What is the difference between biodiesel and straight-vegetable-oil (SVO) powered cars?
Biodiesel runs in any diesel without modifications, while SVO systems usually require a second fuel system and other significant fuel system modifications to work. Biodiesel is made from vegetable oil, but it requires some simple chemistry and additional ingredients to create. One of these ingredients, methanol, usually comes from natural gas (although it can be made from wood). Biodiesel powered vehicles are significantly more reliable than SVO powered vehicles. However, if you are mechanically inclined and like to tinker and don’t care about the life of your engine, SVO power might be a good option. SVO conversions are not recommended for newer direct inject “TDI” engines because of the high pressures and computer controlled injectors. Biodiesel however, runs very well in new and old diesels alike. Yes, there are a handful of intrepid people who have gone ahead and converted TDI engines to SVO anyway and they swear by them, but these conversions are few, recent, and expensive. Send u
