Will a car run on vegetable oil?

Question

Instead of petrol.....

Answer 1

Only diesels, and with modifications

Answer 2

I have been running unmodified engines on straight veg oil mixed with diesel and a splash of solvent (white spirit, turpentine even petrol) for 8 years. My present car has done over 45,000 with no detrimental effects and marked improvement on performance, emissions and slightly better fuel consumption.
the engine is a GM 1700TD.I have also run Fiat 1.7D engines with no problems and the last one I sold on and is still going well six years after I had it,with no problems at all. Though I don't know if the new owner runs on mixed fuels.
I use a 75% oil to 25% diesel mix in the warmer months and reduce this to the reverse into the winter.
I have made no modifications nor adjustments.
My generator is a 10hp Yanmar diesel and this runs on waste engine oil mixed with red diesel plus used veg oil which I filter and boil prior to use.
My experiments have shown that non computer engine managed Diesels will run on anything wet as long as the viscosity of the fuel is close to diesel and there is adequate lubricant in the fuel for the pump, veg oil provides this but is thick and will damage a pump in cold weather hence the dilutions.
I cannot recommend anyone tries this as it may damage your engine, but I have never had a problem.
Myself and a number of colleagues, including mechanics and engineers have been experimenting for over ten years and with a few exceptions have had no problems, unlike Biodiesel which has caused problems with damage to rubber seals.

Vehicles which we have run successfully include, Renault 2.1TD, Mitsubishi Shogun, Ford 1.8TD, GM 1.7D & 1.7TD Fiat 1.7D, Peugot 1.9D.

You need to register with the Revenue and Customs to declare the fuel duty though this is easy. There is no real saving financially but as a substitute fuel it is less harmful to the environment. It just takes a food source away and so pushes up prices.

Sadly this is not a replacement for petrol, though if you really wanted to make a serious modification you could turn a petrol into a vapourising oil engine and it would burn modified veg oil but it would smoke like a chimney and smell like a donut van and the modification would cost more than the saving on fuel.

Answer 3

As far as i know petrol cars are unable to run on vegetable oil. If your looking for alternative, car fuels i can tell you that an older diesel car should run on old chip oil with a fuel filter change...

Answer 4

Yes but it's not called vegetable oil it's called bio-diesel. They grow plants just for the oil bearing seeds from which they refine the "vegetable oil" into bio-diesel. Pimp my ride on MTV, episode 504, watch the full episode here :http://www.mtv.com/overdrive/?id=1541906&vid=111636, did a great show on it where they changed the engine in a 66 Impala to a diesel truck engine to run it on bio-diesel. You can get the same performance as regular diesel with 50% less emmissions and mre ecconomy, more miles per gallon.

Answer 5

to the Doctor the glow plugs are only a way to start a diesel from cold the rest is done by compression you are thinking of a petrol engine

Answer 6

not a petrol car because the fuel is ignited by a spark.

it would in a diesel because diesel shares the same properties

as veg oil and can be ignited with glo plugs

Answer 7

No. However the petrol engine with run on both methane gas and ethanol.

Answer 8

I would not recommend using vegetable oil in your car even if it is diesel or not. There are certain properties that oil has that are not found in regular oils. It may may a quick fix for a while but the long term damage will be inevitable.

Answer 9

veg oil can be refined into bio diesel and can be put into any diesel engine that has been modified to run on it. A gas car will not and will foul plugs and make inoperable

Answer 10

I have friends who run their mercedes diesel off of used vegetable oil they get for free from the local terriyaki place.

Answer 11

A diesel engined car will run on it with a fw adjustments. It is, however illegal to do it; not because of any pollution problems but because of the tax avoidance on the fuel.