90K using WVO in a 2005 PD!

Chasee

Self-Exiled SPV, Deactivated Account
Joined
Mar 31, 2004
Nothing much to add to my former 80K post: http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=197032

WVO-wise, nothing to add at all.

Got the timing belt/water pump replaced today. Also had to replace both front wheel bearings.

Mech at the dealer, who is familiar with WVO in general, said the car once again sounds better than some with half the mileage and no WVO.

Anyway, that's all for now. See you at 100K.
 

dieseldorf

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Oct 11, 2000
Location
MA
TDI
ex- 1996 wagon, ex-2000 Jetta
Chase, I guess many of us remain curious about your success compared to so many failures at a fraction of the miles you've done. What's your magic?
 

Chasee

Self-Exiled SPV, Deactivated Account
Joined
Mar 31, 2004
Beats me.

But I guess my attention to detail / anal retentiveness probably has a lot to do with it. More times than not, I've been surprised by people who seemed to be (on paper) following all the rules, only to find out there were glaring oversights once I got to talking with them.

Or, I've used up all the luck I could have used in Vegas. ;)
 

dieseldorf

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Oct 11, 2000
Location
MA
TDI
ex- 1996 wagon, ex-2000 Jetta
Well, perhaps you can do a video or some other "how-to" to spare these poor souls from their self-inflicted misery. Something just doesn't up when we review all these cases. And I'm not thinking of just the problems witnessed here.

Thx.
 

BioDiesel

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 29, 2001
Location
CT
TDI
'98 Jetta
Congrats Chasee.
I've been here long enough to remember the "it cant be done in a PD" comments. Too high pressure, etc, etc, blah blah blah.

As for failures, too many think they can play automotive engineer and DIY.
I can't believe newb's still propose to heat with exhaust, and other rejected ideas.
Or don't know how to process wvo properly.

And it's still a learning process, for all of us.

Based on the emails and phone calls I've been getting, expect a lot more wvo systems on the road in the next year.
 

Chasee

Self-Exiled SPV, Deactivated Account
Joined
Mar 31, 2004
dieseldorf said:
Well, perhaps you can do a video or some other "how-to" to spare these poor souls from their self-inflicted misery. Something just doesn't up when we review all these cases. And I'm not thinking of just the problems witnessed here.

Thx.
Yea, there is a plan for a SVO/WVO How To for this forum. Unfortunately, I think that culturally, we 'murcans always feel we can do it better personally, ourselves. Not that that's a bad thing, I kind of did that myself. But it makes for a much higher instance of failure. Interesting cultural comparison to EU, where SVO is many order of magnitude more common, yet seemingly more reliable.
 

BioDiesel

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 29, 2001
Location
CT
TDI
'98 Jetta
" EU, where SVO is many order of magnitude more common, yet seemingly more reliable."

By my estimate it's 50/50 WVO/SVO in Europe.
Here, it's 98% WVO. That might explain why there are more problems reported here.
 

Chasee

Self-Exiled SPV, Deactivated Account
Joined
Mar 31, 2004
That seems plausible. I'd be surprised if in EU WVO was as high as 50%. I've heard that it is not at all easy to come by since it is truely treated as a commodity over there. Here, it kind of depends on where you are, but in general its easy to come by for free.
 

kingkos

Veteran Member
Joined
May 18, 2005
Location
"The Hammer", Ontario
TDI
2003 Jetta wagon TDI
i am now at about 55,000km (35,000miles) on WVO. i am not half as anal as Chasee when it comes to filtering, but then again, Chasee converted a new car and mine had 210,000km on it. I have to adimt i would be very reluctant to convert a new car, especially since there are potential warranty impications, and the cost of screwing up is huge (http://getoffoil.blogspot.com/). I wonder if my non-anal filtering will come back to bite me in the ass someday. I guess time will tell.

Congrats on the 90K Chasee.

Steve
 

tdinjbeetle

Member
Joined
Feb 19, 2008
Location
Northern, NJ
TDI
99' Beetle TDI - Greasecar conv. (currently disabled).
Cool!!!!

Congrats Chasee! I put my greasecar kit in the beetle last June and already put about 17000 miles on veg already. I'm pretty sure I already paid back the kit already (especially at $4 a gallon). I didnt spend too much on anything else except for a barrel heater and hand pump. Barrels I get for free and the bag filters are farely cheap (I use a 5-1micron bag filter)....anyway, I'd be pretty pleased if I get to 90000 miles........I just replaced the clutch last week and the diesel fuel filter clogged/replaced...and the thing is just running great.

I dont count my man-hours in the ROI, to me its a pleasure to pick-up oil from my favorite luncheonette and have some breakfast...Their oil strains (100 micron) real easy and I usually putz around the yard/garage doing other things when Im filtering. I just dont spend a huge amount of time on it and what is spent is more of a minor hobby.
 

gjetta

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 17, 2007
Location
Port st lucie, Florida
TDI
04 jetta tdi
Is the reasons why you have to been so anal about this stuff because you are using WVO? My question is if I buy b99 from a trusted company, can I run it in the PD engine or do I need to be very careful whenever I do that?
 

vwcampin

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 25, 2006
Location
Omaha
TDI
2002 GLS TDI Auto
Just bumping up an old post as I saw Chasee is now past 112K on WVO with no issues. Still running fine. To bad he isn't around here anymore, but I think it is important to still report on his vehicle as it has been on WVO since new.
 

vwcampin

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 25, 2006
Location
Omaha
TDI
2002 GLS TDI Auto
Rexking414 said:
Why did he leave?
Looong story, basically a lot of back and forth in regards to running WVO with some very heated arguments and he decided he didn't want to deal with some in here anymore, so he left. Best not to stir up the past WVO wars as it has been relatively quiet in here.
 

pdabell

New member
Joined
Apr 21, 2008
Location
Canada
TDI
2004 Golf TDI Automatic
Interested in Experiences with WVO, SVO and Greasecar System

I am interested in knowing about TDI users' experiences with using straight and waste vegetable oil and the Greasecar system. Positive points about the system are easy to find; does anyone have any negative criticism about it and about your experiences with SVO and WVO? Also, how have you found obtaining the waste vegetable oil for your cars?

Cheers,
pdabell

FYI: I drive a 2004 VW Golf with automatic transmission.
 

Lug_Nut

TDIClub Enthusiast, Pre-Forum Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 20, 1998
Location
Sterling, Massachusetts. USA
TDI
idi: 1988 Bolens DGT1700H, the other oil burner: 1967 Saab Sonett II two stroke
Sorry that Chasee left. His longer term success and continued presence would go a long way to damping the nay-sayers (me included) who imagine, rightly or wrongly, that the SVO/WVO proponents drop out after their fuel related issues rather than face told-you-sos.
If he's really still going, my hat's off to him. He's larger cajones than I.

PDA, there are enough horror stories and I've seen enough destruction first hand to swear off ever using SVO/WVO myself. There are a few successful long term users. You'd do best to contact them (Chasee, VWCampin, BioDiesel come to mind) to learn from them how they've done it.
 

philngrayce

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 18, 2004
Location
Connecticut
TDI
'02 Jetta, '06 Jetta, Both Gone '13 Leaf, Gone Liberty CRD, Subaru Forrester and MB300SD
Lug Nut: Chasee is still active on the Greasecar Forum, if you want to keep in touch.

Pdabell: It's probably easier to find negative than positive; just read through this forum. The limitations of the Geasecar system are discussed here, much more so on the Frybrid forum, and on the Greasecar forum as well.

Collecting waste oil varies tremendously geographically. I find it very easy but in some areas it is prett near impossible now.
 

mrchill

TDIClub Enthusiast, Super Secret Diesel Ninja Vend
Joined
Sep 16, 2003
Location
MASS! home of THE WORLD SERIES CHAMPION RED SOX! x
TDI
96 B4v red \ 98 Mk3 green\98 Mk3 Jetta black\ 99 Mk4 Jetta green x2\ 99 Mk4 Golf silver x2\ 99 Mk4 Jetta black\ 97 B4 sedan green\04 JSW gold\03 JSW silver
I did his intake recently. Car runs exceptionally well. The intake was probably 40% clogged, and the valve pockets about 15-20%. This I find is normal for these miles even on D2. The car is very fast and starts and runs well. Mileage is excellent and injector variation is nil. I say all this because he is one of the people I know who is absolutely fastidious with fuel quality. I saw his setup. The hands down BEST I have seen. The whole arrangement is so clean, that you could walk through with a white suit and feel you may be getting his garage dirty.

