Having just had starting problems with my 15 month old diesel zafira (injector seal) S&it happens but this was nicely deoderised by the local dealer f.o.c. and a car for the day.
However whilst the problem was ongoing, my German colleagues recommended mixing petrol with diesel fuel in a 2 to 30 litre ratio. and claimed that this was the special winter additive by the fuel companies. Can anybody enlighten me on this subject.
regards
Bob
|
Eleanor, can you help Bob on this one?
(Better put a :-) on this one).
|
Road test c1978 on an early diesel Golf mentioned this sort of thing as a precuation against waxing in low temperatures. Tester commented that it made gaining the momentum to pass a stationary bus difficult!!.
Has the tendecy of diesel to congeal at low (by UK standards) temperatures been overcome by additives or global warming?
|
|
|
|
|
I believe this used to be done to stop the fuel waxing in low temperatures. As it is, diesel supplied in winter already has an additive to stop this happening, as well as manufacturers also now fitting things like fuel filter heaters.
|
|
|
|
I realise that this is only peripheral to the discussion but I was recently told about a bloke who runs an old Diesel on heating oil with a generous dollop of supermarket 20/40 in each tankful. Is this feasible and, if so why isn't everyone doing it? I understand that heating oil is v. cheap compared with diesel. Maybe I was just having my leg pulled.OP
|
I have read somewhere that heating oil is quite satisfactory in diesel engines.
However, I think that it does not attract the punitive 70/80% "motoring" taxes and for this reason is illegal for use in road going vehicles. "Red" diesel, as supplied for boats and farm vehicles, should, I think, come into the same category.
|
|
|
Yes its feasible but excise duty has to be paid if its for road use.
Howeve kerosene doesn't have a red dye or chemical marker so C&E would have difficulty in a prosecution.
|
Kerosene heating 28 sec. oil is clear.
I think some brand of paraffin is dyed blue, not sure ?
|
|
My mistake! You're right, I recall the heating oil for our boiler some years ago was clear and I'm sure that was 28 second
|
I'm sure the government will dye the fuel red or blue if widespread use in road vehicles is suspected
In the meantime ???
|
|
|
|
> I think some brand of paraffin is dyed blue, not sure ?
They asked me how I knew,
it was Esso Blue;
I of course replied,
with lower grades one finds,
smoke gets in your eyes
|
|
|
|
|
|
The heating oil trick is fine if you don't get caught as it is illegal because it is tax free. The dollop of oil must be to cure low compression. The oil makes a seal and thus raises the compression on worn engines. Stand by for a decoke very soon.
My dad's diesel Peugeot manual said that in winter you could use up to 1/3rd Kerosene mixed in with the diesel to stop waxing.
|
Getting caught using illegal fuel is not something that is taken lightly by the bowler hat brigade. Your vehicle can be confiscated on the spot in addition to a heavy penalty when convicted.
On the subject of diesel in winter, I have used diesels for ten years now, and have never had a problem even in the coldest temperatures.
|
|
|
|
Richard - on the same token, it is illegal to use Kerosene as a road fuel, even as an additive.......but I know people running VAG TDI's on it neat.
David
|
|
|
|
People with older indirect injection diesel engines have run on a mix of home heating oil and engine oil (for lubrication of the pump internals), but on newer direct injection diesel systems with their tight tolerances and high pressure involved I think it would be crazy because of the potential wear problem.
|
|
|
Police and Excise men once dipped most of the tanks of folks attending a horsey event at Burleigh. They were looking for anyone "running red".
Yes, this has ti be taken seriously. They dye takes ages to wash out, apparrently..
rg
|
|
|
The practical problem with kerosene is that the exhaust smoke is a light blue colour and the smell is quite distinctive, so it is obvious what you are using.
