A Biodiesel Addict.

It all started out in November 1999. I rushed out and brought a 1990 model Mitsubishi L300 Express Van with a 2.5 litre diesel engine. The car urge was precipitated by the knowledge of biodiesel and how to make it at home. The vehicle has 55,000 kilometers on the clock.

Low Kilometers and 10 grand!

My new machine had cost me $10,000.00 partly on loan and partly paid by my trade in. My plan was simple:

Repay the cost of the vehicle in fuel savings!

Back to the future:

Here it is in December2005. I now own a Volkswagen Caddy Van with a 1.9 litre Turbo Direct Injection diesel engine. I purchased this vehicle brand new in March 2005. Now back to the Mitsubish van ...

The Mitsubishi Story

Its often been stated that the first time you put biodiesel into your vehicle is the hardest. It certainly was for me. I was totally paranoid, mostly because I rely on my car so much and it was under a finance contract.
The first tank was added with trepidation that was soon dispelled with a drive through the country. The vehicle actually went better! There was a distinct aroma of "Burnt Barbeque" on the air noticeable enough for my neighbors to comment on after following me up the road on their motorcycle. The engine seemed smoother and quieter.

Always easy?

Well I would like to tell you so however biodiesel has been a great learning curve. Supplies of oil have been erratic and there have been some minor vehicle problems along the way. Diligence, care and experimentation have been good teachers and I am a total biodiesel addict.

Vehicle Modification

Probably the most asked question is what modifications you have to do to your car. Answer ... None at all. I did run an auxilliary filter for a while but this seemed to cause all sorts of problems with air getting into the fuel lines or fuel leaks so in the end I pulled it all out and just ran the vehicle "as supplied" by Mitsubishi Motors.

220,000 Kilometers later

The Mitsubishi van aka "The Chipmobile" has been passed on to a good friend who is still running the car on biodiesel. When I passed it on it had 275,000 kilometers on the clock. It had 55,000 when I brought it, I guess the total amount of pump brand diesel I put in it ran it for around 5000 kilometers so 215,000 kilometers has been running on biodiesel made at home. The vehicle always performed faultlessly and indeed stil does.

Problems caused by biodiesel

Biodiesel is very hard on some rubber components. I replaced the fuel lines several times before a friend gave me a length of biodiesel resistant fuel pipe. This is the only fuel related problem I have had. The gearbox needed bearings at 180,000 kilometers, tyres were fitted and all the other stuff that comes with operating a car. When I passed this car on to my friend it still had the original brake pads and shoes fitted!

December 2005

The Volkswagen Caddy Van is a world away from the Mitsubishi van. Instead of 2.5 litres of engine capacity it is a tiny 1.9. Instead of drinking fuel at a fairly standard rate it is very miserly delivering an average of around 15 kilometers per litre. Instead of being fairly agricultural in performance it is a car capable of easily breaking the speed limit anytime.

I put biodiesel into this car virtually as soon as I got it home from the showroom. Unlike the Mitsubishi Van performance is slightly degraded by using biodiesel. The economy drops and it can be slightly hard to start when hot. So far I have done about 15,000 klms on biodiesel and will try to keep this page up to date as the time passes.

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