Anybody out there running a Land Rover on vegetable oil?

I mean straight vegetable oil (waste or fresh) and not bio-diesel.

I am looking to buy a Land Rover and want to know which model I should go for if I want to run vegetable oil through a diesel engine.

Thanks.

James.

 

You are going at things backwards. First find a Good Rover you like and buy it and then forget about the vegetable oil, it is junk for a crank case if you want the engine to last.
Mike

 

Agree with Mike - buy a rover and run it either on pump diesel or bio-diesel - pure veg oil isn't a very good fuel for anything but the most agricultural diesels.

If you really must try it, here's a condensation of what I read while I was looking into it (and deciding not to do it)

Anything earlier than a TD5 will run on it - the very high pressure common rail diesels, like the TD5, won't like it much at all, the viscosity of the fuel is too high, even when heated.

With any direct injection diesel engine (200tdi and 300tdi) you increase the probability of the veg oil blowing past the rings - keep a very close check on the oil level in the sump, if it increases stop using veg oil straight away and give it a damn good flush.

SVO and WVO have a much higher glycerine (or glycerol - never can remember which it is) content than mineral diesel - this is mainly what the transesterification process removes from the oil to turn it into bio-diesel. It's the glycerine/glycerol that increases the risk of bore glazing, which is not good for your engine.

If you've got the space to collect, filter and store WVO in sufficient quantity to make it worthwhile running a rover on it - you've got enough space to make your own Bio. It's a fairly simple process and you then won't need to convert the car to a twin tank system or preheat the fuel in either the tank or the fuel lines/pump as the bio acts just like mineral diesel, including lubricating the fuel pump.

Fuel pumps made by Bosch should be ok, fuel pumps made by Lucas will almost certainly fail trying to pump SVO or WVO due to the much higher viscosity.

Last point and probably the most salient one - if there is ANY rubber in the fuel system AT ALL, don't use SVO, WVO or bio diesel in it - it rots the rubber seriously quickly.

Cheers,