Note: Skip to Process (below) if you just want to hear my intentions on the conversion.
The vehicle in question is a 2005 VW TDI BEW PD Jetta Wagon.
Abstract: I've been running on WVO for years with older 1.6 TD's and 1.6 NA motors. I'm very familiar with the processes involved and have installed, repaired, upgraded all aspects of WVO vehicle systems. With several breakdowns over the years for any number of reasons, some of which had nothing to do with WVO I've become quite familiar and comfortable with working on cars. I always filter my oil and ensure there's no water in it. I always ensure an adequately high temperature before switching over and purge the system before shutting down. At this point there's nothing I have seen or worked on. I'm not a certified mechanic but rather mechanically inclined. To give you some insight in this respect: My latest project involved dropping a 1.6 TD into a Suzuki Sidekick in which I hand crafted an adapter plate to connect the bell housing on the Suzuki transmission and lined up the input shaft to the crank shaft on the VW diesel motor. I had no working template and drew out everything by hand. It works. With that said I can confidently say I do have 'some' skill I suppose. The technicality involved with respect to this conversion won't be that difficult for me, however, it seems there's a growing divide with respect to the TDI community and the ability for this motor to run on WVO. As such I've done an extraordinary amount of research on this specific topic to ensure the best possible results. Providing there is an interest I may post the process here.
Devils Advocate: There's no need to give me feedback on how well the WVO needs to be filtered and the importance of temperature. I'm well aware of these issues. I'm also aware of the viscosity differences between WVO and diesel, polymerization and the concerns with the EGR in addition to the substantially higher pressures these injectors have compared to the older VW's. And yes, I've heard the horror stories of those that have tried and failed. Nevertheless, if your point merits enough concern that you need to share in lieu of an oversight you feel I may not have appreciated enough or over looked – then please do.
Assumptions: My process outlined below assumes I've done the following: I've already installed the second tank (it'll be a dual tank system), tapped into the coolant to which I'll connect to a heat exchange located inside the tank, install a lift pump between 8 – 11PSI, have both supply and return solenoids for the diesel and WVO fuels. It also assumes I'm filtering down to 5 microns and will have both an in-tank temp gauge as well as one that's closer to the pump on motor.
Process:
1) Disable/delete the EGR. It's legal in Canada. I understand that race pipes are available for some TDI's. I also understand I'll need to tune theCPU in order to remove the permanent CEL as a result. At it's most basic level my understanding is that you can simply unplug it to disable it. I thought about taking it a step further by installing a race pipe and keep (what I believe is a solenoid on mine?) intact (still wired) yet outside in the air intake hence it would still be connected to the CPU and hence, in theory, shouldn't produce a CEL. I need to do more research but disabling the EGR is critical.
2) Install an EGT sensor. This is critical for two reasons.
- WVO systems aside it's going to communicate how healthy of a combustion I'm receiving
- It's going to provide a benchmark with respect to where I should be seeing my WVO combusting.
3) Install a Resistance Wire for the Fuel Temp. Based on my research this is what makes running WVO that much more plausible on these engines. Installing a resistance wire will fool the CPU into thinking the fuel is colder and hence adjust the timing accordingly. I've seen some guys simply place in a 2k ohm resistor. I'm taking it a step further:
I'm installing 1k ohm resistance in addition to a 0 – 10k variable resistance potentiometer. This will be connected to a switch that I can turn on/off at will giving me the ability to completely remove the added resistance if need be. By monitoring the EGT's I'll be able to adjust the resistance using the variable resistance potentiometer to the exact sweet spot which calls for a complete combustion of the WVO.
Note: This all assumes the BEW PD has a fuel temp wire (I did see the harness on the return line but will need to do more research in this area).
4) Install Switches and Gauges. To give you a better perspective here's a list of the various gauges and switches I'll be installing in the car:
- Fuel Temp (Resistor) on/on switch – This will have to be on on both settings as noted above. One being the default temp wire resistance and the second with the modification I discussed above to include both the 1k ohm resistance and 0 - 10k ohm adjustable resistance.
- Fuel pump (TDI) on/off – my understanding is that there is a lift pump within the BEW PD engine and hence it doesn't make sense to have it running if I'm switching to veg.
- Fuel pump (WVO) on/off – My understanding is that an 8 – 11 PSI inline pump should be adequate for this engine.
- Fuel solenoid (Supply) on/on switch – The nature of one of the solenoids I have requires on/on -hence one will be diesel and the second will be WVO. There are secondary valves on this system to allow for a return, however, I don't like how they both work at the same time – this could potentially allow for WVO into this diesel tank.
- Fuel solenoid (Return) on/off – I like to keep this switch separate from the supply solenoid as I always purge diesel for a few minutes back into the veg tank.
- Fuel heater (canister) on/off – I have various heaters that I'll be installing, this one specific to the oil filter which I'll be installing just outside the tank. Another system I'll be implementing (from an older system that worked excellently) is wiring up an inverter and plugging in a magnetic oil heater (300 watts) that is located on a large, aluminum heat exchanger inside the WVO tank.
- Fuel temp sensor (tank) – I like to know the temperature of the WVO in the secondary tank. This sensor will be located at the coldest possible spot.
- Fuel temp sensor (inline at pump) – A means of monitoring the temperature of the WVO right before it goes the the pump.
- EGT gauge – As previously explained this will be critical for monitoring the health of the combustion process
- Variable Resistance Potentiometer – This 0 to 10k ohm adjustable resistance (in conjunction with the inline 1k resistance) will allow me to manually adjust how much (or how little) resistance should be applied to the WVO system based on the EGT readings.
If anything, I'm looking for feedback with respect to the feasibility and practicality of my proposed approach. What am I doing wrong in your opinion? What did I miss or neglect to mention? What would you do differently?
