If you want a car to run on biodiesel fuel what kind of engine would you need?

Question

If anyone saw the episode of Pimp My Ride with red muscle car that ran on biodiesel, what kind of engine was it? Does that fuel run on any regular diesel engine, is it a different engine, or do you need to modify the diesel engine?

Answer 1

Any diesel engine will do, and you don't have to modify it. However if you start using biodiesel you should keep an eye on a few things. Biodiesel is a good solvent, so like better quality gas, it tends to clean out your injectors... and other things...

-it can "clean" (make holes in) very old rubber fuel lines that needed replacing anyway.

- It can clean out deposits in your fuel tank and fuel lines, which end up in your fuel filter. That can choke the filter, so if you feel loss of power, change that filter. You should only have to do that once.

- In freezing weather it's somewhat more prone to gelling than regular diesel, so blend it with diesel fuel, kerosene or Jet A. Remember to pay road tax on any fuel that wasn't taxed when you buy it.

Now if you really want an adventure, you can save 50 cents a gallon or so and run straight veggie oil (SVO). That requires some modification of the diesel car, because veggie oil is a LOT more viscous than diesel, especially as it gets cold. Throw a jar of corn oil in the fridge and you'll see the problem clear as day. The modifications involve heating the fuel tank, lines, filter and injectors to get the fuel to 120 degrees+ so it flows smoothly. Some setups start the car on a second fuel tank of regular diesel/biodiesel, then use engine coolant to warm the SVO. Other ones do electrical preheating and use extra tough injectors (e.g. the Elspett system). If it's a diesel that runs 24x7 like a locomotive, hey, go SVO.

Once you're into SVO you can also check out WVO (waste veggie oil aka used fryer oil) which you can often mooch from restaurants for free. Still gotta pay road tax, but road tax on "FREE" is ... hmm, let's see. carry the zero... total, 0+ 0... comes out to FREE.

Answer 2

Any kind of diesel engine will work on biodiesel. However, if you are going for the waste vegetable oil substitute, that stuff needs a filter, a separate tank and a standard diesel reserve to warm the engine.
But biodiesel works just like petrodiesel ... put it in the tank and go. No problem.

Answer 3

Just a diesel engine will do fine ,but no gasoline . There is no difference between bio diesel to diesel. Make sure that the bio diesel is run through a very fine filter or it will stop up your injectors and that is a bad problem.

Answer 4

There are 3 ways to run veggie. All include making the veggie oil the same viscosity as diesel.

1 - process it to make biodiesel, by removing the glycerin by adding methanol and either KOH or NaOH.
2 - heat it with your cars own cooling system which brings it to 180 degrees
3 - Thin it with Kerosene or gasoline - see this great video from Top Gear TV show http://youtube.com/watch?v=GOFbsaNeZps
All three work.
On older diesel (1980's In-Direct Injection) you can almost run it straight, after you filter it to 10 microns.

Answer 5

Just diesel. I was stationed in Germany for a year and a half and they use mainly biodiesel. Diesel engines work with bio or regular.

Answer 6

Any diesel engine can run on biodiesel with no modifications to the engine or problems.

Answer 7

A diesel engine with a fuel system that is resistant to the solvent properties of bio-diesel.

Answer 8

Bio-diesel fuel will (Should) work fine in any diesel engine without any major modifications to the engine.

Answer 9

1965 Chevy Impala. They used a GM 6.6-liter Duramax turbo diesel.

Bio-diesel could be used in place of regular diesel so any diesel engine could use bio, no need to modify.

Answer 10

On newer diesel engines you would have to modify it somewhat. Now on the older VW Rabbits, it's mainly just a matter of how you filter cooking oil (used cooking oil). The older Mercedes will run on cooking oil as well.