greasecar1
Well-known member
Recently, here at Greasecar we have received a number of references to a TDI Club post entitled “WVO no more-My Tragic Greaser Story” and though the conversion product used on the vehicle referenced was not produced by Greasecar we decided to at least review the post.
I have finally found the time to take a look at the post in question and am honestly confused as to why there is any suggestion of a fuel or lube oil related failure on this engine. Based on the photos and facts provided it seems utterly clear that this failure is directly attributed to a foreign object smashing into the compressor turbine sending shrapnel into the cylinders of the engine which not surprisingly caused cylinder scoring and piston head chipping.
According to the story the turbo was replaced and the vehicle driven again for an undisclosed period during which its performance worsened to the point when it was decided to pull the head off. When the head was removed it was discovered that the cylinders were scored, pistons were chipped, heavy oil/soot residue was found on the back side of the intake valves and yet again the turbine was shattered! A horrible mess for sure.
There is no question that this engine was totaled but there is no explanation as to why it was attributed to running on vegetable oil and it was stated that the second turbo failure occurred after the SVO system was removed.
I think anyone with any experience with TDIs is well aware that the awful combination of crankcase ventilation and EGR result in heavy build up of intake sludge over time. This condition becomes even more exaggerated when low boost pressure is present and certainly when turbos are leaking oil into the intake and excessive blow-by and low compression result from scored cylinders and chipped pistons.
The real question:
What caused the scoring and chipping? Bits of turbine blades forced into the cylinder of course.
What caused the turbine blades to shatter (twice)? Certainly not vegetable oil.
Let me present a few photos of my personal TDI engine which had been converted for over 3 years and logged approximately 46,000 miles since conversion. You will see no abnormal carbon, resin or coke deposits. No excessive oily intake build up and no cylinder scoring.
<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd32/Greasecar/polytest091.jpg" border="0" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket"></a>
<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd32/Greasecar/polytest089.jpg" border="0" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket"></a>
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This is the second converted TDI engine we have torn-down the other had 90,000 miles with only about 20,000 on vegetable oil and was in comparable condition.
I have been a member of TDI club for years and am very familiar with the beast since I have four in my family and have worked on dozens more. VW TDI models are amongst the most popular for conversion to vegetable oil with the Greasecar conversion kit. We have over 1,000 customers using our system on TDIs some of which have logged over 200,000 miles since conversion and I can tell you that burning vegetable oil in a properly converted TDI will not lead to the conditions presented in Mr. Roosters post. In addition I find it ridiculous that it is even suggested that vegetable oil use could be related in any way to the engine failure depicted.
If anyone wants more clarification or is interested in presenting more rebuttal I welcome it and will respond to the best of my ability but please back up your position with some actual data. I really want to help dispel these SVO/TDI myths that I have seen here and heard from a handful of folks at TDI Fest this year.
Justin Carven
President
Greasecar Vegetable Fuel Systems
I have finally found the time to take a look at the post in question and am honestly confused as to why there is any suggestion of a fuel or lube oil related failure on this engine. Based on the photos and facts provided it seems utterly clear that this failure is directly attributed to a foreign object smashing into the compressor turbine sending shrapnel into the cylinders of the engine which not surprisingly caused cylinder scoring and piston head chipping.
According to the story the turbo was replaced and the vehicle driven again for an undisclosed period during which its performance worsened to the point when it was decided to pull the head off. When the head was removed it was discovered that the cylinders were scored, pistons were chipped, heavy oil/soot residue was found on the back side of the intake valves and yet again the turbine was shattered! A horrible mess for sure.
There is no question that this engine was totaled but there is no explanation as to why it was attributed to running on vegetable oil and it was stated that the second turbo failure occurred after the SVO system was removed.
I think anyone with any experience with TDIs is well aware that the awful combination of crankcase ventilation and EGR result in heavy build up of intake sludge over time. This condition becomes even more exaggerated when low boost pressure is present and certainly when turbos are leaking oil into the intake and excessive blow-by and low compression result from scored cylinders and chipped pistons.
The real question:
What caused the scoring and chipping? Bits of turbine blades forced into the cylinder of course.
What caused the turbine blades to shatter (twice)? Certainly not vegetable oil.
Let me present a few photos of my personal TDI engine which had been converted for over 3 years and logged approximately 46,000 miles since conversion. You will see no abnormal carbon, resin or coke deposits. No excessive oily intake build up and no cylinder scoring.
<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd32/Greasecar/polytest091.jpg" border="0" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket"></a>
<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd32/Greasecar/polytest089.jpg" border="0" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket"></a>
<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd32/Greasecar/polytest095.jpg" border="0" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket"></a>
<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd32/Greasecar/polytest097.jpg" border="0" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket"></a>
This is the second converted TDI engine we have torn-down the other had 90,000 miles with only about 20,000 on vegetable oil and was in comparable condition.
I have been a member of TDI club for years and am very familiar with the beast since I have four in my family and have worked on dozens more. VW TDI models are amongst the most popular for conversion to vegetable oil with the Greasecar conversion kit. We have over 1,000 customers using our system on TDIs some of which have logged over 200,000 miles since conversion and I can tell you that burning vegetable oil in a properly converted TDI will not lead to the conditions presented in Mr. Roosters post. In addition I find it ridiculous that it is even suggested that vegetable oil use could be related in any way to the engine failure depicted.
If anyone wants more clarification or is interested in presenting more rebuttal I welcome it and will respond to the best of my ability but please back up your position with some actual data. I really want to help dispel these SVO/TDI myths that I have seen here and heard from a handful of folks at TDI Fest this year.
Justin Carven
President
Greasecar Vegetable Fuel Systems
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