P38 on veg oil ?

[500bhp]

Hi, Can a 1998 P38 BMW engined run on straight veg oil or a mix with conventional diesel, without any mods. Thickening should not be a problem here as its very hot most of the time..........of course its raining today as I type  :D

[500bhp]

No thoughts any one ?

[waveydavey]

Why is it that when you really watch a thread that's the one that nobody replies to?

I keep wondering the same thing; your climate would probably lend itself better but I don't know about the BMW engine, my gut feeling is that Bosch stuff will probably be OK but if not it's an expenive guess.

[stevo123]

hi,
The diesel engine was originally designed to run on nut oil.
I know modern direct induction engines do not like this without mods.
The older engines with the little round induction chamber above the cylinder head are mostly ok.
The main problems are perishing rubbers and pipes and filters need changing more often,
Also the LUCAS CAV fuel pumps do not like oil for some reason, but most others are fine (japs especially good) .
mines Bosch in my 2.3td fronty and it runs better than it did before (smoother when warm) i can save aprox 100 pound a month so needing the odd extra filter change is well worth it .
I did a lot of research before i bit the bullet and am glad i did, now its a trip to MAKRO not TEXACO .  sorry Gorden Brown

[SebastianW]

I dont know if anyone's been watching Fifth Gear over the last few months, but they've been running a diesel Merc C class (or E class?  :? ) on used veg oil from fish and chip shops. Johnny has been running it for either 6 months or a year (cant remember exactly) and it's still running fine. When they first did it they ran a timed race on both diesel and oil, neither were significantly faster than the other.

I dont know about your engine specifically, I dont know about any engine specifically, but I'd quite confidently run a BMW engine on veg oil.
If you are worried about having to change filters more often or bits clogging up pipes then you can get processing kits to filter the oil in advance:
http://www.dieselveg.com/waste_oil_processing.htm

The government has just changed the law, so you no longer need to pay duty per each litres of oil you use (unless you use some rediculous amount - 2000litres a month or something), so depending on where you get your oil from, you can run your RR for FREE!:D (ish)




p.s. Make sure you eat before you drive your car on veg oil otherwise you WILL end up buying chips on the way home!