How to use Vegetable Oil in your car

If you want to run your diesel engine vehicle on vegetable oil instead of standard diesel, you’re probably excited by what you’ve read so far, there are drawbacks that you should be aware of.

Shoving vegetable oil into your tank without any further consideration is really not a good idea. Older diesels are more basic and some can cope, but more modern vehicles are a different story.

These days the diesel engine is very sophisticated. The fuel is usually injected at amazing pressures into the engine to maximize efficiency. It’s literally atomized. Certainly when it came to my car, I realised that simple cold vegetable oil wouldn't work.

The problem with vegetable oil is it’s thick; it’s viscous. That means it clogs injectors and wreaks havoc upon your engine. In terms of viscosity, standard diesel is very thin, like water.

However, ever looked inside a hot chip pan? Hot vegetable oil is liquid and thin; therein lies the secret. To use vegetable effectively on modern diesel engines, converter kits need to be added.