The vehicle in question is a 2005 VW TDI BEW PD Jetta Wagon.
Abstract: I've been running on WVO for years with older 1.6 TD's and 1.6 NA motors. I'm very familiar with the processes involved and have installed, repaired, upgraded all aspects of WVO vehicle systems. With several breakdowns over the years for any number of reasons, some of which had nothing to do with WVO I've become quite familiar and comfortable with working on cars. I always filter my oil and ensure there's no water in it. I always ensure an adequately high temperature before switching over and purge the system before shutting down. At this point there's nothing I have seen or worked on. I'm not a certified mechanic but rather mechanically inclined. To give you some insight in this respect: My latest project involved dropping a 1.6 TD into a Suzuki Sidekick in which I hand crafted an adapter plate to connect the bell housing on the Suzuki transmission and lined up the input shaft to the crank shaft on the VW diesel motor. I had no working template and drew out everything by hand. It works. With that said I can confidently say I do have 'some' skill I suppose. The technicality involved with respect to this conversion won't be that difficult for me, however, it seems there's a growing divide with respect to the TDI community and the ability for this motor to run on WVO. As such I've done an extraordinary amount of research on this specific topic to ensure the best possible results. Providing there is an interest I may post the process here.
Devils Advocate: There's no need to give me feedback on how well the WVO needs to be filtered and the importance of temperature. I'm well aware of these issues. I'm also aware of the viscosity differences between WVO and diesel, polymerization and the concerns with the EGR in addition to the substantially higher pressures these injectors have compared to the older VW's. And yes, I've heard the horror stories of those that have tried and failed. Nevertheless, if your point merits enough concern that you need to share in lieu of an oversight you feel I may not have appreciated enough or over looked – then please do.
Assumptions: My process outlined below assumes I've done the following: I've already installed the second tank (it'll be a dual tank system), tapped into the coolant to which I'll connect to a heat exchange located inside the tank, install a lift pump between 8 – 11PSI, have both supply and return solenoids for the diesel and WVO fuels. It also assumes I'm filtering down to 5 microns and will have both an in-tank temp gauge as well as one that's closer to the pump on motor.
Process:
1) Disable/delete the EGR. It's legal in Canada. I understand that race pipes are available for some TDI's. I also understand I'll need to tune theCPU in order to remove the permanent CEL as a result. At it's most basic level my understanding is that you can simply unplug it to disable it. I thought about taking it a step further by installing a race pipe and keep (what I believe is a solenoid on mine?) intact (still wired) yet outside in the air intake hence it would still be connected to the CPU and hence, in theory, shouldn't produce a CEL. I need to do more research but disabling the EGR is critical.
2) Install an EGT sensor. This is critical for two reasons.
- WVO systems aside it's going to communicate how healthy of a combustion I'm receiving
- It's going to provide a benchmark with respect to where I should be seeing my WVO combusting.
3) Install a Resistance Wire for the Fuel Temp. Based on my research this is what makes running WVO that much more plausible on these engines. Installing a resistance wire will fool the CPU into thinking the fuel is colder and hence adjust the timing accordingly. I've seen some guys simply place in a 2k ohm resistor. I'm taking it a step further:
I'm installing 1k ohm resistance in addition to a 0 – 10k variable resistance potentiometer. This will be connected to a switch that I can turn on/off at will giving me the ability to completely remove the added resistance if need be. By monitoring the EGT's I'll be able to adjust the resistance using the variable resistance potentiometer to the exact sweet spot which calls for a complete combustion of the WVO.
Note: This all assumes the BEW PD has a fuel temp wire (I did see the harness on the return line but will need to do more research in this area).
4) Install Switches and Gauges. To give you a better perspective here's a list of the various gauges and switches I'll be installing in the car:
- Fuel Temp (Resistor) on/on switch – This will have to be on on both settings as noted above. One being the default temp wire resistance and the second with the modification I discussed above to include both the 1k ohm resistance and 0 - 10k ohm adjustable resistance.
- Fuel pump (TDI) on/off – my understanding is that there is a lift pump within the BEW PD engine and hence it doesn't make sense to have it running if I'm switching to veg.
- Fuel pump (WVO) on/off – My understanding is that an 8 – 11 PSI inline pump should be adequate for this engine.
- Fuel solenoid (Supply) on/on switch – The nature of one of the solenoids I have requires on/on -hence one will be diesel and the second will be WVO. There are secondary valves on this system to allow for a return, however, I don't like how they both work at the same time – this could potentially allow for WVO into this diesel tank.
- Fuel solenoid (Return) on/off – I like to keep this switch separate from the supply solenoid as I always purge diesel for a few minutes back into the veg tank.
- Fuel heater (canister) on/off – I have various heaters that I'll be installing, this one specific to the oil filter which I'll be installing just outside the tank. Another system I'll be implementing (from an older system that worked excellently) is wiring up an inverter and plugging in a magnetic oil heater (300 watts) that is located on a large, aluminum heat exchanger inside the WVO tank.
- Fuel temp sensor (tank) – I like to know the temperature of the WVO in the secondary tank. This sensor will be located at the coldest possible spot.
- Fuel temp sensor (inline at pump) – A means of monitoring the temperature of the WVO right before it goes the the pump.
- EGT gauge – As previously explained this will be critical for monitoring the health of the combustion process
- Variable Resistance Potentiometer – This 0 to 10k ohm adjustable resistance (in conjunction with the inline 1k resistance) will allow me to manually adjust how much (or how little) resistance should be applied to the WVO system based on the EGT readings.
If anything, I'm looking for feedback with respect to the feasibility and practicality of my proposed approach. What am I doing wrong in your opinion? What did I miss or neglect to mention? What would you do differently?
Last edited: