TDI Aux fuel tank

Fuel tank that goes in the spare tire well is at www.greasecar.com .

It is a heated tank and some plumbing will be needed BUT you'll double your fuel capacity.

GOOD LUCK

Biohoward said:

Hello:
I am new to this fourm and I am trying to locate an AUX fuel tank for my TDI. I have googled and found a single mfg in canada but that is a long way from Rockford, IL
I travel a lot and want to extend the range of my vehicle.
If someone can give me a lead I would appreciate it.
You can email me or post here. I will be sure to get the message.
Thanks for any assistance or tips.
biohoward

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Most of us can get 600-800 miles out of a tank. Depending on how fast you drive. 600 miles at 90 mph is 6.5 hours. 800 miles at 60 mph is 13 1/3 hours.

I don't know about you. But my bladder and stomach can't do that. Even after 6.5 hours I could use a stretch. Not to mention the MPG you're going to lose carrying an extra few gallons.

Unless you do the FL to AK route, I can't imagine driving that much that I'd need more than my 700 mile range

Thanks for the information

Thank you both for the information. It gives me added information and this will help making the final decision.
thanks,
biohoward

Google a search on "fuel cell" as in racing fuel tanks.

Yea, I would like to extend the range of our automatic Jetta... 37 mpg doesn't get you very far on 15 or so gallons...

I'm gonna try tuning and a few other tricks to try to get it up to at least 40 mpg...

Then I need at least a 20 gallon tank to just get 800 miles... excluding the loss of milage from hauling the extra weight...

A 28 gallon tank would be wonderfull!!! Then 1000 miles could be driven probably safely and I would only need to fill it up once a week...

5 Gallon Plastic Jug?

I have a 5 gallon plastic jug (yellow - with "Diesel" on it)

I fill it at the same time I buy BioDiesel (B99) - It isn't for my car (usaully), I am "hauling" 300 Miles for another vehicle. I buy the B99 in Seattle on the way out of town and then it gets used in Spokane. There is no B99 or B100 avail in Spokane, only B20, and it is a pain to buy (appt. only type deal)

I suppose I could dump it into my car once I get to Spokane, and top my own tank off, but I use the car for commuting from Seattle to Spokane, so I can drive it another 100 miles in Spokane and still make it back to Seattle without buying any fuel in Between. 680 to 700 miles is normal fill cycle for me on a 2000 5-speed - if tank is well vented at fill, I just see the low fuel light at 20-50 miles out.

Anyone see any issues having a "Jug" of fuel in the trunk? It is well secured and doesn't move at all - the lid closes tight and spillage is not an issue so far.

I never liket to do this with gasoline - even to pick up fuel for the lawnmower, but since Diesel is no where near as flamable, I didn't see any issue - if it did spill, I have one of the VW Plastic Mats with 3" sides, so I think the only thaing that would get damaged would be "stuff in the trunk"

Walt in Spokane

Been carrying jugs/buckets of B99 in my wagon for years, no problems.

adam_alexander said:

Been carrying jugs/buckets of B99 in my wagon for years, no problems.

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wouldn't it be relatively easy to setup a gravity feed line from those Blitz plastic jugs down to the fuel tank? biggest problem I can think of would be making sure the feeder line has a VERY strong seal, to not leak diesel in the trunk. If someone could rig up one main feeder hose with a breakout cable to feed from the bottom of each of three cans, it would virtually double our current range...
Or tie the bottom of can1 to can2, etc and just have one feeder line. They'd likely need extra slack or a quick disconnect plug on them, to allow removal or at least movement in the trunk for filling them up. Could the line be rigged to either the top of the tank under the passenger back seat, or be routed into the fuel filler neck? (purpose here is to not have to puncture the factory tank)

The "tank" cost would be about $6.00 US each for the blitz cans. They could be secured in place with bungee cords in the trunk. I don't think we need anything nearly as complex as fuel cells since this is diesel without VOC emmissions to worry about.

I hope someone eventually uses this and posts a 'how to' with photos and step by step's.

