The Toyota Landcruiser Owners Club

[Animal Mother]

Are you using Straight Veg Oil?

Using a derv/oil mix?

Any mods needed?

Any issues?

[Google]

[HairyWookie]

Hi,
No expert, but have been using veg oil since 2012.

I fitted a heat exchanger kit, as per post below;
http://www.tlocuk.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=13235&highlight=

I started with WVO, which was a nightmare to collect, stunk the garage out filtering it, and then the car ran rubbish in Winter at the first sign of a cold snap, even with exchanger and 50/40/10 oil, diesel, unleaded.
I also tried some bio diesel from a farmer in the village; that turned out to be a nightmare too, just constantly clogged up filters and ran horrid (suspect he wasnt making it properly or filtering and polishing incorrectly).

I then switched to SVO from Makro, and havent looked back. 50K miles now, mainly on SVO; runs cleaner than regular pump diesel (zero emissions other than bit of oil blowby on MOT) and is thicker than modern diesel, so car is quieter and feels bit more pokey.

Rapeseed is best, has a similar calorific value to diesel, similar cetane rating, and gels at a very low temp.
I buy in 20 litre tubs, then funnel into 25 litre tubs with a burp valve from the local car wash place.
A funnel attached to bench in garage, pour into 25 litre tub, add 5 litres of diesel in Summer or 3 diesel 2 unleaded in snow & ice.
A bulkhead fitting with 1 metre of pipe onto a spare lid means no messing with funnels at the car. Shove pipe into filler neck, place tub on rest I made, open burp valve, and it goes shooting in. 3.5 tubs to fill from empty.

Keep receipts for 12 months; allowed to run 2500 litres, or 50 per week, under HMRC ruling.

First tank full will act like a scouring plug, and remove all gunk & accumulated muck from the tank & lines (including an apple core on mine...?), so be ready to change your filter. A NRV on the input line, just prior to heat exchanger, helps quick change the filter (£10 off e bay). Plumb exchanger prior to filter housing & lag with foam. I dont use the electrical side now; she starts on the stated mixes just fine, even at -15 deg C in Scotland.

Need anything else, just ask.  
_________________
Regards, Chris.

1997 KZJ95 3.0TD GX Manual (Jess)
Weekend Warrior with 18 years of mechanical experience; still learning...
Occasional use on SVO...

[Animal Mother]

Excellent. Thank you. Just got to wait for two things now. My PPI refund, and to find the right truck.

[HairyWookie]

Just make sure it isnt D4D; has to be 3.0 indirect injection, early 1996 to 1/2/2001.
D4D are common rail which will not run on SVO on any account.  
_________________
Regards, Chris.

1997 KZJ95 3.0TD GX Manual (Jess)
Weekend Warrior with 18 years of mechanical experience; still learning...
Occasional use on SVO...

[DaveWall]

I don't run on SVO but know other that have run fine with the 1KZTE engine and as above NOT the D4D.

I'm pretty sure this is why the 1KZTE was/is still available abroad in countries where the fuel is a bit more hit or miss...!

[DaveWall]

The only thing I would say is double double do the math on whether it's worth doing, with the fuel price back a bit, and veg oil up, once you account for additional filters/exchanger/some value for your time etc,  unless you have a very low value source of Veg Oil (and spare time) I'm not convinced the saving is as big as you would initially expect.

[HairyWookie]

Agreed; double dip the math. Its not always worth it.

For me, given £15 for 20 litres veg, £5.5 for 5 litres Diesel, it's £74 to fill, as opposed to £99 to fill (approx £25 per tank saving).
When I first started, Diesel was up around £1.40 at Supermarkets, over £1.50 at Services, so the saving was much bigger.

These days, given a better liftshare to work, I dont consume anything like the 200 litres a month I used to, so mainly use Diesel for day to day, veg for longer trips.
Rapeseed SVO doesnt degrade or clog filters, and if you use MANN filters, they are Bio rated, so last for 20K miles easy.

