Taxi Driver Online

Had a warning through at work regarding new Skoda's. Apparantly using Bio Diesel can cause serious engine damage.
Had an 55 reg one needing a new engine which isnt covered under warrenty because of using Bio. (not mine btw)

That is not good news, firstly for the mush that's got to buy another engine, and Skoda for using an out-dated engine.

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IDFIMH

Modern cars eh.

I remember sticking allsorts in my old BMC FX4

Turps, cooking oil, white spirit,, built to last. LMAO

The companies that have approved 100% biodiesel are VW, Audi, SEAT and Skoda. They have approved all their cars built between 1996 and 2004 to run on biodiesel.

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Leon, Ellesmere Port.

The outdatated engines are the best for bio-diesel use, just look into any of the bio-diesel / waste oil forums and its the new common rail/hdi electronic pumps that use fuel as a lubrucant instead of good old fashioned bearings that fail.

Most suited are mechanical bosch pumps, especially if 'inline' as opposed to rotary, and most prone to failure are lucas,cav,rotodiesel and electronic bosch.

Bio- diesel is only 77 p a litre here..

waste cooking fat is free and then you pay 43p/ltr (or if lucky 27p) road fuel tax on it, but its a pig to have to go all the trouble of processing it for what you save, except the planet.

bigger in america than the uk of course.

smiffy, as all post 96 vw engines are designed to run on bio diesel, why are you paying for the replacement, is there a warning in the manual, if not go to trading standards for help, or contact skoda direct, or send the bill to G Brown 11 downing st, it was his idea in the first place

Bio diesel me thinks its [edited by admin], woudn't touch, anyway can't use it in my motor, common rail diesel, this is the stuff we are on about you buy from some plant on some industrial estate, is it at the pumps with the standard is it EN Number as yet

some of these bio diesel plants haven't got it right, its all down to filtration and the right mix with diesel

we have one bloke travels miles to a plant to fill up, he's running a VW r reg, its like sitting behind a fish and chip shop, stinking thing, it don't seem to run right, engine sounds flat

cod, chips or haddock, or just a bag of scraps

some commons can.



Yes some places are pumping out a right mix of stuff I would not use to light a bonfire nevermind run my engine.

If its mixed with diesel, then its not /real/ biodiesel, its bioblend, another thing altogether.




It should sound less 'clanky' and quiter when warmed up, a bit knocky when cold, as to the smell, at least is not sulphur dioxide you get thrown out of old cat equipped cars

Also CO emissions are less as the 'fuel' (rapeseed oil usually) has an extra oxygen molecule so you get more complete combustion.




Yes and a good use for some old scraps, its also bio-neutral, it does not generate any greenhouse gas, as all its doing it releasing the CO2 it absorbed when it grew a few month earlier...........

Not mine mate, i run a vectra petrol.

My name is Virginie. I subscribed to Taxi Talk last week, submitting a question on what taxi drivers think of biodiesel.

“Fairwaydriver” forwarded me the link http://www.[edited by admin].co.uk/forum/vi ... php?t=1009 where you discuss the subject with other taxi drivers…

For some unknown reason, I can’t post a reply to this chat? So please find my questions below:



I am working for The Environment Trust in London East End to set up a commercial biodiesel initiative. We plan to sell the fuel mainly to London’s taxi industry.



Our fuel will be made from used cooking oil and produced to EN 14214 British/European standard (confirmed by laboratory testing).

Although our initial plan was to supply B100 for maximum environmental impact, we are now considering blending the fuel at 50% to combat the possibility of fuel waxing should the temperature go below freezing and eliminate technical concerns linked to the use of B100. Our production capacity will be low scale (1.2m litres/year) but we are keen to supply our fuel from our own filling station!



I believe you rent a filling station selling Biodiesel in Sefton, is this correct?

Could you please give me further info on what blend you sell and if the biodiesel portion is EN certified?

Do you blend the fuel yourself or do you subcontract?



I also believe that you mainly supply cabs. I am highly interested in knowing how you managed to prove to your customers (fellow taxi drivers) that biodiesel was safe to use? Biodiesel is still in its infancy in the UK and it is difficult to provide them with concrete national examples.



It would be much appreciated if you could make us benefit from your expertise in biodiesel and your apparent knowledge of the taxi industry.



Thank you for your help so far.



Kind Regards,

Virginie Marin

The Environment Trust

4 Pinchin Street

London E1 1SA

T: 020 7264 4663

www.envirotrust.org



This communication is from The Environment Trust or one of its associated/subsidiary companies

you need to join the vegoil group on yahoo groups, what you are trying to do is already being done with success the world over, including cold climates in the americas.

waxing is not a great issue with biodiesel, but more of a viscosity problem with filtered WVO, which burns just as well but only in the older engines, so for anything commercial, biodiesel is the only way to go.

for the un-informed, oils as become referred to as a set of letters denoting what its made of,

WVO is waste vegetable oil, ie used brown chip fat, filtered and used as-is

SVO or PPO is straight vegetable oil or pure plant oil, usually pressed sunflower/rapeseed/canola.

BIO is 'processed' wvo or svo (mixed with a solvent and the glycerin stuff taken out, then washed with water, then dried)(this 'waste' can be used/sold as a soap degreaser!)

Bioblend is the stuff you can usually buy on forecourts and is 5%bio with diesel (bio mixes well with diesel/petrol etc it wont solidify)


Bio is not as enviro friendly as WVO due to the solvents used and energy required to process it.

Tax is an issue RFT (road fuel tax) MUST be paid on it, if a home self user, you keep a log of produced and used and send in the bribe^H^H^H^H^H tax to number 11

If a commercial operation, I dont have the info on the tax front.

To get caught on 'oils' without having first registered to pay your tax (forms from tax office, see the vegoil group for details) can lead to a crushing experience...

Oh and as a side note, the tax issue is not clear and some of the groups are going to court to fight the UK gov, they wont class it as a bio fuel for everyone, seems local tax officers cant agree, or to be precise, they agree its a bio fuel if pushed, but it seems big brother policy is to tax it at standard rates to 'put people off' using it, oil company profits/kickbacks spring to mind.

Also some insurance companaies can be iffy till hit over the head with common sense, Ie they say it invalidates insurance as the car was not designed to be run on it.


I'm holding out for water power...........

The firm that rents my old forecourt is the same firm that makes the bio- diesel, they make it in Widnes, 2.7 Nissan's Love it, but there are a couple of firms making it locally and their product is crap, but the Widnes one is excellent, I run my own vehicles on it. they have been checked out by the Customs and Excise people, and as for people saying it smells we do not find that it does, and anyway the smell of diesel is not my preference...