Hi All,

I thought I would share my experience with biodiesel in my Felicia and hopefully get some advice.

I have had a second-hand 1996 1.9 Felicia for one year that was never run on biodiesel previously. A local business sells 100% methoxide-method produced diesel from recycled vegetable oil. Its a popular place with many people using their fuel because its 50% the cost of ordinary diesel and, of course, about 10% of the normal CO2 emission.

I used this fuel happily for nearly a year with no problems, then a few weeks ago it broke down completely. The engine stuttered, lost power intermittently then stopped. I feared the fuel pump or injectors were shot so took it to a local garage because I don't have the tools or expertise for that kind of repair.

They said they flushed it out (with a diesel cleaner) and could see no obvious problem except that the fuel return pipes (to the pump) were leaking and therefore sucking air fatally into the cylinders. They changed the pipes and it seems to be ok now but I have not dared to put biodiesel in it since. The mechanic said he is coming accross problems like this more and more, of cars with no mechanical fault breaking down then working once they are flushed. Also, he reckoned that the biodiesel is somehow corroding rubber seals and pipes. Could this be a worse problem on some types of fuel pump and not others?

I notice on another post that Skoda DO NOT recommend this model of Felicia for biodiesel, but they did not say why. I have been told by the biodiesel people to just change the fuel filter regularly but that was only about 8 months old. Could it need a new filter? An if so, why is it now running ok without a new filter after changing the fuel.

Anyone else's experiences with Skoda and diodiesel would be very much apreciated. The BIG question is: can BIODIESEL damage my fuel pump and / or injectors or is it just a matter of ensuring blockages don't occur?

Thanks for any advice / stories,

Theo

Skoda Felicia

I do seem to recall something about bio diesel causing probs with some kinds of pipes. Try a bit of googling...

I am really fascinated by the use of Vegetable oil in diesel engines. The thought of going to Tesco and using they

Thanks for the replies but they are mostly a bit off tack. I was asking about using properly refined biodiesel, not raw oil. Raw oil requires a separate tank, pump and pre-heater. I'm just wanting to use off-the shelf with no modifications to the car. Further research seems to point to the diesel 'wax' being the problem and it jamming the filter when you switch to biodiesel. In addition, the biodiesel seems to degrade some rubber components. Without further help I think I'm going to be cautious and only use a 50/50 mix at most.

One point for Brian - don't forget that if you do convert to veg oil, you have to declare and pay tax on every litre you use. I haven't heard of anyone getting caught but its only a matter of time!

The main reason I want to use biodiesel is that it is effectively ZERO carbon emission. Some people don't seem to understand why, but being a plant scientist I can try to explain. Plants get ALL their carbon from the air because they use CO2 from the air in photosynthesis to make sugars and then oil, so in the oil from rapeseed or corn that is used to make biodiesel ALL the carbon is from CO2 that has been taken out of the air. So when you use biodiesel the carbon is just recycled from the crop to the air again. A bit of carbon comes from methanol and energy used to make the biodiesel (unless you use bioethanol!). All the enrgy in the oil is actually from photosynthesis so using biodiesel is exactly the same thing as having a solar powered car (with a bit more soot)!

Don't know if that helps anyone, but its my reason anyway. I know there isn't enough land to grow all our energy needs this way but there IS enough land to supply all our CURRENT transport fuel easily.

Personally, I'd rather have a petrol car, so as soon as bioethanol becomes more available I'll be switching to that!

Theo

Just a few facts i found on my research of this a while back

Bioethanol (e85) is being rolled out on a few Morrisons forecourts and as standard in all their new stores.

Tescos pumps e5 as standard as its unleaded and e10 as superunleaded. (no current petrol cars can cope with a higher mix than e10 - Flex fuel cars are designed for anywhere between all petrol or 85% ethanol)

The issue with using off the shelf oil for diesel cars is that the long chained starch molecules need to be broken down using some form of solvent.

Hi Geoff,

thanks for the info. By 'off the shelf' I meant biodiesel made by a professional, not me!

Do you know what modifications are necessary to an ordinary petrol car to use e85 bioethanol? Will Morrisons' Bioethanol be '100%' bioethanol or is some of it mineral? It really gets my goat that forecourts can call their diesel 'biodiesel' when it only has 5% plant oil in it!

Thanks,

Theo

Sorry but for the purposes of the Felicia Biodiesel and SOV (Neat Vegetable oil) is the same. I have ran cars on SOV without modifications since the mid 90's so have picked up a few things. Firstly if you car has the Lucas/Cav pump (Most Felicia's do) then you shouldnt run it on any oil based fuel (That includes Biodiesel). Ring gumming can be an issue with cars too if you dont use detergents however the pump would deteriorate before this would be an issue for you. Cars like Citroen's Peugeots etc Have Bosch pumps and can run 100% Svo or WVO (Waste vegetable oil) without any modifications during the warmer months, downgrading to a 50/50 split in the winter.

As for it Being zero carbon thats not exactly true. Its carbon Neutral. Not quite the same thing. Still better than Diesel, but definately carbon is produced.

Thanks very much, that's very useful to know. Looks like I got the wrong car then! It does have the Lucas pump and I thought this might be the problem. My mechanic seemed to think so too. I think changing the pump would be prohibitively expensive since the car only cost £800. Is there a list anywhere of cars that can take biodiesel without problems?

Thanks,

Theo

Have pm'd you