Greetings all. well im pretty new to this forum but thought it would be educational for everyone to share how my experience with SVO or p100 has been. I currently live in hot S florida and drive an 03 jetta TDI on a blend of 85/15 SVO/diesel. I do somewhat heat my fuel but not with a two tank system. For all you south flroidians listen up.

For the 03 jetta, all i did was disconnect the coolant hose that was connected to the resevoir and extended that hose. Conveniently it sits very close to your fuel line. After i extended the hose, i ran it all along the fuel line inside the engine compartment. Finally, i purchased Greasel's heater wrap for like 80$ and hooked that up to my fuel filter which is great becuase the jetta filter is metal.

Unless your in a moderate climate or cold climate, i don't really see floridians having to do major conversions. I do however advise this:
1.) pre filter your oil to 1 micron (the jetta fuel filter is 10 micron. trust me, when i started, i was filter to like 40 microns and wondering why i stalled every 1500 miles ( plugged filter)

2. USE DIESEL KLEEN by Power Service. This stuff rocks. Everyone always squawks about coking injectors. What i do is every time i change my fuel filter, i fill it with a half half mix of diesel and diesel kleen. i have spoke with a rep from there company and using diesel kleen regularly cleans the inside of your injectors as well as the tips during the combustion process.

3.) You don't need to really mix your fuel pre fillup as long as you run your tank empty and put diesel in first. I have experimented with this in 5 gallon clear containers and noticed no difference in mixing

Please email me with any questions

Nick Spera 12,000 and runnin' "GAOTU"

Couple suggestions:
One, I would mix in a barrel just to make sure the WVO and diesel don't react and produce "wax". Fairly rare, but if you look up "WVO nightmare" in the forums you'll see why.
Second, you may want to mix with gasoline rather than diesel, it thins much better and tends to keep fats dissolved better. Also, 10% gasoline will thin as well as 20% diesel.

Finally, all the above being said, I DON'T recommend you blend in a direct injection engine unless you are really watching it, like doing compression tests once every 6 months to a year, running diesel kleen or diesel purge once every 3 months, etc. You don't want to stick a piston ring on that nice a car. It's not the injector coking you have to worry about, it's if the veggie mix gets onto the cylinder walls and into the piston rings, then it bakes on and makes the ring stick in it's groove. When it sticks, you have disassemble the engine to clean it and probably rebuild the engine (since it's out and apart, and that piston is probably scored up & no good). BE CAREFUL.

Welcome to the forum!

You're doing what with an 03 TDI?

I think you should post this over at TDIclub.com and see what kind of response you get. Whatever convinced you that this would be a safe thing to do with your very valuable engine?

Let's start with the fact that you don't pre-mix your blend, and you are using diesel as your solvent. Potential nightmare there.

Cold starting on this mixture, which clearly is not well mixed, may mean you are essentially starting on straight unheated WVO with an unmodified fuel system. Coking the injectors is the least of your problems, and as B.K. says, you want to compression test your engine and make sure you are not coking your rings as this is a very expensive problem to fix.

I am assuming you are using soy oil which means that you are seriously risking polymerizing your crankcase oil, as has been noted on several TDI's using both soy biodiesel and heated veg. oil. Cold starting on veg. oil or veg. oil blends is risky enough in an IDI engine, but in a DI engine, it's potentially a very bad idea.

If you installed a vacuum gauge and could see the amount of strain you are putting on your IP's internal lift pump, you may really re- consider what you are doing. Ziptar, who is also in Florida, could provide some insight in to this based on his own experience trying to design a single tank system for his TDI. Why not just install a proper single tank system or a two tank system and greaatly reduce the risk of severly damaging your engine?

I know what you are saying, "but it has worked for how ever many miles and I haven't noticed any difference in the way the car drives." Well, are you astute enough to notice minor differences in the way you engine performs? The potential problems created by what you are doing could manifest in such a way that you would never notice it until it is too late. But hey, it is your car and you can do whatever you want with it.

