HEEELLLLPPPP veg oil problems, pump leaking!!

Post by **woodman** » 14 Aug 2007, 19:32

I thought I did research this!! Oh well seems not enough. I have a used pump on its way thanks to syncrospares £55, hopefuuly this will do the job.

Question is should I drain all the veg oil out and refuel with clean diesel? or just top up with diesel?

Post by **Louey** » 14 Aug 2007, 20:56

I personally can't see a problem carrying on using veg oil - nothing has been proven that it was the cause of the leakage. Your pump could have been on its way out before using veg oil.

Have a read at this site the setup will help heat your fuel to make it thinner.

Post by **woodman** » 15 Aug 2007, 19:00

Thanks for your positive comment Louey..... you could be right about the pump? hard to tell, I think I might drop down to 50/50 for the time being until I re-gain confidence! What you running yours on?/ how long for? and do you have any upgrades fitted? Keen to carry on with SVO, however I have been offered Bio-Diesel for about 0.65ppl. May be worth a consideration.

Post by **Louey** » 15 Aug 2007, 19:33

I'm using bio diesel at 75ppl - I had a small problem with a leak from my heating system and didn't have time to resolve it. I'll go back to veg oil and possibly used oil soon - used oil is more eco friendly but I need to setup a small process plant and also a reliable source - chip shops are no good as they use palm oil.

I was using veg oil for about 8 or 9 months with very few problems. I had a couple of cold no starts then the fuel heater/filter system starting leaking. I used a similar setup to the link except I had a heating element from a vauxhall diesel. I'll post some piccies in a bit

Post by **Louey** » 15 Aug 2007, 19:34

[IMG:800:600]http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f50/l ... CF8120.jpg[/img]
[IMG:800:600]http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f50/l ... CF8114.jpg[/img]

Post by **woodman** » 17 Aug 2007, 19:20

So this system heats the oil/fuel, between tank and injector pump sitting on top of the fuel filter? Is this connected to the heater plugs or something to heat up prior to starting? Sounds logical.

My hang up is that I had driven a 160 mile journey the night before got back late at night, noticed the leak in the morning so it must have blown the seal when the engine was hot, in less of course it had happened immediately when starting from cold the previous morning.

At work we have had the dilemma of the correct source of bio-fuel for the vehicles. We settled on the basis that although part of the oil may come from palm origin, we are still using recycled oil that would have been used by the chippy/ hotel etc, whether we were the end user or not, not sure if thats a good policy but it seems a reasonable compomise?

I have the new (used) pump now so hopefully will have the van up and running next week. It seems to be taking forever to get sorted, hence why I am treading really cautiously.

Post by **Louey** » 17 Aug 2007, 20:16

The electrical heater bit is wired to an ignition live - I need to work out a way of having it cut out after the water has heated up.

Diesel fuel or alternatives I think tend to leak when they are either under pressure or when they have been warmed up and are therefore thinner. Possibly yours leaks when the engine is running at high revs on the motorway.

Working on our vans does tend to take time - especially if you are not a trained or full time mechanic

Post by **autohausdolby** » 09 Nov 2007, 14:41

andysimpson wrote:This is what happens with veg oil, it is real nasty stuff, these pumps are not designed to run with such a high viscosity fuel, it puts alot pressure on rotor, camplate and driveshaft, its just a question of time untill something breaks. Veg oil also kills the seals as you have found out. If you don't care for your engine and pump keep using svo if you want it reliable put in what its designed for.

You love Veg oil don't you

Do you have a lot of experience using it? I'm interested in people with direct experience of it as I'm thinking of learning about the conversions, etc. and the pros and cons.

I think a condensed sticky of all the good and bad with no bias would be a great thing, as suggested earlier.

Post by **Other-Power** » 09 Nov 2007, 18:45

To be fair,

Putting SVO into a system that is designed to work with petroleum based diesel is not a good idea.

I wouldnt expect a basement pump to work as well pumping golden syrup as it does water, so i wouldnt think an injector pump can pump SVO as well as diesel.

Maybe your pump was on the way out and maybe it wasnt. I would suggest fitting a second tank, i am still in between college work trying to do my westy. Got some photos to post etc soon.

Good luck with it all, i would take the comments about the rubber being eaten and change all fuel lines etc, and change filters, plus carry another one. check there wire running to the glow plugs is up to it as well, if this has degraded then the plugs wont work as well.

Good luck with it

Jon

Post by **andysimpson** » 09 Nov 2007, 21:10

Other-Power wrote:To be fair,

Putting SVO into a system that is designed to work with petroleum based diesel is not a good idea.

I wouldnt expect a basement pump to work as well pumping golden syrup as it does water, so i wouldnt think an injector pump can pump SVO as well as diesel.

Spot on, the clearances insdie a pump or lack of them does not allow for thick oil, even hot veg oil is much thicker than diesel. Also puts alot of excess pressure on pump due to oil struggling to get through small injecotrs. These engines are designed to work on diesel and nothing else.