panic buying and fuel prices

[Tourettes Tony]

hi all, i noticed today people panic buying petrol because of strike at Grangemouth, also i noticed while on the way to work diesel priced at £1.34 litre. Now im not much of a worrier but i can see it hitting £1.50 litre by the middle of the year TT

[Bandit]

I agree Tony, is gettin' a bit crackers. I think we are gonna have to get to the point where the petrol plants are blocked again. It big disruption, but somethings gotta' give & this Govenment are taking the Mick.
I filled my van up yesterday, it was'nt empty & it was still £90.00, stupid or what!!

[Barson]

i think it's supply rather than fuel duty this time.


they can't blockade fuel distribution depots to try and convince the oil producers to pump more oil. they might convince companies that are involved in strike action to resolve, maybe

[Bandit]

Oh yes I agree, this dispute, is a different thing altogether. I just meant with the prices rising as high as they are somethings got to give. (and its usally us)

[Barson]

Bandit Wrote:somethings got to give. (and its usally us)

too true

[Guinney1971]

every couple of days, the prices at the pumps all go up at least a penny a litre.

Round here, petrol is around £5 a gallon, Diesel around £5.50.

The way things are right now, Flopsy wont even make it off the driveway this year, because the prices are stupid and I just cant afford them. I've taken the Astra Coupe off the road, because at 29mpg, I cant afford to run it. I'll be looking into an LPG kit for the Astra (already got one for my petrol Cav) plus we're looking into LPG set ups for the De's too.

So I drive a POS 15 year old Cavalier Turbo Diesel to work each day that cost £46 to buy, but I run it on recycled cooking oil which costs nothing - folks take the pi$$ about the smell, but I'm having the last laugh, as its saving me over £100 a month in fuel by not buying diesel. I've now done 1200 miles on it, I reckon another 400 miles and the car will have paid for itself including road tax and insurance.

Panic buying is ridiculous, there are more then enough reserves in the Middle East - and you've only got to see pictures of the palaces that the Arabs are building on the back of oil production to see who's making the money - but the Government is still profiting too, as around 70% of the price at the pump goes to Mr Brown and his cronies in tax and duty :evil:

[Dan6457]

I run my Pug 306 on veg oil. I like the smell, when I pull up at lights with the window down I get a whiff and it just makes me feel hungry :lol:

I just have trouble getting enough of the stuff to cover all my driving. :?

[Guinney1971]

Dan1986 Wrote:I run my Pug 306 on veg oil. I like the smell, when I pull up at lights with the window down I get a whiff and it just makes me feel hungry :lol:

I just have trouble getting enough of the stuff to cover all my driving. :?

lol, yeah my car smells like a barbeque - nowt wrong with that!! lol :lol:

[Dan6457]

Even buying fresh veg oil is cheaper than diesel. But getting old stuff for free is much better of course :wink: People at work have called me a pikey but I have the last laugh. Its a shame you can't make petrol out of some kind of fruit to run the Ds We already know if you use wiskey the manifolds blow up :wink:

[Guinney1971]

you can AFFORD to put whisky in your car!!

Phill said was that a single malt or blended whisky! lol :wink: and how many gills to the mile do you get, and is the fuel gauge an optic!! lol :lol:

Haha, seriously tho, we're not gonna waste money on extra performance upgrades with fuel prices the way they are, LPG is the way forward for us (around 50p a litre from filling stations) and thats where we'll be investing our technical upgrades this year - after all, no point in having a car if you cant afford to run the bugger! What with food and domestic bills (and then a tax increase) completely wiping out my payrise....... :roll:

Oh god, more Derbyshite humour, he just asked if the car should run on Jack Daniels - ie run it on J(Z)D rather then Bells............ I'm off to beat him up now.............. :roll:

[Outatime]

Will it be cheaper in the long run by putting a Diesel Engine in your D Claire? Like the ultra reliable Merc Diesel Engines?? (I just love the idea of running your car with used cooking oil... shame that Hong Kong goverment doens't allow diesel passengers cars... and even putting a sticker on the car counts as illegal modification It's just mad!!!!)

Actually... are there any Diesel D running about in this globe??

[Guinney1971]

well, joking aside John, a future project when funds allow is to buy a De
with a knackered engine and fit a diesel engine to it and run it on cooking
oil (although RichH did say he would completely disown us if we did! lol)

Its finding a nice compact diesel engine to fit in the De's engine bay, plus
also theres things like the tranmission and stuff to think about, but we
reckon it is do-able.

The Cavalier engine would be no good unfortunately, as its only 82bhp -
need double that really! The old 250/300D Merc's are perfect for running
on veggie oil, as are some old Beemers - the Mk1 Omega diesel used the
2.5 engine from the BMW 5 Series IIRC.

The main criteria, is an older type diesel engine (ie pre 1999) and Bosch fuel pump -
a Lucas pump is not suitable for veggie oil and will conk out after about 600
miles apparantly.

Theres some really good forums and websites that are a mine of information
on the subject for folks who want to learn more.

Cheers,

[Dan6457]

Yes the Lucas pump is no good. A couple of weeks ago I took mine out and replaced it with a bosch pump. What a pain it was becuase my old one had an imobiliser and the new one didn't so had to put some wiring from the ignition switch to the pump, a lot of messing about but worth it to run on free fuel :wink:

[Phil Peters]

I do a 50 mile round trip to work every day in a 2.0 petrol Espace and this fuel situation is beginning to get a bit silly.

What do you need to do to the used veggie oil before putting it in the tank Claire? Presumably filter it through a fine mesh or something?

Can you put regular diesel in the tank if you run out of veggie oil on a long journey?

[Dan6457]

On my 306 I simply put the old oil through a filter to get the muck out then shove it straight in the tank. Yes you can put normal diesel in as well if you need too.

My 306 is an older one with mechanical injection pump. The newer ones had the HDi diesel engine can't run on veg oil. I'm not that sure on the technicalities so check out your car before sticking it in the tank.