The car is just as clean. The trunk, the engine bay, the underside. Cleanliness is a strong factor. His fuel is as clean as it can get and free of all moisture. Clearly, his system works.
 

T'sTDI

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 11, 2008
Location
Maryland
TDI
2001 Jetta
mrchill said:
I did his intake recently. Car runs exceptionally well. The intake was probably 40% clogged, and the valve pockets about 15-20%. This I find is normal for these miles even on D2. The car is very fast and starts and runs well. Mileage is excellent and injector variation is nil. I say all this because he is one of the people I know who is absolutely fastidious with fuel quality. I saw his setup. The hands down BEST I have seen. The whole arrangement is so clean, that you could walk through with a white suit and feel you may be getting his garage dirty.

The car is just as clean. The trunk, the engine bay, the underside. Cleanliness is a strong factor. His fuel is as clean as it can get and free of all moisture. Clearly, his system works.
Good to hear! I think this stuff is for people who are somewhat anal about their cars in general (no offense Mr Chasee, I am the same way) Keeping stuff clean, acknowledging problems and more importantly addressing them (I know he had problems with poly in his veggie lines and he addressed this quite fast)

He's payed close attention to anything that may have raised an eyebrow. This wasn't by fluke, this wasn't by chance. He put a hell of a lot of effort into it and he was returned with continued great success. Congrats!!!
 

T'sTDI

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 11, 2008
Location
Maryland
TDI
2001 Jetta
pdabell said:
I am interested in knowing about TDI users' experiences with using straight and waste vegetable oil and the Greasecar system. Positive points about the system are easy to find; does anyone have any negative criticism about it and about your experiences with SVO and WVO? Also, how have you found obtaining the waste vegetable oil for your cars?

Cheers,
pdabell

FYI: I drive a 2004 VW Golf with automatic transmission.
GC is a great system for the money but you absolutely 100% need a FPHE to get your oil to temp and to keep it there, I'm sure everyone will agree with me on this.

With my FPHE, I basically get up to operating temperature 190 and I switch. Thus far my oil has always been up to temp. Its gotten a bit colder around here 40 deg or so but it still does a great job of keeping heat and getting the oil hot fast. I can't express how nice of a kit it is.

My advice to you about WVO/SVO, look around here for a lot of criticism (don't got to look far) and also take the time to find the success stories. Read 20 different opinions, do your own research and form your own opinion. Some of peoples thoughts don't have much logic behind them, they just agree with the masses. There are very few that actually have the experience with a car buning WVO, but I would look to them for advice.

Theres a lot to know about burning WVO, read up!!!
 

vwcampin

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 25, 2006
Location
Omaha
TDI
2002 GLS TDI Auto
pdabell said:
I am interested in knowing about TDI users' experiences with using straight and waste vegetable oil and the Greasecar system. Positive points about the system are easy to find; does anyone have any negative criticism about it and about your experiences with SVO and WVO? Also, how have you found obtaining the waste vegetable oil for your cars?

Cheers,
pdabell

FYI: I drive a 2004 VW Golf with automatic transmission.
As T'sTDI indicated, it is a good kit for the money (I have one) The originator of this topic Chasee, has a stock Greasecar kit installed in a new PD TDI like yours and has surpassed 112K on WVO. So it can be done.

The biggest complaint with the Greasecar kit is that off the shelf it doesn't get the WVO hot enough. People also say the PD TDI's really heat the fuel since the stock diesel return goes through a fuel cooler. No hands on knowledge from myself, just what I have read. I would agree that the addition of a FPHE is basically a must have. It will pretty much guarantee you have the fuel temps where you need them. I also recommend a temp gauge so you know what the temp of your WVO is.

The most important part though is going to be your filtering and dewatering. You can have the best kit in the world, but if you are running crappy water logged WVO in your car, you will have problems, period.

As to getting WVO from restaurants, like T's said, it depends on your location. I have had no problems finding more than enough, still for free. Do you have a bar or restaurant that you frequent? Strike up a conversation with the owner/cooks, whoever and see what they do with it. It is always a good idea to get a hold of some WVO and try your hand at filtering it before deciding if you want to convert your car. If you do not treat it as a hobby and have the desire to put the time in, you will not succeed.
 

