NashvilleBiodiesel.org - Breathe easier when you sniff my tailpipe

Biojake's 25 gallon heated tank

biopete — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 21:38:25 -0600

Biojake made this tank for a tank gotten at tractor supply.The filter is mounted inside to heat up. Ignore the dirty insulation. He was just hauling some old dirty carpet and it. It is really a white poly tank.

Biojake and his workhorse

biopete — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 21:22:12 -0600

Biojake showing his bling with his workhorse

Not Hopeful About TDI Injectors.

biopete — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 20:10:53 -0600

I just converted 3 TDI jettas this year with systems setup exactly like grease car but with better components. I've done everything i possibly can and want to do to run this system on a TDI -- I dewater, start with good clean oil that is generally only used one night at good restaurants, heat and settle, and filter good. After 18,000 since conversion on my 2001, i'm noticing hard starts . When i run on diesel for a few days , it clears up and injectors don't nail as much and daily it seems to start easier. Go back to veg and purge real good and go 5 miles before shutdown for a day and i notice right away , a little harder to start than it was day before i switched to veg. So my injectors may need rebuilding. My friend noticed harder starts on his car too after a few thousand miles after conversion. His engine has 190,000. His injectors may need rebuilding. At any rate, the injectors do fine on diesel or biodiesel just not on wvo. That tells me something.

A4 Jetta WVO Update 18,000 miles after flipping the switch

biopete — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 22:05:09 -0600

My personal experiment with my 2001 TDI is in progress. The details of my setup are basically like any good two tank hot WVO system -- heated tank, heated filter, aluminum hose in hose fuel line, veg therm for extra kick, 2 three port hydroforce valves, veg oil looped into heated filter. I pugre wvo back to wvo tank for about 10 - 20 seconds before switching do diesel to minimalize cross contamination. I am in TN where it does not get real cold. Startup fuel high blends of commercial biodiesel usually. I pan tested all but a couple tanks of oil i got from a friend that i put in it and it was all crackle free and filtered several hours through a 5 or 1 micron nominal filter bag as i was drying the oil. Then filtered again as i pumped into car.

I always said i would get an elsbett system if i ever greased out a TDI but then I was reading how elsbett recommends two tanks for wvo since it is more viscous and it can't hurt either so i said well i have to do the two tank system anyway so i might as well do that first. My system costs 700.00 all said and done and that is half of elsbett system. Plus, greasecar and frybrid was so successful and i figured people just must be getting along fine in their american wvo system tdi's so i thought, i'll give it a try and be part of the experiment. In the name of shadetree science (and fun) i greased out my TDI with a heated fuel system only. No real studies i have found document what happens when you run straight hot filtered WVO in a TDI without modifying the engine components. This is what american wvo systems are. They are not conversions. They are just putting hot oil in your engine.
Everything else aside, that is what i wanted to find out, does this work good or do you need to modify injectors and other things.

I wanted to pop test injectors before i started but i figured they could not be bad with only 63,000 miles so i did not bother getting the pop tester set up and resolved to test soon after. I changed my oil and switched over at 63,000. It runs real smooth great initially. If i never think about it all is great. If i think about it and listen, after a few thousand miles i think i hear a little extra injector nailing on wvo. I changed oil at 5,000 miles. Another 5,000 miles go on wvo. No problems but it seems a little louder on wvo still. No louder than before but i notice it if i look for it. If i dont look for it i dont notice anything. It could all be in my head. I changed oil again.

When i run out of WVO i drive on b99 for several days to work and back and i think i notice it is a little easier to start. Hmm, injectors clogging a little. So i play around a little more by driving 3-5 miles before shut down on (bio)diesel insted of 1 - 2. That seems to help. Seems to start normal most of time except when cold, cranking is slow. I wonder if it could be just battery or if it was slow to crank anyway before wvo. I did not have the car last winter.

Jan 26, 2008 So over the last moth the car has gotten slow to crank. Last week it was real slow crank. I put wifes jetta on it to jump. Still slow crank. It is not battery. THere are about 13,000 miles on wvo of last 18,000. I have not flipped the switch since. I have driven 250 miles on about B20 and the car seems to get easier to start. I am waiting for a real cold morning to say for sure. I told my wife and my friend to not flip the switch on theirs until we pop test the injectors and make sure they are good. They only have 1500 miles on WVO and can switch until i get the pop tester built but i would like to have some clean before and after tests. We all have exact same system and have been using same wvo.

I will pop test the injectors and compression test all car. In my experience, i did everything that could be expected from a two tank wvo user, and i think the injectors just cannot take it and an elsbett system will have to be added. That is a good idea in any respect but it would be nice to know if it was necessary. So from here if compression and injectors check out on my car, experiment goes on and maybe i try diluting wvo with biodiesel. In which case, i can happily say, i tried and i know you need injectors designed for WVO in a TDI and if compression is good and my engine is not damaged i will be very happy and I will make my car happy with an Elsbett system added.

Fuel Injector Pop Tester

biopete — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 22:35:01 -0600

Critical to diesel engines is the fuel injector pop pressure. Diesel injectors open at a specified pressure and spay fuel into the cylinder. For a 1993- 1998 VW TDI, the bentley's manual states this pressuer is 190 - 200 Bar for a new injector and 170 Bar is the wear limit. For a Mercedes 617 Engine found in 300D and 240D and 300SD the pressure is ??/

I built this pop tester for testing Mercedes injectors from a picture i found on the www.mercedesshop.com forum. It is made from a grease gun, a mercedes fuel injection line, some fittings and a pressure gauge. I used a good 30.00 liquid filled pressure gauge from the local industrial rubber and gasket shop. I cut the injection line how i wanted it then went to the friendly local Hillsboro Hardware store with all the pieces and put it together. A compression fitting attaches the injector line to the whole thing. I got all the hardware at hillsboro hardware nad the grease gun and gauge at Industrial Rubber and Gasket in Nashville. I got the injector line at pull a part. I hope it fits VW injectors otherwise I'll have to get another injector line.

A3 Jetta WVO System

biopete — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 09:33:13 -0600

Blogging the A3 Jetta Conversion. We did this on a 98 and 99 A3 Jettas. Note: This system may not work good on this Direct Injection engine. After going 18,000 after an install and doing more reading trying to find success stories with a simple Hot WVO Fuel System in a TDI, it may be that direct injection engines need new injectors for WVO. See here: http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_svo.html Also , see my blog for running data of the system. I have the same system on my 2001 TDI. Nevertheless, this system is as good or better and several hundred cheaper any commercial heated fuel system such as greasecar and frybrid and I will give it its fair try on the TDIs. The worst that will happen is we will have to add Elsbett injectors and glow plugs. That would be one killer WVO system and if that does not work on a TDI than nothing will.

nashville band bus converting to wvo

chetty — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 12:29:20 -0600

hello out there, i have a bus with a 5.9 cummins diesel that i want to get going to wvo, and was wondering if someone can help me think about it, step by step set up, over this winter, so we can be motoring in the spring! thanks to any and all ....

TN Sustainability Conference

rob82b — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 05:33:34 -0600

Have people heard about the Tn Sustainability Conference at Lipscum
Nov 15-17? Here is a link. http://www.tectn.org/sustainabletn.htm

Vegetable oil emmissions Graph

biopete — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 23:05:06 -0500

Site Moved To SLhost VPS

admin — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 22:31:14 -0500

Finally, the site and mailing list are up on my SLHost.com VPS. They have decent prices. Hopefully the site will perform well. Their support is out of this world. Questions are answered in minutes instead of a day.

Thanks Slhost. Hopefully blogging will be bearable now.