Ever since seeing it on Top Gear and @vogman years ago, I’ve wanted to convert our VW Caddy van to run on waste vegetable oil (WVO) but haven’t had the guts to do it. Time to change that!

In this video, we are going to attempt to exchange diesel for a fuel that’s cheap as chips: waste chip fat or other vegetable oil. Unlike running biodiesel, to switch to pure veg oil we need to make some modifications to the vehicle to avoid engine damage (LOL). I explain and show how I made simple changes to bio-tune this vehicle. As you will see, I am learning as I go, and share my blunders…

The engine in this VW is a PD (Pumpe Duse with unit injectors) 1.9L TDI, the same as in lots of cars from VW, Skoda, Audi and Seat. The exact engine code is BLS which I believe to be almost identical to the BJB, BKC, BSV, and BXE.

This experiment ended somewhat prematurely after 500 miles. The next episode will be about exactly what went wrong, fixing the engine, and the pros & cons of running a diesel engine on used vegetable oil. If you want to be notified when that’s ready subscribe https://goo.gl/7tFFPu and click the bell notification icon.

If you want to check out some of the parts we are using, like the heated fuel filter, heat exchanger, and big bore solenoid valves, they are available from http://www.biotuning.co.uk/ (no affiliation).
Note: The leaking from the 1/2" bsp fitting on the valves was a known problem with a particular batch, which has now been fixed!

Quick Links to Fuel Diagrams and other stuff:
00:00 - Into to veg oil conversion.
00:42 – Diagram explaining how a regular diesel fuel system works.
02:00 – Testing the lines to see which takes diesel to the tandem pump and which returns it to the tank.
02:30 – Changing the caddy van’s fuel filter.
03:30 – Routing the new fuel lines.
05:06 – Fitting the auxiliary fuel tank, which will become the diesel tank.
06:42 – Diagram explaining how a two-tank veg oil conversion works.
08:35 – Folly. My mistakes salvaging a lift pump.
10:03 – Where and how to break into the coolant system, to supply the heat exchanger.
11:50 – Explanation and assembly of the Biotuning heated fuel filter.
14:14 – Using the “clamptite” hose clamp method to secure the coolant hoses.
16:24 – How to wire up the electrics, namely the dashboard switch and solenoid valves.
19:12 – Testing the solenoid valves and pumping fuels between the two tanks.
19:40 – Fixing leaks with PTFE Teflon tape
21:27 – First test drive. 500-mile trip across the UK.

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Music:
"Coffee" (modded slightly) by Josh Woodward, http://joshwoodward.com/
CC BY-SA 4.0