Cheaper Alternative To Diesel?

Question

I have a 1.9tdci diesel car and am getting sick of lining the sponging government's pocket. I know you can convert petrol cars to LPG. Is there an alternative for diesel cars thats commercially available.

Please explain it as you would to a 5yo because it's all a bit beyond me. Also could we stick to UK answerers please, no offence but I don't see the point of having an alternative thats 3000 miles away, defeats the object.

Answer 1

Bio diesel if you can find it.

Answer 2

wvo,i burn it.

Answer 3

Diesel engines can be modified to run on vegitable oil. Bio diesel is another possibility.

I drive a diesel too. And if prices stay high like this, I may well look into making my own biodiesel.

Answer 4

the legal UK fuel with zero fuel tax is electric, and £0 road tax & congestion charge and free parking in some places like Westminster.

And they are much more pleasent & stressfree to drive, smooth, quiet & smell free

converting to electric would not be much more difficult than LPG ie remove engine, exaust, coolant fuel tank etc

connect electric motor to clutch is the easiest way to match the drive, fit batteries where convenient, number & type depending on range & performance you want (eg Tesla, built by Lotus in Norfolk 0-60 <5seconds 200+ mile range)

connect acelerator pedal to appropritate controler.

Electric motors are much simpler & more reliable than infernal combustion.

Join Battery Vehicle Soc for support http://www.batteryvehiclesociety.org.uk/...

Answer 5

go green!

Answer 6

Check out this site and let me know what you think?

journeytoforever.org/biodiesel

Answer 7

Bio diesel.  My son's best friend has an old Mercedes and for a while when he was broke, he would get cooking oil from local restuarants, filter it and pour in it his tank. Still ran ok, maybe not perfect but was way cheaper than diesel.  I am in the US, but certainly you could do that there. Most used oils are recyled for pet foods or soap or in fact sold to bio diesel refineries where it is purified.

Answer 8

chip fat is the way forward especialy if you live in america no shortage of fat there

Answer 9

Ok I don't really know much about cars, but really into trying biodiesel again - see my forum once bitten...

http://www.vegetableoildiesel.co.uk/foru...

Am I right in thinking a tdci is common rail? This is slightly different to direct injection I have been told common rail is quicker so there are potentially issues. I would advise getting specific advice. The best person to ask on vegetableoildiesel.co.uk is 'hicompression' as he is a diesel engineer. It is a minefield out there as some suppliers of biodiesel do not process properly. The tests i've been told about are to take 3ml biodiesel put into 27ml methanol, if cloudy, not good, if blobs at bottom, very bad. and pH testing is needed. Also glycerol left in, caustic soda, sulphuric acid, which can erode pumps. Again use the forums as mentioned above for reliable suppliers. And check with the Environment Agency if a supplier is PPC permitted, they may say who is dodgy or not in your area.

Answer 10

Don't use red diesel as the 'red' colour is a dye that stains your injectors and if you get caught the fine would be a lot more than the difference in price between standard diesel and red diesel (red = agricultural diesel). My friend used some veg oil and damaged his engine. You have to suffer like me!!!!!

Answer 11

You can pretty much convert a diesel to run on anything that burns.  Diesel engines run on sewer gas (methane) in many waste water treatment plants, and some also run on landfill gas (also methane).  LPG would not be a problem, but you may need to add some type of ignition system since LPG may not ignite from heat of compression only (I know methane does not).

Answer 12

veg. oil. you can use up to 20% neat added to ordinary diesel (i believe more than this can damage rubber seals in some engines), or, if you have a suitable engine, you could convert it to run entirely on veg. oil.

Compatible Vehicle List.

http://www.dieselveg.com/Vehicle%20List....

i think you have to have heat the oil and start it on diesel because of the higher viscosity.

you dont have to pay tax if you use less than 2500 litres per year.

"Maximum allowable veg oil usage in Litres before having to register or pay fuel duty to UK Revenue & Customs is set at 2500 Litres Per Year"

http://www.dieselveg.com/

blimey, time to get the old camper out and have a tinker. loads of people are doing it, i just found a whole forum - full :-)

http://www.vegetableoildiesel.co.uk/foru...

Answer 13

understand one thing, regardless of what alternative fuel you use, you will still have to pay the government a fuel tax in order to use your alternative fuel on the road. governments get real testy when people dont pay their taxes.

Answer 14

Red diesel, i believe it's green diesel if you live in england/wales/scotland. The stuff tractors use.

Answer 15

Vegetable oil can be used to stretch your diesel out so it will reduce cost, but the tax people will want their cut.  So even if you get it free they will assess a tax on it, for whatever amount they decide you are using, even without proof.  

As for the suggestion to convert to an electric car forget it.  An EV with the same range, speed, space and convenience will cost you 3-4 times as much as your diesel did when new.

Answer 16

I don't know how to convert so I will try to address it differently.

You can go with a hybrid, or even a 4-cyl car.

Regardless of what you do, you can do this to ALL cars to make them more fuel friendly:

Use an after-market the air intake. Upgrade the sparkplugs and wires for a more efficient fuel burn. Upgrade the alternator and pully system to an aftermarket performance system (this lowers the parasitic drag your components have on your engine). Buy larger rims/tires (that takes some math to prove but you can visualize why that helps). Change your heavy parts to carbon fiber parts (not worth the fuel efficiency, but it does infact improve your gas milage). Go through weight reduction like removing spare tires, rear seats, whatever you don't find necessary.

Good luck!

Answer 17

Stick with bio-diesel if you can get it. Converting to LPG isn't practical for this type of engine due to the compression ratios involved.

If you wanted to go with LPG, you would have to get a different vehicle (one that currently uses gasoline) and get a retrofit kit for it.

Answer 18

LEGS !

Answer 19

NGV then! Natural Gas Vehicle is the way to go!