesel so looking at the diagram you can see that there are two lines there the green line which represents the vegetable oil and the black line which represents the diesel as the vegg oil leaves its tank it's soon met by one of the first of three heaters this is a coolant fed heater it's a heat exchanger and basically like a little radiator as you can see there are four connectors on it two inputs and two outputs simply cut into your engine's existing coolant line and Plum this heat exchanger in likewise with your diesel fuel line Plum this in between also as the engine coolant passes through the heat exchanger the metal is warmed up and so too is the V oil which passes through simultaneously now this is a great heater as it does not need any electricity to function this means that you're preheating a v oil from the moment you start your engine so after the first heater the V oil will pass through an inline pre- filter um now it's best to get a clear filter basically so you can see the condition of the oil and also to get an understanding of when the filter needs changing so you can see that the V oil now passes through a three-way valve this valve is used to switch between V oil or diesel moving towards the engine um it's probably a good time to mention that to install the diesel tank you just need to fix it into the boot drill a hole through the boot floor run theu fuel line through that hole and carry it all the way along the bottom of the car fixing it with cable ties uh bring it up into the engine bay and then Plum it into this three-way valve as you can see now the flow of diesel and vegetable oil mirror each other they go into one pipe so depending how the valve is positioned either diesel or veg oil will pass through the second fuel heater now this heater runs off a 12vt car battery and it's powered by two glow plugs as the vegg oil passes through this heater the glow plugs heat up the oil it's worth noting that this heater is thermostat operated the idea is to save the life of the glow plug so that it's not on continuously for long Journeys just to get the oil to operating temperature switches off comes back in when it starts to cool now the oil finally goes into the third and final of the heaters this is a 12vt wraparound heat exchanger this goes onto the fuel filter the one that comes with the car it's basically a blanket it is vcro up and it's it slots on top um it's very simple to fit literally takes a few minutes but it's really important so any Gunk any oil that's inside of that fuel filter it's going to start getting heated and made nice and thin okay so now that the vual has been heated three times and filtered twice it is ready to combust inside of your engine cylinders so with our Mercedes CDI which is a common rail we have an excess leak off this excess rejoins the circuit and at the returning Loop valve it can go one of two directions the valve will either direct the fuel back to the 12vt electric inline heater where of course once again it will be heated filtered and sent for combustion or the returning Loop valve will actually channel the fuel back to the veggie tank now as you can see on the diagram this red line represents the closed loop system which is the normal running circuit the valve will open when the driver manually switches to flush uh this will be at the end of The Journey now the ID is this means that diesel will be sent along the fuel line and all of the veggie oil is flushed back into the veggie tank there will of course be diesel sent into this tank occasionally but that doesn't matter it's just a case of perfecting the length of time you flush for this valve will also open automatically via thermostat signal when driving long distances when the veg oil is at above operational temperature the thermostat will recognize this now the IDE of this is that the hot oil will be sent back around the circuit sent to the veggie tank where it can mix of the cold oil and help avoid congealing in the tank cool well I hope that was pretty easy to follow and not too dry it's really important to also get a workshop manual for your vehicle this will give you a good understanding of how the engine actually works your coolant system the electrics and of course the fuel line you can often pick these up secondhand online or even on CD if you are looking for more information do check out our website www.the poo. org SL v- promod Das tour in Winter 2012 a group of friends from the UK developed the concept to create a service that connects UK youth with volunteering opportunities at sustainable self-build projects sustainable self-build techniques are a serious rational and Innovative response to combat some of the environmental and economic challenges that face Mankind in the 21st century due to the nature of traditional natural and alternative building methods many of the skills required to self-build a sustainable home can be learned and developed in a matter of hours as opposed to years for thousands of years humans have built houses together voluntary help at self-build projects Is Not A New Concept but a single web platform to connect them is our group received funding from the European Union Youth in Action Program for the project that kickstarted the global Community known as the push. Org the project which was was known as the push for DIY environmental and economic Alternatives received funding to convert the Mercedes veto with a two tank system and T the UK using wvo the 20 locations were visited on the tour which stretched from Southern England through Wales and up to Northern Scotland was a great success and as a result the people's organization on sustainable housing has organically evolved faster and further than anyone could have predicted the p.org is now a registered not for-profit organization and is free to join and use for more information how you too can participate on a European Youth in Action Program visit www.ac a.c. europa.eu youth to learn more about sustainable self- builds to join the movement and to create your free volunteer or build site project profile visit www.the poo. org you can also check out the Facebook page the.org

Channel: GoPOOSH

Views: 222,868

Keywords: How, DIY, Vegetable, Oil, Conversion, Environment, WVO, Waste, Economical, Sustainable, Eco-build, Eco, Self-build

Id: D157-bJtY08

Length: 13min 9sec (789 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 02 2013