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Diesel Engines Winter fuel mixtures

Redcoat said:
Never did we use anything but diesel , petrol in Germany for the Landrovers or 4 tonners , and it got frikin cold , even the 101 mobile Milan just ran on pure fuel , is it really justified to mix fuel , please enlighten me 👍
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Depending on where its sold, diesel is often pre-dosed with some sort of anti-gelling agent. Not sure what, but 'Winter diesel' is often supplied in the Winter months.

No such thing as 'standard diesel'...
 
Is it your intention to run on reclaimed chippy oil etc?

I did look into it as I was working somewhere that had stocks of used oil from their deep fat fryers (no, not Maccy Ds) and was considering setting up a small plant at home to convert it for use in the landy, but theres a quite an initial investment to do it properly and it takes up space which I dont have.
Of course, if that was the only alternative...

People have been doing this for years, so theres lots of info on homebrew diesel out there.
Your questions must have already been answered somewhere..?

My mate used to get chippy oil and rack it and just let it settle out, then gravity feed through increasingly finer filters. He said the main drawback was the smell of fried food as you drove along. He used to put a bottle of (cheapest) baby oil in each tank full to counteract it. Never tried it in cold climates though...

Bit of info here;
 
mikeau said:
Is it your intention to run on reclaimed chippy oil etc?

I did look into it as I was working somewhere that had stocks of used oil from their deep fat fryers (no, not Maccy Ds) and was considering setting up a small plant at home to convert it for use in the landy, but theres a quite an initial investment to do it properly and it takes up space which I dont have.
Of course, if that was the only alternative...

People have been doing this for years, so theres lots of info on homebrew diesel out there.
Your questions must have already been answered somewhere..?

My mate used to get chippy oil and rack it and just let it settle out, then gravity feed through increasingly finer filters. He said the main drawback was the smell of fried food as you drove along. He used to put a bottle of (cheapest) baby oil in each tank full to counteract it. Never tried it in cold climates though...

Bit of info here;
Click to expand...
Hmmmm.
I'm more interested in mixing what ever I can use at the time however certainly reclaimed oil is a good source usually free.
I also spend time in high mountains of Europe during the coldest parts of the year. I'm keen to see what freezes or becomes too thicker to inject for combustion hence the experiment. There is a supply of used veg oil at a location where I go and also kerosene so mixing the two might just work.
Thing is a high percentage of kerosene is very "dry" so getting a lubricant in it and getting it done with veg oil could work.
 
Used veg oil is potentially problematic unless you do some processing to remove the water and debris floating around in it.
No point using it in place of regular diesel if its going to leave you stranded up some mountain and dying of hypothermia because your pump is blocked!

In an emergency, (zombie apocalypse) Id risk it, but after I looked at what you are supposed to do to process it so that your engine wont die, I decided it was too much investment on time and money unless things change.
This is the sort of thing I was reading;


You could possibly skip some of that and (like my mate) just boil off the water and filter it.
Might work for a while, depending on how forgiving the FIP is on your vehicle.
If you found a source of very cheap new cooking oil then that would probably be less risky.
 
mikeau said:
Used veg oil is potentially problematic unless you do some processing to remove the water and debris floating around in it.
No point using it in place of regular diesel if its going to leave you stranded up some mountain and dying of hypothermia because your pump is blocked!

In an emergency, (zombie apocalypse) Id risk it, but after I looked at what you are supposed to do to process it so that your engine wont die, I decided it was too much investment on time and money unless things change.
This is the sort of thing I was reading;


You could possibly skip some of that and (like my mate) just boil off the water and filter it.
Might work for a while, depending on how forgiving the FIP is on your vehicle.
If you found a source of very cheap new cooking oil then that would probably be less risky.
Click to expand...
Mechanical 300tdi FP so not too bad as long as I keep it clean. Veg oil new is not hugely expensive in France
 
The biggest problem I have found with diesel freezing is not so much the diesel itself freezing, it's any water content in the fuel. So a nice clean fuel filter at the start of winter, and keep the tank full.

When the water freezes in the bottom of the filter (don't forget you can drop the water out of the bottom by the tap) that causes the fuel to fel. Then even when you go out a few days after that minus 30 (not unknown here..coldest so far this year has been -12) and the weather has warmed up, you start the engine, and set off. 100 yds up the road it dies on you, as once it's frozen, it doesn't un-gel.

