Biodiesel experiment '82 Volvo

tdilab

Member
Joined
Mar 21, 2012
Location
SK
TDI
2005 Golf TDI
New to Diesels, Love my 2005 Golf which I've owned less than a month.
I'm Bio-curious (I know that sounds sick:p)
This 1982 Volvo does have a non turbo Volkswagen engine 24d which is the old 1.6 Diesel with 2 more cylinders added on. Here's the kick:
The insurance is $118/annum & I might pick this thing up for $800bucks + no out-of-Province inspection required. (Original B.C. car)
147000 Km on the odo.. might have a head gasket problem.. it's a 4 speed
W/pushbutton overdrive on the stick.. blue wagon bit of rust.:rolleyes:
Last summer she got me to the city & back no problems twice.. (200 miles) Kept 2 water jugs with me & had to add some. Burned up $60 Diesel fuel & worth every penny with all the extra driving.
Hoping to make this thing run on used A&W oil this year.
Keep it up.
 

MayorDJQ

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Dec 4, 2001
Location
Williamstown, Mass
TDI
'10 Golf 2dr 6m, sold.
"Used A&W"? As in vegetable oil? With the issues that come with vegetable oil, I wouldn't run that engine on anything other than Diesel fuel. Maybe a low blend of actual bioDiesel, but no more than B20. If you don't know the difference between bioDiesel and vegetable oil, start reading.

I had an '80 Audi 5000 Diesel which was a 5 cylinder non-turbo variant of this engine. I bought it with 95,000 miles and it ran perfectly. I changed the oil every 3,000 with Diesel rated oil. By 125,000 it had developed serious compression issues and was consuming a quart of oil every 300-400 miles. It had new glow plugs and the biggest battery that would fit in it, but even after being plugged in all night in cold weather (30-40f) and it wouldn't start in the morning without lots and lots of cranking. Snow would be melting off the hood, but it would need a 50amp battery booster/charger to start. The charger didn't last long doing that.

The 6 cylinder variant was even worse. It had oiling issues with extra cylinders. Whether it was a design flaw, poor maintenance, poor quality oil for its day I don't know. Both 5 and 6 cylinder versions had issues with heads cracking. If yours has a head gasket issue, you could also have a warped head. Good luck finding a replacement or getting it fixed.
 
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