Troubled Vegoil Driver

[CocoNutsHilux]

Hello,

Have been driving on various mixes of coconut oil and diesel. During my last veg oil drive the engine started to heat up (and come down on top, after a stop) at a hill which is normally nice driving. Because I know piston rings can get sticky through vegetable oil I checked the oil level and it appeared higher than previous check.

I then drained all the fuel, cleaned the tank & system and went back to diesel. Also changed to premium engine oil and filter. Now, after 400 km, the oil level is slightly up and the oil is very thin indeed. The level appears slightly higher again than a week ago. During the last month or so, a loud ticking could be heard at starting, perhaps the injectors? For the rest engine runs fine, but it now overheats on short hills as well.

Any advice (before I have the engine overhauled?!) is highly appreciated.
Cheers,
Jan

[TonyN]

I'd get a cylinder compression test followed by a cooling system pressure test done and see what the results are.

[fatfires]

Hello,

Have been driving on various mixes of coconut oil and diesel. During my last veg oil drive the engine started to heat up (and come down on top, after a stop) at a hill which is normally nice driving. Because I know piston rings can get sticky through vegetable oil I checked the oil level and it appeared higher than previous check.

I then drained all the fuel, cleaned the tank & system and went back to diesel. Also changed to premium engine oil and filter. Now, after 400 km, the oil level is slightly up and the oil is very thin indeed. The level appears slightly higher again than a week ago. During the last month or so, a loud ticking could be heard at starting, perhaps the injectors? For the rest engine runs fine, but it now overheats on short hills as well.

Any advice (before I have the engine overhauled?!) is highly appreciated.
Cheers,
Jan

Only one - you and me swap motors and houses - you get the rain and a 3.0L
I get Fiji and I dont give a stuff about the motor!!

[CocoNutsHilux]

I'd get a cylinder compression test followed by a cooling system pressure test done and see what the results are.

Dear Tony,

Thanks for your advice. Just went to the garage for the compression test; they reckon lack of compression, loss of fuel in the lube, etc. cannot cause overheating and say that I should just take off the head, get it machined, replace the gaskets and off I go. But I'm not losing any liquids, so I don't see the point.

Do you have any other experience with driving on vegetable oil that caused the piston rings to stick and cause problems?

The other thing they recommend was to do a 'carbon clean' done by a 'motor vac' that would take out all deposits on injectors, valves, rings, etc. Any advice on that?

This morning's start was a puf of white smoke, then darker grey then, normal, black smoke. Any indications from that?

Thanks,
Jan

[CocoNutsHilux]

Guys, just an update.

Have bleeded the cooling system, bought a new viscuous fan coupling and replaced the old one. It has improved the situation quite well, it's only when i'm really pushing it with 70 kph on a steep hill for 2-3 km at 3000-4000 rpm that the thermometer finds its way across the middle into the danger zone. When I then go slower and make some revs (i.e. water pump does its job) it again falls back to normal.

The Thermostat switch for the extra fan is broken, most of the time the fan runs anyway, sometimes after a cold start it doesn't. The wire is loose, so it should run all the time, I presume.

I'm still running on pure diesel until I have found the origin of my cooling problem. The increase in lube oil level has also halted; it is now consuming slightly, like it used to before.

On a minor point, while looking at the revs while driving up my road, I ran over the neighbors' cat that suddenly ran across....

The next thing I will check this weekend is the belts to the water pump, as they appear not so tight at all.

Cheers, Jan