Drivers using cheap vegetable oil with Jeremy | Tech News

The price of working a diesel car has shot up and up over the previous month because of the battle in Iran, with the most recent average price for a litre of diesel now hitting 191.5p based on the RAC.

And in lots of forecourts, the price has already hit £2 a litre, forcing drivers feeling the squeeze to take drastic motion to attempt to get by.

He reported manner back in March 2007 on the BBC show that diesel vehicles could possibly be stuffed up with the grocery store cooking oil as a substitute of using official diesel.

At the time, Jeremy stated: “There’s been a lot of talk in the newspapers and on the radio the last couple of weeks about people running their cars – diesel engine cars I should say – on vegetable oil.

“There’s been so many people trying it that up north one supermarket chain is now rationing the amount of [vegetable] oil that it will sell to individuals.

“Now the thing is that you can run a car on vegetable oil, but it’s not completely brilliant.”

At £1.65, vegetable oil is now cheaper than diesel, say insurance coverage specialists at Tempcover.

But Claire Wills-McKissick, short-term car insurance coverage knowledgeable at Tempcover, warned that the trick solely works for older diesel vehicles, and that it’ll ‘destroy’ the engines of fashionable, delicate diesels.

She stated: “Technically, yes, it is entirely possible to run older diesel models on vegetable oil purchased directly from a supermarket. This largely relies on cars being pre-2000 models with mechanical fuel injection. These older engines are remarkably robust and capable of burning thicker oils. However, if you try this with a modern diesel, you aren’t saving money – you’re likely destroying your engine.”

Unlike petrol engines that use spark plugs, diesel engines depend on compression ignition. While vegetable oil has a comparable power content material to diesel, fashionable systems are far too delicate for the ‘grocery store’ substitute.

Claire continued: “On modern diesels, it simply will not work. This is due to high-pressure fuel systems, sensitive injectors, and complex emissions systems like Diesel Particulate Filters (DPFs). Even in an older diesel, vegetable oil is more viscous, which can lead to carbon build-up and clogged injectors. It also thickens significantly in the cold, making it nearly impossible to start your car on a chilly morning.

“While some cars can be modified to run on vegetable oil, this is a significant alteration” warns Claire. “Most insurers would classify this as an undeclared modification. If your fuel system fails and the assessor finds traces of vegetable oil in the tank, your policy could be invalidated – leaving you with a seized engine and zero payout.”