Wasting time I came upon a site on the Net which alleges that if your purchase their formula then you can make diesel fuel at about half the cost of that current at the pumps.
Surely this cannot be right both in economics or legality.
www.ukmd.co.uk/mecatech/index.htm
David.W - have you heard of it? I suspect a scam somewhere and those into Trading laws does trades description acts apply to the internet?
A perplexed DWD
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Harry,
Not the fuels expert here, some of the tech engineers well up on such things.
Had a look at the site, it is well laid out and looks quite genuine. I bet another search would find the ingredients they are using without the £35 charge!
Given that it is illegal to avoid paying the duty this fuel is no better than tractor diesel in that respect. The 40% cost saving is far less than the possible 60% saving with tractor diesel and you don't need to pay anyone £35 to find out where it is sold.
Only advantage is if it has the same colour as normal diesel. I wouldn't risk it because (well *I* just wouldn't) I gather, in the slim chance of getting caught, the Customs folks get very serious. Something about finding out how long you've owned the present diesel car/cars, finding out the mileage and charging on the assumption duty has been evaded for every one of those miles. Up to you to prove different. Could be very costly.
David
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Think David as usual is the voice of reason here.
Posted an earlier thread about this because I was not going to invest my £35 quid in this and I had persuaded Dr Diesel in Diesel Car mag to invest his money.
In fact he got nowhere, and between the time I spotted the site and the last time I looked the wording has changed on site.
For me the crucial issue is that the site went ftom saying, make your diesel its tax free, to the following.
"Is the fuel legal?
United Kingdom - *Updated June 2001*
There is no law against producing fuel but it is your responsibility to pay the Road Fuel Duty (tax) on the fuel.
British drivers pay the highest fuel duty in Europe which is avoided by purchasing the ingredients separately.
The decision to produce your own diesel fuel is with full knowledge that you are bypassing all duties and taxes!"
If you search for a post called "make your own diesel update, why buy the mag" you should find it.
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Dr. Diesel reported in the Oct 2001 issue of Diesel Car that after a lot of chasing he eventually received the formula. He said ' suffice it to say that I am less than impressed with its contents...'
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> and those into Trading laws does trades description acts apply to the internet?
Totally. The difficulty is identifying the culprits, proving it and enforcing it.
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Care.
I have recently recently been told by a local garage owner that "cheap diesel" is coming over to North Wales from Ireland.
He says it is "red" agricultural diesel which has been treated to remove the red dye. He says the treatment also removes the "lubricity" (his word, I guess he means oilness)
This leads to failure of the diesel pump which, on a Transit for example, is £800 fitted.
Cheap?
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Can't you add some of these additives for lubrication?
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No doubt, but the souls who bought it did not realise the problem until their pumps seized.
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If you search 'red diesel' you'll find what I wrote on this subject the last time it came round.
Oil based fuel ie diesel is just about neutral pH (acidity) wise and subsequently every single component that the fuel passes through (think of them all - pumps/pistons/valves/seals etc) is not built to deal with any kind of acidity. Now put incredibly strong sulphuric acid in the fuel to clear the colourant in it and imagine what it does to all those components... Like you say Alwyn - cheap?
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The reason why this 'red' diesel has lost it's lubricant
properties, is because Sulphuric acid is one of the magic
ingredients added.
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Gentlemen all...
Thanks for your imput I guess its back to busking at my local Station to earn
the cash to run the Disco.
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