We are on winter derv here already, apparently. I've never added anything to the fuel except injector cleaner. I do however change the fuel filter every autumn. And fill the tank every time I go out to keep the empty part of the tank to the minimum as much as possible.

Be interesting to see what the different mixes do though. Not that I can use veg oil in mine, old cav pumps aren't a fan of it. It would be interesting to see if there is a filter heater available still...used to be able to get them.
 
Big Sandy said:
The biggest problem I have found with diesel freezing is not so much the diesel itself freezing, it's any water content in the fuel. So a nice clean fuel filter at the start of winter, and keep the tank full.

When the water freezes in the bottom of the filter (don't forget you can drop the water out of the bottom by the tap) that causes the fuel to fel. Then even when you go out a few days after that minus 30 (not unknown here..coldest so far this year has been -12) and the weather has warmed up, you start the engine, and set off. 100 yds up the road it dies on you, as once it's frozen, it doesn't un-gel.

We are on winter derv here already, apparently. I've never added anything to the fuel except injector cleaner. I do however change the fuel filter every autumn. And fill the tank every time I go out to keep the empty part of the tank to the minimum as much as possible.

Be interesting to see what the different mixes do though. Not that I can use veg oil in mine, old cav pumps aren't a fan of it. It would be 🤔 to see if there is a filter heater available still...used to be able to get them.
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I have considered a filter heater. Was thinking like a small 12v heater jacket or a pair of heated gloves fitted around the filter not sure on that yet.
I do keep the fuel tank full during cold periods and have found in the past a percentage of kerosene is required at altitude.
I have in my head a twin filter set up with a switch over on it so I can put neat kerosene in for super cold start ups then switch back over to diesel once running.
There's a lot to work out but deciding on what the fuel will be I think is the first issue,this shall allow me to design the fueling system accordingly.
I already have the battery blanketed and bonnet insulation in place.
I'm going to insulate the fuel lines this summer and lag the fuel tank with something.
I've fitted stainless fuel tank brackets so they last a bit longer.
All in hopefully I can have a fully prepared disco TDI for winter and fuel options ready for next year
 
Beast O Bodmin 1 said:
I have considered a filter heater. Was thinking like a small 12v heater jacket or a pair of heated gloves fitted around the filter not sure on that yet.
I do keep the fuel tank full during cold periods and have found in the past a percentage of kerosene is required at altitude.
I have in my head a twin filter set up with a switch over on it so I can put neat kerosene in for super cold start ups then switch back over to diesel once running.
There's a lot to work out but deciding on what the fuel will be I think is the first issue,this shall allow me to design the fueling system accordingly.
I already have the battery blanketed and bonnet insulation in place.
I'm going to insulate the fuel lines this summer and lag the fuel tank with something.
I've fitted stainless fuel tank brackets so they last a bit longer.
All in hopefully I can have a fully prepared disco TDI for winter and fuel options ready for next year
Click to expand...

A switchover system would still leave fuel in the FIP and pipes unless you plan in advance.
You would need to do what the veg oil people do, which is to switch to veg only when its started and warmed up a bit and then switch back to derv a couple of miles from home so there is derv in the pipes to start it...
Someone on here is running twin tanks..?
 
mikeau said:
A switchover system would still leave fuel in the FIP and pipes unless you plan in advance.
You would need to do what the veg oil people do, which is to switch to veg only when its started and warmed up a bit and then switch back to derv a couple of miles from home so there is derv in the pipes to start it...
Someone on here is running twin tanks..?
Click to expand...
Yeah I kinda figured that.
Same as running petrol and gas... Always use petrol to start and finish.
I'd like to keep the disco pretty much for winter so I'll be busy wirring away this summer.
Thanks for the heater pad thingymaggig link that's kind of what I had in mind
 
The problem with twin filters is, even if one is full of kero, the other is full of diesel, which can wax up in the filter. So you get it running on kero, when you turn over to the diesel, the engine dies cos the filter is waxed up. I think a fuel heater is the way forward.

I was shocked the other week, buying kerosene for the lamps, it's quite a bit dearer by the gallon than diesel ..£8 for 4ltrs in the ironmonger! Nobody else sells it round here.
 
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