modifications for vegi fuel

[dragnbaron]

What kind of modifications need to be made to allow a car to run on veggi fuel?
I have an 06 VW tdi and i was under the assumption (and probably a wrong assumption) that you needed to modify the fuel tank so the veggi fuel didn't freeze or solidify. With the MKV WV wngines they have a built in heater coil that is supposed to help with heating the engine to allow for cold weather startup.
Any modifications that need to be made to the new TDI engines in order to run veggi fuel? I'm ignorant on the subject.

[theholycow]

Ok, moved this thread too...it belongs in the "Vegetable Oil and BioDiesel" section.

In all my research, I've only ever seen that you're supposed to run a separate tank for your VO. You start and shut down the engine on dino-diesel or biodiesel, and switch to veggie oil while running, once the oil is heated to something like 200 degrees.

[Lug_Nut]

Read up on this subject thoroughly before proceeding beyond an investigative stage. TDIClub.com, greasecar.com, biodieselnow.com
Don't mistakenly confuse vegetable oil with biodiesel. There are a bunch of TDI owners that use veg oil and all it's attendant needs, and do so with success, but these are scrupulously maintained vehicles with obsessive dedication to oil cleanliness and quality. The bad news? They are in the minority.
Most don't dedicate themselves to the needs of a dual-fuel system and the problems of running a highly viscous oil through the high pressure (4,000psi+) fuel pumps and 200 micron injector ports. The engines work well for several tens of thousands of miles, but these are typically several hundred thousand mile engines.
One acquaintance that has an earlier (lower pressure, more forgiving of hot, thick oil as fuel) model like my 1997 TDI, has accepted that he will continue to have to replace his $1000 worn out fuel injector pump on an annual basis. He's done it each year since he's converted to veg-oil, and for him, he figures he's still ahead on a veg-oil fuel cost plus pump cost basis over biodiesel or petrodiesel.
Me? I buy biodiesel, vegetable oil that has been converted into a diesel fuel. I don't have the dual fuel system taking up space. I have no conversion or modification needs because the fuel is converted.
If I were so inclined I could do as a number of my friends do and I could make my own biodiesel for about $0.75 a gallon, but I'm too lazy. I don't bake my own bread. I don't brew my own beer or stomp my own grapes. And I don't care to transterify my own biodiesel from vegetable oil either.
I buy bread, beer and biodiesel retail.

[dragnbaron]

Originally Posted by theholycow

Ok, moved this thread too...it belongs in the "Vegetable Oil and BioDiesel" section.

In all my research, I've only ever seen that you're supposed to run a separate tank for your VO. You start and shut down the engine on dino-diesel or biodiesel, and switch to veggie oil while running, once the oil is heated to something like 200 degrees.

Thaks for moving this one too, sorry to make you work hard.

See, i have seen alot of these trunk systems that will fiter a stick of butter into a fuel you can use on a diesel. I was wondering if these work well. But they don't seem to filter well, they only seem to fulter once and the micron is quite large. I read up on one guy (sorry, don't remember where because i was at work) who used one of these systems and then added two more filter filtering down to 2 microns (but i could be mistaken), replaced them every 3k -5k miles and had no injector issues, but that was the ONLY one i read up on without any issues.
I'd be very interested to see about converting refuse into biodiesel but all i see are 'mystery' ingedients (like what they did on mythbusters and dirty jobs), also was reading up that most organic refuse can be converted into gas which can run in a diesel but takes alot of work and alot of smell (like the back to the future car).
Anyone with experince in converting used grease into biodiesel care to comment? I know it's a giant slur of ingredients per part.

[theholycow]

I'm pretty sure there's nothing mysterious about making biodiesel, it's well documented. The last time I looked into it I don't remember seeing any disparity in ingredients. It is done with vegetable oil (waste or new), not general food refuse.

The idea of converting general food refuse into a gas was shown nicely on a tv show called Cool Fuel Roadtrip. The term used to describe it is "gasification". It looked pretty cool but it doesn't seem to be discussed very often. I find it quite interesting and would love to hear more.