I pulled my kit off my TDI back in January and now I was about to reinstall the HydraForce valves on another TDI. Seems the Hydraforce valves are clogged - 1 isn't working, the other 2 have severely restricted flow.

Any suggestions on saving the valves? I've disassembled them and have the plungers out. Is there something I can soak them in to dissolve what I think is that gelatin substance that forms on SVO things when not in use? Will carb cleaner or similar damage the O-rings?

Glycerin is great at removing poly if that's what it is.

Thanks, Geno

Biodiesel , simple green works too , Operate the plungers a few times while their are out . If they are stuck, tap them on a piece of wood .

This message has been edited. Last edited by: rkpatt,

Castrol Super Clean, Purple Power and Greased Lighting! are the best WVO solvents out there. Chris Goodwin at Frybrid recommends - I think - PB Blaster for this app. Good luck and let us know what works.

Craig

IMHO I would ditch the valves themselves completely. Wasnt there a post on here a while ago with a video from plantdrive showing how bad these valves are? They didnt even hold pressure! I had them on my truck and ordered some greasecar valves immediately after watching the video.

Not a video from PlantDrive, but from GFS. I sell 10-40 of these per month, and have two returned, and Hydraforce replaced them no questions asked.

Craig

I can leave my truck parked for several hours, with a hot, nonrestrictive filter, and nothing else restricting flow, and go out and look at the vacuum gauge on the dash, and it is still registering the SAME VACUUM that is indicated when I am driving along steady on the highway. (5-6 inches at 60 mph)

There is no "lock" on that vacuum gauge, so no, it's not that. :-)


The reading, by the way is the VIRTUALLY THE SAME LEVEL OF VACUUM that is indicated on DIESEL or on VEG, which indicates that there is also NO GREATER RESTRICTION, in real world use, at least on our system setup, for the Hydraforce valves, than there is for the FACTORY DIESEL FUEL SYSTEM.

Perhaps there is a hole in Charles' thumb. ;-)

No offense Charles - I am just pointing out that there is a discrepancy in my observations versus what is in your video. I cannot explain this, but it is fact. I just went and checked the vacuum gauge. I shut the engine off about 4 hours ago. If there was a loss of vacuum in the system, it would have registered as a loss of vacuum by now.

Of course, these valves have oil in them. Perhaps the ones in the video were not valves in actual use, did not have oil in them, and the seals were too dry and were not sealing.

Not having much luck. Tried glycerin, Pb Blaster, & Purple power (in process) and still stuck though the solenoid is working the valve must just be stuck. After investigating the other 2 valves they are also stuck. Will try a little more again this weekend but looks as though i will just replace them.

Where can I see the video mentioned above? I originally purchased the GreaseCar valves and returned them because it look to me the flow rate, due to the small valve opening was small.

Do you know what kind of oil you were running before you removed them?

pretty much exclusively soy

Ok thanks - we recommend Canola.

Before you give up, try this =

After soaking them longer , try pushing the plunger (valve upside down ) with a blunted nail, punch etc . being careful not to scratch the bore . You may need to tap it very gently with a small hammer . It worked for me and the valve is OK .


If you think that the valve has actually failed , note that they have a 5 year warranty from the mfg .


If you wind up replacing the valves ,take a look at the valves Omar sells on Ebay . They seem like a pretty good value .



Here are the GFS videos -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...ZOFo&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...FQV0&feature=related

ASG Analytik report on soy polymerization:


http://www.asg-analytik.de/Dow...obrief_2006_09_E.pdf

Report on a customer's TDI, running Canola WVO), sometimes a bit of sunflower (WVO)
Over 500,000 km on our kit, with over 700,000 total on the engine.

http://web.me.com/plantdrive/P...d_going_strong!.html

I mention all this because it relates to your install on your next car...and also might help explain why our existing valves are so stubbornly gummed up (although removed from the car and stored where air can get at it, even Canola WVO would have likely done the same by now. Might not have been as stubborn to clean off - that one is hard to say.

I had a valve returned a while ago that had sat with oil in it and was polymerized, and it was cleaned successfully with biodiesel.

Dirt particles were found to be why the customer had a problem with it, so the valve worked fine when I was done cleaning it, and I used it on my own vehicle afterward. Be sure the oil is filtered to some extent before it reaches the valves, and be careful to keep everything clean when working on them and reassembling them)

No offense taken Ed! Many time while working on vehicle I have dropped little screws etc. and I always Chalked it up to a hole in my thumb! And I cant believe you just admitted to everyone you are running around with a clogged filter!
Seriously though, I still have a set of hydraforces on one of my rigs, I have not had time to change them out yet and i have been running them for over 25,000 miles and still am! I made sure I said it in the video and I will say it again, you are not going to die if you don't immediately replace a hydraforce. The video was to document something we, our customers, and others had experienced. There may be some variable we have not all figured out yet, So we can all compare keep comparing notes and someone might figure out the variable of why some leak and some dont.
Here is a third party verification of the phenomenon from Ray with VO controller .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwYc50wLEK8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...CZXg&feature=related

Pedrokep, If I am not mistaken the Greascar valve use the same guts as the hydraforce, they just have a custom milled block, so they are esentialy the same animal as what you had before.
I have about 40 of the hi-flo hydraforce valves still in stock. Since we dont use them with our kits anymore, I will sell them for $25 per valve to anyone who wants them. Deal of the century!
Just email me at canderson@goldenfuelsystems.com if your interested. If someone wanted to buy the lot of them, I would make you the deal of the century!

Sounds like the preventative measure is to run some B99 in the VO tank a few times per year to keep the valves lubed.

Wow, don't think I will be putting them back into my car after watching the videos.

Thanks for all the help

Greasel Conversions- I dont think they have the same internal as the greasecar ones. The only thing I have to back that up however is the fact that the common port is in a different location on each of the valves. On the HF it is on the bottom whereas greasecar it is one of the sides.

Pedrokep,
They may not be, if you still have one, maybe you could pull the core out and post a picture. Would be interesting to see. The coil top looks the same but the guts might be different.

I see in your info you have a Toyota Diesel truck. My favorite rig of all time. First truck I ever bought when I was a wee Lad, was a Toyota diesel truck. I have owned 3 over the years. Even had a 85, 4x4 2LT. First diesel I ever converted was the 1L like you have. Enjoy, I am glad to see they are still out there making people happy.