However, I have seen a dustcart and coach from a certain company (twice) where I had my suspicions, to say the least.
|
|
For improved odour emissions, cooking oil, particularly that used for frying puppodums, can be quite beneficial - no joking - there's a firm in Cheshire who recycle the oil from food processors and sell it to their own list of diesel burning subscribers. They also use it in their own fleet of vans.
|
|
|
|
|
Back in the hippy days when I ran my buses from London to Nepal it was common for the diesel to wax in the tank overnight in the bitter cold of the deserts of Afghanistan. Makes my blood run cold to think of it now, but we used to copy the Afghans in their Mack trucks and stick a primus stove (Lit!) under the thing for 15 minutes. These were mainly 1950's Leyland Tigers, although we also used a couple of ex-Army Bedford trucks once.
|
|
|
Petrol in diesel was the old truck driver's solution to winter waxing. However I have been warned that, depending on the venting of the tank, it has been known to cause explosions.
HJ
|
|
|
If it is illegal to use kerosene even as an additive, how can it form the basis of proprietary injector cleaners ? (see earlier thread on home-made injector cleaners)
When does an additive to clean the engine become an additive to stop fuel waxing become a fuel itself? Where are the dividing lines?
|
|
|
> "Back in the hippy days..."
Growler . . . a hippy!?
|
|
|
Anyone got any idea of what the likely penalty is for getting caught? I am just wondering of course ;)
My Dad once met this trucker in Turkey who did intercontinetal work. He had switchable auxilliary (hidden) fuel tanks to run illegal diesel - the switch wired right into his cab!
|
The Turkish trucker may also have been passing through Syria en route to Saudi. Syrian customers check Turkish lorries thoroughly for hidden diesel tanks because diesel supply is strictly controlled in Syria and not generally available for private use, hence the interest in smuggling.
David
|
|
|
> Anyone got any idea of what the likely penalty is for getting
> caught? I am just wondering of course ;)
One that I heard of...
Tax on 1 litre fuel x number of miles vehicle has done since you bought it / miles per litre.
e.g. Tax = 50p Vehicle done 20,000miles since you bought it 10 miles per litre
50 * 20,000 / 10 = 1000 pounds.
* multiple decided by Judge depending on case
+ penalty for breaking the law (fine and/or imprisonment, both potentially severe)
+ endangerment of operator or other licence.
|
|
|
|
|
Sounds severe. What if one rebadged one's TDI motor to a 1.8T? How often do private individuals get checked? I have never heard of it happening.
|
|
Depends where you work, ive heard of C&E decending on building sites and checking every diesel in the car park.
|
Heard that many times myself - many posts on it and not a subject to mention to the Lacey bros mother!
One guy I know got round it by having his archaic Volvo 240 converted to diesel. Whenever the C&E turned up at the building site he was working on they'd only check cars marked diesel or those likely to be, he sat chuckling away to himself (when he probably should have been working...) as they ignored his 18p/litre car!
|
I assume it's possible, if you weren't law abiding of course, to baffle the tank to give a small capacity connected to the fuel filler on the outside of the car with legal diesel and have the larger capacity of the tank dedicated to dodgy diesel. A seperate filler would need rigging up of course but wouldn't be too tricky in most cars. Hence when / if C&E dip the 'tank' they find nice legal diesel but you actually run on the cheap stuff....
The use of red diesel was on telly a few years back - showed a farmer being stopped and claimed he didn't use tractor fuel - dipping found he did though. He then claimed the pick-up only did a few miles on the road every year. He also got done for no VED and he wasn't able to say if he had an MOT or Insurance for it either. Suspect he was looking at a big fine by the end of it all.
Piers
|
|
|
|
Piers
A thread on this subject a little while ago reconned that C & E had got wise to the dual tank trick and sometimes took their sample at the fuel pump.
|
This topic must be a prime candidate for the Frequently Asked Questions by now, HJ.
Search for "price of diesel" for previous thread.
C&E are wise to dual tanks & every other trick. They sample the fuel at the injectors. It's 35 second gas oil heating fuel that one could use. They don't hold a sample up to the light, they rely on chemical tracers. The dye can be removed with absorbents, the tracers can't. If they catch you, the fines are big.
In general, forget it.
|
|
In Barnsley all transit vans are run on parrafin - judging by the smell of the exhaust
|
|
|
|
This guy has converted his Audi to run on "chip fat" ..
news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/england/newsid_175000...m
|
|
|