The exchanger was £75 off e bay; piping free off a Rover 75 Diesel (same pipe sizes as LC90 heater pipes) from local scrappy.
_________________
Regards, Chris.

1997 KZJ95 3.0TD GX Manual (Jess)
Weekend Warrior with 18 years of mechanical experience; still learning...
Occasional use on SVO...

[DaveWall]

Yes  that's a good veg price, are you buying in bulk?  Even the Wholesaler's round here want 95ppl for the stuff nowadays  (I actually put an IBC on a stand and bulk buy white diesel, which ends up being about 5% cheaper than at the pump.

I probably only use one tank a month at most nowadays, so saving £25 a month (ignoring the capital cost and at your prices) doesn't really make me want to mess around with cans of veg oil etc....  And I would worry a little about the finer details like the piston rings being designed to deal with the spec of diesel, the potential change in running temperature, viscosity at low temps, and even on the 1KZTE inside the fuel pump is pretty damn complicated.  

I guess veg oil MAY be better for some of this, but one negative effect and the savings would soon be lost.  I do agree if your really trying to run the vehicle cheap, it's an damn good option though!

[HairyWookie]

Hi,
I buy from Makro, VAT free, 500 litres at a time, then store in the garage, keeping receipt in a folder in the glovebox.
I have 'mixer' tubs with good burp valves, 6 of them, that hold 25 litres of mix each.

I have to do regular tip runs as part of my hobbies, so take the empty plastic shop tubs (I knife a hole in the handle to stop slopping, pretty much writing them off) and cardboard sleeves to the tip at the same time. After a few years of messing with pumps etc, its easier just to mix in the tub (doing the garage dance) & tip in with a long tube. No splashing, no mess.

My MOT place was a bit cynical at first, but now the owner runs his 90's Hilux on the same mixes in the same way; has never mentioned any loss in performance when recovering or trailering busted cars and vans around.

Local farmer has run an LC90 on veg for over 100K miles now, so they can have longevity. When I first chatted to him about it in 2012, he said what's critical is an effective heat exchanger and sensible mixing ratio with pure Diesel; not Kerosene, or Paraffin, or Turps, or Meths, or Toluene, or anything else that people have tried, to keep similar viscosity to Diesel once warmed through.

The 1KZTE is listed as 'Single Tank Kit', so is suggested for starting on a veg mix cold, with heat exchanger to help thin once its 5 mins into warm up running.
As with anything different, it's a leap of faith; but spare parts are easily obtained for these trucks, and they are very easy and straightforward to work on. I was dubious at first, but I am somewhat of a convert now (SVO doesnt smell that much when running either).

As has already been said, the 1KZTE is still used in third world countries, where the poor quality of fuel doesnt suggest use of very high pressure Common Rail systems, better the simpler low pressure indirect system.
_________________
Regards, Chris.

1997 KZJ95 3.0TD GX Manual (Jess)
Weekend Warrior with 18 years of mechanical experience; still learning...
Occasional use on SVO...

[Animal Mother]

Thanks for your replies everyone. I'll bear in mind the economy of it all.

I suppose the simplest method of heating would be a heater jacket on the fuel filter (or heated fuel filter assembly) connected to the heater plug relay circuit?

[DaveWall]

A couple of other things to think about

1) Buying 500ltrs of oil at a time, and lugging into garage, OK some of us have forklift and some of us need the workout, but this and mixing/pouring containers can have an effect on your back...  You only have one, and it's worth more than any saving on fuel!

2) If you do plumb up a heat exchanger/heater/fuel switch over etc... try keep all the original bits intact, just incase you need to revert back to standard (or if you are the sort of person to get board of the vehicle after a year or so) while veg setup might be better etc, I've no doubt it would reduce the resale value  (Obviously not a problem if its a vehicle for life).

[HairyWookie]

[DaveWall]

Out of interest is there any thermostatic control of the heat exchanger? Or control of when the fuel is run through it?