Good luck with this potentially very costly experiment. Keep us posted, though I have a feeling you won't.

I like to second B.K’s and general’s warning for a blend in a direct injection engine.
A cousin of mine ( in Germany )ruined his 2003 Jetta by doing this.
Polymerization happened. Quite costly.

BMW Fan

In order to safely run plant oil in a TDI you'll need the WOLF conversion kit. They even have one for PD TDI's.

That is very true Sushi but WOLF is not represented in Canada or USA.

regards
BMW Fan

Guys, i have taken the fuel temperature. after the heated fuel filter and it clocked in at 165 F. Plus i use 1/3 bottle of diesel kleen every fill up. Do you still think im at risk?

Yes, the start up is your problem.

BMW Fan

I have an 03 Jetta TDI (Non PD) in SW Fla and I had been using an 80/20 WVO/Kero Blend unheated for about 6000 miles now, too soon to know anything for sure. I settle, Filter, and then blend in a 55 gallon drum, I pour in alternate layers of WVO and Kero and then stir with a broom stick for a minute or two. I also cold filter to two microns as I pump into the car.

Unheated kero blend seems to be fine in the summer, with Kero wax is not too large an issue. I could probably go 85/15 but 80/20 seems safer. With 80/20 the blend stirs and pumps out of the barrel just as if it is diesel. Mixing in a 55 gallon drum and cold filtering as I fill the car also handles any wax that may be in the blend.

After 6K miles no issues but, I am back on Diesel at the moment as I am out of WVO, my collection pump broke. I have a sucker (and larger storage capacity)in works.

If I were going to use it in winter I would maybe add some coolant heat but, I hope to be back on 100% WVO by then,

My single tank kit worked fine but, after 45,000 or so miles it just too leaky (air and fuel) to be reliable and was a real PITA, it evetually sucked so much air (drained back) it was impossible to start in the morning so I pulled it. It did work well, In cold months I did have a few hard starts when temps got into the mid forties.

I am going to go back to running a Twin Tank system that I'll more than likely buy. My first single tank kit was cheap enough but, I wound up spending so much time chasing down pieces and parts it just wasn't worth it. I am more of the mindset that I'd gladly pay for someone else time to gather/make the parts and have them ready for me. I could probably go with a single tank again but, after doing a DIY singletank, I figure a twin tank isn't all that more expensive or time consuming to install and at least I'll sleep well at night.

The TDI is tougher than anyone gives it credit.. I currently have 160K on mine... for the last 80K th poor thing has had to deal with Homemade unwashed Bio, 100% WVO single tank, Blends, and odd junk like used crank case oil, transmission oil, etc.. Oil Polymerization is an issue, the best defense is vigilence and Good Full Sythetic Oil. Especially in a high miler like mine. The chances of WVO getting into the crankcase obviously go up as the rings wear. I have yet to have any polymerization in mine but, with the high milage of the car, I'll probably cut my oil change interval in half when I do go back to 100% WVO.

ziptar, my single tank system is coolant lines all along the fuel lines in the engine compartment, plus greasels hetar wrap for the metal fuel filter(260deg in less than 2 mins). i use 20% diesel and 80%wvo and also use 12oz of diesel kleen every fillup to counter the risk of coking by starting on a cold blend.

260 degrees?? have you checked that?? The TDI runs at ~190 degrees at operating temp. Seems high.

Also If read correctly you are using the expansion tank hose to get your heat from the coolant. That probably doesn't have a whole bunch of circulation going on in that line. There is a 5/16" cooling line that is part of the normal coolant system circulaton on the back of the EGR housing. It is only a foot or so away from where you are tapped in now and is pretty easy to get to. Add your fuel filter heater to that circuit and your temps will probably be more like 175-180, it has a pretty good flow and is the exit from the EGR housing so it's pretty hot when it comes out.