Nevada_TDI

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 17, 2008
Location
Reno, sort of...
TDI
2001 Jetta TDI
I too have installed a GC kit, and found it doesn't heat the oil enough in stock format. Instead of the Flat Plate Heat Exchanger they sell, I am trying a self limiting electric inline heater to see how it will work. It's less expensive than the FPHE and takes up less room. If the electric unit turns out to have a short lifespan, I'll replace it with a non electric FPHE. In the meantime, i'm burning B20...
I have two other people involved with me for the oil collection and filtration duties, and we are anal about no water, no shortening, and fresh oil only.
One is a 2001 Jetta TDI, a 2002 Jetta TDI, and a 2004 Jetta TDI Wagon.
As vwcampin suggested; this is no hobby, this is something we spend a fair amount of time doing, so doing it right is the only option.
 

T'sTDI

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 11, 2008
Location
Maryland
TDI
2001 Jetta
Nevada_TDI said:
I too have installed a GC kit, and found it doesn't heat the oil enough in stock format. Instead of the Flat Plate Heat Exchanger they sell, I am trying a self limiting electric inline heater to see how it will work. It's less expensive than the FPHE and takes up less room. If the electric unit turns out to have a short lifespan, I'll replace it with a non electric FPHE. In the meantime, i'm burning B20...
I have two other people involved with me for the oil collection and filtration duties, and we are anal about no water, no shortening, and fresh oil only.
One is a 2001 Jetta TDI, a 2002 Jetta TDI, and a 2004 Jetta TDI Wagon.
As vwcampin suggested; this is no hobby, this is something we spend a fair amount of time doing, so doing it right is the only option.
You'll find out real fast that electric heat will do you no good. I mean sure it may heat it up a bit but it is no match to the heating capabilities of a FPHE. There are FPHE out there that are much cheaper than GC's. Plus coolant heating is free, electric heat draws current.

My vote is the flat plate, hands down, over any vegtherm. :)
 

Todd B

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 30, 2007
Location
Oshawa, Ontario
TDI
None. 2002 gone to TDI grave.
pdabell said:
I am interested in knowing about TDI users' experiences with using straight and waste vegetable oil and the Greasecar system. Positive points about the system are easy to find; does anyone have any negative criticism about it and about your experiences with SVO and WVO? Also, how have you found obtaining the waste vegetable oil for your cars?

Cheers,
pdabell

FYI: I drive a 2004 VW Golf with automatic transmission.
I can't comment on the GC kit as my system is kind of a DIY. About collecting oil around here (Oshawa) I have found it pretty hard as most restaurants are being paid for their wvo and don't seem to want to be bothered with someone else who may or may not be there to pick up oil next week, and a lot of restaurant owners have contracts with waste oil collection companies. I have found a few places, best luck is mom and pop types and also food vendors at malls. The wvo from food courts in malls usually goes into one container at the mall and the mall get the $$ for the oil not the food vendor, so hit up the food vendor before the oil hits the bin. There is also a guy out in Mississauga that is selling raw unfiltered wvo for 20 cents per liter. If I ever get to a point where I am collecting more than I can use myself I would also sell some.
 

Nevada_TDI

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 17, 2008
Location
Reno, sort of...
TDI
2001 Jetta TDI
That's what I get for insufficient research... You're right, T'sTDI, there are FPHE's that are less expensive than the vegtherm I bought. If I don't get enough heat, I'll use coolant next time. Here's a question though: if WVO burns better above 180F, how could I ever get above that w/o an electric heater? Suggestions are welcome. Thanks in advance.
 

vwcampin

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 25, 2006
Location
Omaha
TDI
2002 GLS TDI Auto
Nevada_TDI said:
That's what I get for insufficient research... You're right, T'sTDI, there are FPHE's that are less expensive than the vegtherm I bought. If I don't get enough heat, I'll use coolant next time. Here's a question though: if WVO burns better above 180F, how could I ever get above that w/o an electric heater? Suggestions are welcome. Thanks in advance.
The problem is that once you get temps past 200F sustained, you can start to harm the electronics within the IP on your TDI. Most will recommend that you keep your WVO temps under 200F, but above 160F. I have a FPHE as well as the Vegtherm with the thermostat that turns it off once the WVO reaches around 168F. I tend to average right around 180F.
 
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