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any VW TDI owners here


bobdea

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considering a used diesel VW

any of them, if I can find a jetta wagon that's optimum but even a tdi beetle would be great.

want to play with bio, love the mileage.

also, I know with passenger cars that are diesel in the past you could get away with running #2 heating oil and no one messes with you. unlike with commercial vehicles.

The reason I think about this is I'd rather mix in #2 than have to pay more for delivery of DOT taxed diesel or to pick up 40 gallons at a time.

is there any difference in #2 other than the price and dye?

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with 4 sp automatic.

Bought it used @ approx 40,000 mi. and have put 45,000 trouble-free miles on the engine. Intended (and still hope) to convert to grease. Have used it with commercial BD100 up to to a 50/50 mix with regular diesel - no problems. Get 36-38 mpg city.

Rough-starting on cold, damp mornings but has never failed, ultimately, to start. Overall, car feels underpowered. 2003 (I think), they went to a larger engine in the Beetle and you could get the two-clutch, six-speed, paddle-shifting Tiptronic automatic with it. I suspect that would be a lot more fun.

Lots of quibbles with the car overall - one major - brake booster can self-actuate in hot weather. Actually dangerous. Various warning lights can false-activate.

Overall feeling I get is that this is probably a 200,000 - 300,000 mile engine. It will not, however, get there at high speed.

The new Jetta TDI is getting green raves. Wish it were a more inspiring ride.

That's all from Possum Pouch.

BB

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I would stay away from the automatics if you can drive manual. I test drove the DSG GTI and it sucked and it is a generation newer than the tiptronic system. I had a service loaner A4 with the paddle shift and wasn't impressed.

I am guessing you are looking for used, do some research before you start running Bio as there are some issues with rubber parts that can develop. I did a bunch of reading on boat diesel conversion to Bio and that seemed to be the main concern other than making sure the fuel is properly filtered.

I confirm that the Bio develops less power, if this is an issue for you. Slow and steady is the name of the game.

Here is an interesting link:

http://gas2.org/2008/04/10/biodiesel-mythbuster-20-twenty-two-biodiesel-myths-dispelled/#myth4

And some power numbers:

http://engrwww.usask.ca/oldsite/societies/asae-csae/papers/asaepapermbsk02-109.pdf

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I know bio disolves crud, including some older rubber parts

there's a bunch of reasons I've wanted a diesel for awhile. My neighbor's mercedes that he put 250k miles on before the frame broke then put the engine in another car for another 100k miles is part of it.

Bio is another part of it.

Fuel economy.

Cool factor.

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I have a 06 Liberty CRD it runs phenomenally on B20 I have never put anything more through it but it is rated for B20. Sadly there aren't any Bio dealers close by but I try to get some at least once a quarter. I have a buddy you converted his 2000 Jetta to a dual fuel with a greasel tank. I'm hoping that this truck is available when I'm shopping

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Ya, I have an '02 Golf TDI and just turned 100,000 miles on the odometer.

I've burned B99 for about 50k of those miles, so I think the older ALH engines are pretty forgiving as to what you fuel them with, and they're pretty easy to mod for a bit more power. I'd have a hard time going back to a petrol-powered car, because I've become so used to 700-mile tanks. If only VW would market an AWD version in the US.

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Amen on the AWD TDI VW- the closest thing you can get to that in the VW North American line-up is a 10 cylinder Touareg- and then who can afford a 75K SUV?

My Holy Grail would be a TDI VW Tiguan, or an AWD TDI Jetta wagon- I have seen conversions of TDI Jetta wagons to AWD, but they were super expensive and not for the faint hearted.

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yeah, I'd go ebay for a project car no doubt.

otherwise I'd want to drive it first!

my GF drove a beetle TDI today. the guy is firm on 5k with 100k on it. she loves it but I'm thinking I can find something cheaper with the same mileage.

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as a heavy diesel mechanic i feel i should say ive seen some effects of biofuel. yes they smell like fries and is cheap but, ive also seen damage do to it clogging up injectors and fuel filters and pumps. also some starting/gelling issues in certain cold snaps. mind you these are heavy duty engines that put on 200,000 + kilometers a year. and your car may never see 1 million + km in its life.

my 2 cents

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considering a used diesel VW

any of them, if I can find a jetta wagon that's optimum but even a tdi beetle would be great.

want to play with bio, love the mileage.

also, I know with passenger cars that are diesel in the past you could get away with running #2 heating oil and no one messes with you. unlike with commercial vehicles.

The reason I think about this is I'd rather mix in #2 than have to pay more for delivery of DOT taxed diesel or to pick up 40 gallons at a time.

is there any difference in #2 other than the price and dye?

You think :ices_ange?

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  • 1 month later...

I was thinking about sulfur content, but it's already been mentioned.

Have you though about a cooking oil mod? Some people use filtered used cooking oil from fast food restaurants. They start and stop the engine with diesel, but switch to cooking oil when the engine is hot.

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My mom's friend runs his Japanese (I think it was a Daihatsu) diesel minivan on grease for 50/50 in the winter till 10/90 diesel/sunfloweroil in the summer. He claims the simpler the diesel engine is the more succesful it will run on grease. So maybe you should be on the lookout for a D and not a TDi.

I actually mentioned the car seemed to have a lot more power when I sat next to him before he told me he was running it on sunfloweroil. Supposedly it's a bit better than using pure diesel when it's a simple diesel engine.

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  • 4 weeks later...
with 4 sp automatic.

Bought it used @ approx 40,000 mi. and have put 45,000 trouble-free miles on the engine. Intended (and still hope) to convert to grease. Have used it with commercial BD100 up to to a 50/50 mix with regular diesel - no problems. Get 36-38 mpg city.

Rough-starting on cold, damp mornings but has never failed, ultimately, to start. Overall, car feels underpowered. 2003 (I think), they went to a larger engine in the Beetle and you could get the two-clutch, six-speed, paddle-shifting Tiptronic automatic with it. I suspect that would be a lot more fun.

Lots of quibbles with the car overall - one major - brake booster can self-actuate in hot weather. Actually dangerous. Various warning lights can false-activate.

Overall feeling I get is that this is probably a 200,000 - 300,000 mile engine. It will not, however, get there at high speed.

The new Jetta TDI is getting green raves. Wish it were a more inspiring ride.

That's all from Possum Pouch.

BB

A good reference point for you wpuld be www.tdiclub.com :biggthump. Tough start could mean many things you could fix by yourself and with not that much $$. Good luck :ices_ange

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