No hassling with fuel gauge mod's and hopefully this project could be done for well under $100? $50?

matter of principle

I think that this is really a matter of principle for most people.

They want the greatest possible range for their cars, especially if they are burning B100 biodiesel like I am, so that you can make an entire round trip without having to stop and get petro diesel.

it's a bragging rights thing.

so I can say, "I've never put a drop of petro diesel in my car". That greasecar spare-tire well tank looks like the winner to me, only, I don't want to go on a long trip without a spare tire .

Click here http://www.greasecar.com/flashtour.cfm and click on "HVO fuel cell"

Wes

But that's only a 5 gallon tank isn't it? I mean it is intended for wvo and probably has a heater core in it that you plumb your coolant lines to in order to heat the wvo...

In a NB that's about the best you can do and lay the spare tire on top if it will wedge in there...

But Jetta's have LOTS of room for a real race car type fuel cell in the trunk!!!

And I'm sure I can round up the switch gear so that one can switch from the original tank to the fuel cell tank with a flick of a switch...

The only obstacle that I have not overcome in my mind is how to get the fuel into the trunk mounted fuel cell? I REFUSE to drip even one drop of fuel inside the car so opening the trunk to place the filling nozzle inside the car is NOT an option for me. And I don't want to cut any holes in the body panels that will require paint work.

A tail light door might work like the 57 Chevy's had... you put say the passenger side tail light on a hinge so that it opens like a door to expose the new filler neck. The filler neck is sealed in such a way that fuel can not drip, leak or spray into the trunk compartment... a pretty big fabrication project that I don't want to engineer myself for only 1 car. Unless I can get a "kit" this is not something I will likely tackle. Besides, the tail light will limit the size of the fuel cell because it is so low.

Long range is also helpful for someone like me. I commute 1000 km/week (600 miles), plus some miscellaneous driving during the week (picking up kids here and there). The ability to do reduce stops for fuel is a quality of life issue, a diesel stop is 15 minutes wasted on my life (but of course surfing TDIclub.com is not!). With the Passat I can just barely make my weekday driving on a single tank if I don't beat it up too much. With the Jetta, I can go a full 7 days between fuellings, with its 1300 km tank range (my record is 1306.7 km or 817 miles).

Which is why I'm favouring the Jetta for commuting these days but you can be sure I'll switch to the Passat for ESP season (winter)...

My wife drives 200 miles each day back and forth to work, 1000 each week commuting. I have been refilling the car every 2 days because I have been afraid to try to get 600 miles at only 37 mpg average...

If I tried to get 3 days before refueling I would be risking too much IMHO...
3 days is 600 miles and that's 16.2 gallons if the car doesn't burb and only give say 35 mpg that tank... then it needs 17.1 gallons to make the third day's ride home!

LurkerMike said:

But that's only a 5 gallon tank isn't it?

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It holds 13 gallons. yes it does have a heat coil in it. The company will not sell it seperate from the whole kit.

l1o9s7t6 said:

It holds 13 gallons. yes it does have a heat coil in it. The company will not sell it seperate from the whole kit.

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Hmmm... it might be considerably more volume without the heater, a custom made tank would solve that... but, there is still the issue of how to fill it without risking spillage of raw diesel inside the car?

Umm has anyone ever considered running the filler tube to the back of the car like the old GM cars were? basically you would flip down the rear license plate? it would require very little body work. some minor cutting would be involved but cosmetically it should be a simple upgrade.

LurkerMike said:

Hmmm... it might be considerably more volume without the heater, a custom made tank would solve that... but, there is still the issue of how to fill it without risking spillage of raw diesel inside the car?

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I size figures out to about 14 gallons. the company advertises 13 gallon. Although it is just a round tank, I looked in my jetta and if you made a custom tank to fit the complete opening it would be larger. I would guess some where around 15-16 gallon.

Do any of the 18.5 gallon Passat TDI fuel tanks fit into the Jetta TDI Sportwagens?

completely different bodies, and platforms, so no go on that front

Passat has 4" extra rear legroom, to fit those extra gallons