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I started using Woolies Home Brand canola oil as bar oil in the chainsaw a couple of seasons ago, mainly so I wasn't dumping litres of raw petroleum oil on the ground around the woodpile every year. It sort of helped that it was 1/4 the cost of normal bar oil.

Rather surprisingly the chain ran faster, quieter and much, much cooler on canola than on petroleum oil. Even better was the fact that chain and bar wear almost ceased.

Quick research seems to suggest that it would make better engine oil than premium synthetics too.

Canola-based motor oils have rapidly evolved into a competitive product. In terms of pricing, they are highly competitive with synthetic motor oils. They are also the most “environmentally friendly” of the motor oils available maintaining properties of non-toxicity and biodegradability. In terms of functionality, they have exceeded expectations by surpassing both conventional and synthetic oils in the tests conducted. As a low friction fluid, these tests indicate vegetable motor oils, or bio-oils, are a competitive product in modern engine applications.

A pleasant surprise has been the response of engines in terms of tailpipe and manifold gas emissions. The reductions in nitrous oxides, carbon monoxide, non-methane hydrocarbons, and hydrocarbons provide an easy and effective way to reduce air pollution. The value of these exhaust emissions has now become established and, in effect, may have more value than the oil itself. The impact of conversion to a bio-based motor oil for each million automobiles dríven 18,590,000,000 km per year (17,699 km per vehicle) would be staggering. Hydrocarbons from automotive exhaust would be reduced annually by 1,101 t; carbon monoxide would be reduced by 87,475 t; and nitrous oxides would be reduced by 1,416 t.

http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/ncnu02/v5-029.html

I've got an old Astina with a tired motor sitting in the shed. What do you reckon? Is it worth trying $10 worth from the cooking and oils section at the supermarket?

Yeah I've been thinking about it since I've heard about it, but was waiting till someone else here thought it was a good idea.

Even thought the $$ saving is there, I would still go with a brand name rather than Woolies home brand. What's a well respected Canola brand? I don't cook much you can tell.

The only sticky point with me (I know I can be a bit too pedantic) but are they all yellow in colour? It's just plays a bit on my psyche pouring something into my engine that looks like pee.

1red5 wrote:... but they all yellow in colour though? It's just plays a bit on my psyche pouring something into my engine that looks like pee.

What..?



Dann

while this is great and I don't like petroleum products as such keep in mind how much this effects food.

I'm gonna go fry my chips in some GTX2 !

nevermind..

bruce wrote:I'm gonna go fry my chips in some GTX2 !

Oils ain't oils!

I can't tell you how disappointed I am with the forum for its inability to take this topic seriously.

Nevertheless I've been plodding on with my research into canola oil as the ultimate performance mod for a flowered Astina. I say plodding because the fishing here has been rather good recently and I'm still recovering from a weekend of toasting cars with a zillion more kilowatts than mine whose drivers previously thought an MX5 was a sort of grown up pedal car.

Anyway the research says there are some key advantages for vege oil, aside from the greenie benefits. Typically friction is 50% lower than petrol and synthetic oils, wear is 20% lower and heat generation is 20% lower. This even applies to Home Brand quality. The problem with the cooking oils is that volatile components can boil off leaving a thick tar-like sludge behind. There's also a risk of your car smelling a bit like a fish shop.

Blended high oleic canola oil + hydroxy fatty acid rich oil + liquid wax ester enriched oils perform significantly better all round than what we now view as conventional oils: friction, wear, heat generation, economy, stability under heat and pressure, dutrability.

Where the simpler oils come into their own is where there's regular refreshment, as in our Astina which chews through heaps of oil anyway. Remember that race engines always used the distinctive smelling Castrol R, a vege oil, which was always changed out after a meeting or two.

Castor oil?

And I'm serious! I have a friend who did an internship with a TVR team decades ago, and they used castor oil.

I remembered something about hemp oil being used as an industrial lubricant, so did a quick google.

After weeding out the hippies... apparently hemp oil goes rancid quickly and has a low smoking point, which suggests that it wouldn't like an engine much. And since they use low THC cannabis sativa, your car won't even be having fun smoking it.

If canola has the ability to withstand engine temperatures without losing its lubricating characteristics, then it seems like a good alternative, especially at the price.

Apu wrote:Castor oil?

And I'm serious! I have a friend who did an internship with a TVR team decades ago, and they used castor oil.

Castor oil is used in many 2 stroke high rpm racing situations.

Dann

Johnno from the commish block?

Dann

I thought the smoke point would be the issue.

Vast amounts of money goes into creating/designing engine oil. My common-sense-o-meter is tripped by the idea that a couple of dollars from the local Coles would yeild a better product.

OurCognitiveSurplus wrote:I thought the smoke point would be the issue.

Vast amounts of money goes into creating/designing engine oil. My common-sense-o-meter is tripped by the idea that a couple of dollars from the local Coles would yeild a better product.

I tend to agree.

I would think that Canola or other vegetable based oils may have the potential to be a useful engine oil, but not without refining or whatever is is that's done to crude oil to make it into engine oil (ie: give it it's temperature resistance, it's known viscousity, it's cleanliness, etc)