dalchri said:
I'm interested in knowing the path that you took to arrive at these ideas...
What sort of adaptations had you performed on your other vehicles before you got the TDI? EGR delete? Injection line heaters? Restricted driving technique? Fuel temp mod? etc...
What sort of adaptations did you come up with only once you had to deal with a TDI? (I'm assuming that you got your TDI last after all your other vehicles)
How many of these adaptations were you anticipating and how many did you arrive at because you started to see a problem part way into your own conversion and use?
Now that you have adapted to the TDI platform, have you transferred any of these ideas to your other vehicles?
I guess I've been sort of under the impression that the IDIs, Mercedes, modern pickup trucks, all are pretty much plug and play with a two tank conversion kit and that it's only the TDI that needs this level of special care.
Thanks for sharing! It is refreshing to see a discussion of theory backed by evidence that results in constructive advice.
I waited for my dad to convert his car first before I delved into converting my car. When I realized how well a diesel engine runs on WVO (his Powerstroke) I asked myself why the TDI engine itself has so little success.
Obviously, there are a lot of factors out there that contribute to failures in a TDI. I think one mainly being that the TDI engine is really the only small diesel engine out there supplied with a nicer vehicle. I mean who wants to drive around an 80's Mercedes? Granted they are nice cars and will last forever, but people put more into comfort and looks than whats under the hood. Many of these people went in blind to the idea. They had no reason not too... None of this information is mentioned unless the user him/herself looked for it.
I grew up around cars my entire life so I have a bit more knowledge then the average person. What I described in my guide makes logical sense. Its hard to pin point a failure to a certain degree because the variables involved; however, I think its completely plausible to make logically, educated inferences on why so and so occurred and how to prevent it from occurring. This comes from a lot of studying and reading across the internet (probably 60 hours worth total). I gathered other peoples opinions and made my own, which regarding WVO, I recommend to everyone. I don't expect everyone to agree with what I say; however, if your passionate about what your trying to do, find other opinions related to the topic and form your own. For that matter, bring it to my attention because I would love to hear other peoples opinions regarding the topic. That's what I did... find one opinion, find twenty more, and then form your own...
The adaptions were explained extensively in order to show importance. The modifications themselves are relatively simple yet they prevent so much on the grander scale. Really the only thing different between our 00 Powerstroke (7.3 diesel) and my 01 TDI is the fact that fuel temperature is mapped with engine timing.
Long story short, when my father converted his car, he also had an EGT gauge installed and we both realized quickly that EGTs are relatively the same between both fuels. The first switchover on my TDI resulted in this not being the case. Since we are talking exhaust gas temperatures, this has to do with combustion, not the added heat from the fuel. The only culprit would be engine timing. Since the TDI engine (VE rotary) requires VAG COM to check timing and the graph itself has fuel temperature on the X axis of the graph, it was pretty easy to figure out what was going on.
Lucky for me, you stumble around great information if you look. The fuel cooler mod (so elegantly called in the Power enhancement section) was the key I needed to move further with the conversion (fuel resistor mod). If this did not work, I was going to discuss a WVO related tune with my chip tuner.... So I had other options.
Really the only special thing is the fuel resistor that I feel is mandatory... Remember my guide was written to promote the most long term success as possible. The guide was written to go "above the call of duty." Whether or not a person does what I did is up to them; however, it is food for thought...
I'm not your average WVO converter... I'm pretty anal and cover all factors to achieve success... At this point, there is no question in my mind what I have done thus far will yield great long term results... It makes perfect sense in theory and I put it to the test each day... Needless to say, I prove that theory each and everyday as well...
