I also saw those pictures and was scared to death until I also read that he had an oil seal on the turbo that was bad and was using a lot of engine oil. That explains it all.

I missed that, thank you.

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My glove compartment lock quit working when I started using veggie.

It funny that I did not blame that on the fuel I was using.

But anyting that goes wrong with the engine is automatically the fault of using veggie.

Untill someone finds the real problem.

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When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.
Jimi Hendrix

That whole article is about unheated veggie oil. But it's good to see an article about the success with running a 20/80 VO/D2 blend.

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Thanks! I'm glad this article could do some good. I'm not going to convince everyone that running WVO or VO in a single tank system is not good for the motor! But I do have a fuel injection pump that coughed up a bunch of parts because it was using SVO in all temps. I think you could get away with that around here (Phoenix Arizona) in the summer, but the IP will NOT do this in cold weather for long. I've been using 20/80 for awhile now with no problems.

The guy who wrote that is the guy who came up with the Ford Powerstroke WVO conversion, they used to be called Vegistroke, now they're Dino Fuel Alternatives or something. But the system is a dual tank setup, which only switches to VO once the engine is warmed up, so that's probably why you don't see any RUG blends.

The powerstrokes have a dead-headed fuel rail, and their system uses an unused port on the opposite side of the head as the VO supply and also the purge, so the purges are quick (for a normally dead-headed common rail fuel injected engine). There's only one solenoid valve in the whole thing and uses check valves and a VO lift pump that puts out slightly higher pressure than the stock lift pump. Say what you want about powerstrokes, but his system is simple and slick. No pun intended.

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1985 300TD-euro 352,000 mi
1974 240D (1?)52,000 mi - has a new home now

I just want to see the pictures. To be blunt.... I doubt the "proof" put forth by Forced.

I've been an engine machinist for many years and I have NEVER seen proof of damage caused by properly filtered WVO.

Please guide me to the pictures.

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You can get farther with a smile and a gun than you can with just a smile.

1984 300D
1985 300CD
1980 300SD
1993 SL500

Interesting, you say it coughed up parts ? What happened ?
Was this the Bosch MB pump ?
How many miles were on the pump ?
You say it was cold oil during cold tempratures that made it cough ?

Did this happen at startup or while going down the road ?
What were the chances of having water in the fuel ?

Sorry for all the questions, I am really interested.

__________________

When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.
Jimi Hendrix

When I took it to a Diesel Injection machine shop to see if it could be repaired, I was told no, or at least it would be cheaper to get another one. The Previous owner had been using a single tank system and starting his Mercedes in sub freezing temps with SVO, which is incredibly thick when the temps are less than 32*F. I didn't see the pump up close after it was torn apart, but he did explaing to me how these were never meant to pump ANY liquid fuel at a high viscosity and that even Diesel when gelled will tend to liquify under pressure and movement and Veggie oil does not.

This isn't so much of a problem here in Southern Arizona or warmer climates, but this owner/driver happend to live in Spokane! It was the combination of cold metals and veggie fuelin temps of 5*F above zero and 20*F above zero that was hard on the pump. He wasn't anti-veggie, but what he told me was that for the health of the pump, veggie oil should be 100*F and the engine warm when sending veggie in as fuel because even at 100*F it will flow so much better and the pump is warmed up and can handle it better.

Thanks MBNRA

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When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.
Jimi Hendrix

MBRNA, It's good to hear a real account. But again I want to stress that is was a single tank system. Starting up on cold VO is never a good idea.

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Absolutely! Cold engine starting can destroy an engine and I think this is where a large part of the disagreement lies because temps play a big factor! Here in Phoenix in the summer, we see temps in the 110*F's to 120*F's and even I have poured in some SVO periodically with no problems but I wouldn't do this otherwise.

I bought this car as a non-running car and brought it home, so I have no idea if the pump failed at startup or what, but it would be logical that if cold was the problem, then this is when it happened! I pulled the engine though and it was not encouraging. Lots of carbon and a gelatinous goo in the prechambers and head. It still ran, but from what I saw, it would have quit eventually with some serious engine damage likely. I got lucky and removed the head and took it to a machine shop for a rebuild and valve job and Bart had to hot tank it just to remove all the crud! He couldn't even get the prechambers out until it "cooked" for awhile!

I'm sure this was do to veggie oil at Spokane temps as well though. I soaked the cylinders in an oil based solvent to help free the rings and it seems to run good now. I've been burning Biodiesel and it is helping to clean up the motor on the inside. When I pulled the head from my 300D using biodiesel, I was stunned at how good it really looked! The metals were shiny and and the valve stems were clean!

Can you guess how many miles the engine had on it ?

Do you know how long the car had been running on SVO ???

Sorry if I seem pushy, asking so many questions.

Was there any kind of turbo oil seal leak ?

Was it mostly the intake or exhaust side of the head that was plugged with goo ?

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When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.
Jimi Hendrix

The odometer was working and it reads 202,017. I have no idea how long the car was running on SVO or WVO since it wasn't running at all, the point seemed moot, so I didn't think to ask. The turbo seems to be fine with no leaking or so little it doesn't require any oil between oil changes to keep it topped off.

As far as the head goes, the damage was contained mostly on the exhaust side. The exhaust ports looked like a Hawaiian Volcano lava tube I saw while on Vacation last year there! The valves themselves looked like they had been caked in this sort of sticky charcoaled road tar! Bart had to tank them as well just to clean them up. I got lucky with the cylinders. I used some Cellosolve mixed with a bit of Marvel's Mystery oil and it loosened up the carbon buildup better than I expected. There really wasn't any wear on the cylinder walls that looked like it wasn't normal and there wasn't any real appreciable ridge at the top of the cylinders either, another lucky me! Picture the goo stuck to the edges of a frying pan you use a lot and what it would look like if you had to scrape it off now and that's sorta what the head looked like. The head clearly took the brunt of it.

I got the head back cleaned up and overhauled with new guides and a valve job including 2 new valves. It seems to run pretty good now and compression is about 320 per cylinder on average, so I'm satisfied. We don't see this kind of accumulation and damage down here in the valley or on a 2 tank system, so this would logically lead me to believe that heat is necessary to burn WVO or SVO completely! At this time of the year, making biodiesle isn't as easy as it is in the summer because it is colder, so I mix my WVO at no more than 20% with diesel #2 with 15% being average.