Biodiesel Jetta - gotta love her!
July 11, 2008 · Print This Article
Let’s talk about diesel…and biodiesel, and specifically about my diesel Jetta…a lovely car – although she is black, and lately these hot summer days are crazy with black seat leather and light skirts - but, lets talk about the CAR…
I flew to Boston to buy this car in October of 2005…since certain newer diesels are not readily available in California, I searched all over the internet for a diesel Jetta wagon, and hard to find they were! Worth it - power sun roof, lots of headroom, fold down seats with plenty of room to sleep in back or for gear - and even a small craft fair booth will fit! The top rack is built on, the lights a gauges are a wild blue neon enhanced with red – feels like a purple haze driving at night…
To get this baby back to Willits a great cross country road trip was created & enhanced by the shooting of a camcorder video of – “The Last Great American Road Trip”. Well, it could be a great video someday – when I have time to learn how to edit it…
Ok, I was a few years before my time – as usual, because for sure - people are still driving cross country in 2008, even in their RV’s - although fuel is now well over $4 and higher prices are certainly in sight. Diesel is even over $5!! With that in mind - Why did I want this diesel car so badly? Try 45mpg for a start, and I have been almost exclusively driving on biodiesel made by Yokayo Biofuels from completely recycled veggie oil… which I pump out of my backyard 200 gallon storage tank! Now – there is fuel security for ya. Much better than a foreign war, huh? In fact, my pal Mikey gets over 50mpg because he got a manual shift, same car - 10 more mpg. You can take that to the bank, er - tank.
To be sure – I have made my share of biodiesel errors…had hose melt downs, clogged fuel filters, etc…but – I still love the idea of driving - yet not supporting our energy wars, esp the one in Iraq which threatens to spillover into Iran, and is costing us Americans over $400 Million a day!! ! If you can even understand how much money that is – I can’t quite comprehend it myself, but I know that we could put a huge number of freight and passenger trains on the tracks, fix those tracks all over the country and build more so we have a 2 track system nearly everywhere for a fraction of our yearly dues in that misguided, may I say – illegal - “war”.
So – I encourage all of you to turn in those gas hog SUVs & cars, and if you must have one at all – go diesel! In fact - go biodiesel! Enjoy the ride…
By the way - I wrote this partially because of the guys who blog at http://thingsthatmakeyougogreen.com/…but, now I can’t find their cool post on diesel…if anyone can find it in their substantial archives…well, let me know and I will link it right HERE!
great post- we are on the waitlist for the new Jetta TDI sportswagon coming out later this summer. on other blogs and via VW, the car will not be under warantee if we use B100. are you using B100 or B5/B20 biodiesel? i believe the VW diesels after 2004 all have similar engines. any shared experiences and advise would be greatly appreciated!!!
Hey Annie,
Just want to add some info to the whole “bio diesel” thing. Kind of downer, but it does need to be made clear. Hope your cool with it.
Since this whole bio diesel thing has become popular it has created a lot of horrible side effects.
Farmers are paying 10X what they were for corn feed. Other farmers are replacing other crops to grow more corn for bio diesel which is more profitable, decreasing overall food supplies. riots in southern mexico have become common place because corn has become so expensive (it’s their main source of food).
Now they are even cutting down rain forests to plant palm oil trees, which is turned into bio diesel, accelerating the already ever increasing extinction of animals in places like Borneo.
Cars running off of recycled veggie oil from the local restaurants? Very Cool.
Starving poor people in other countries and killing off wildlife in rain forests so someone can run their biodiesel “green” hummer? Not so cool.
As RJ and Phil can tell you, my dad and I are pretty good at raining on a parade… Hopefully I’m not doing that this time. Just a lot of miss-information around this area, the internet, and TV about biodiesel. Everyone likes to look on the sunny positive side of things but we need to make sure we’re aware of the other side too.
Hi Erica,
I do have plenty of stories about biodiesel in all 3 cars/trucks, and it does take a bit of understanding to properly maintain the car….if you go to the Yokayo site - they are up on many of the potential problems…they have a “white paper” on biodiesel maintainance - and I would call them if you feel you want to delve deeper…Kumar is a member of the National Biodiesel board.
In my 2003 Jetta, I am using B100 most of the year, but arbitrarily putting in 1/2 tank or so in the winter (Mendocino Cty - can get down to 20 degrees) which helps the potential cold weather thickening fuel hassle.
I think the new Jettas are better set up for biodiesel - they have synthetic lines and rings - check that out.
I also suggest that you not violate your warranty in your brand new car in case you have to go to the dealer unexpectedly and they find a tank of biodiesel along with some fuel line upset. ..here’s what happened to me- I had no problems with my Jetta until the dealer did a screwup during a routine tune up and (according to the European mechanic who cleaned up the mess) pinched a fuel return hose, breaking it and causing a spray of fuel inside my engine cover. This unattended mess (dummie - why did I not immediately get this taken care of!!!?) caused a melt down of the hoses in my engine compartment over the course of a few weeks - which then all needed replacing. I had not yet found the right biodiesel mechanic, and spent unnecessary money paying my local guy to cut hoses and refit them. Turns out my new very cool German mechanic understands this situation and can replace all the hoses for just over $100.
The point of this story is that - yes, you need to know what you are doing to use B80 or B100 fuel…you must interact with your vehicle in more than a usual modern “just drive it” manner. B5 or B20 has only 5% or 20% biodiesel in it and will not cause fuel line problems.
For all biodiesel changeovers I suggest:
1- Immediately Replacing all fuel line hoses with synthetic if they are not already made from that. Check what materials your engine “rings” are made from…synthetic? Great! Biodiesel is a slight solvent for rubber.
2- Fuel filter - Diesel is sometimes very “dirty” and biodiesel acts to clean out the engine of old deposits…a good thing, but this gunk has to go somewhere…so - give your filter more frequent attention if you have been using or continue to use diesel as well as biodiesel. Some folks just clean out the old filter and replace it once or twice instead of putting in a new one before usual 5000 mile change.
3- B100 or not? B100 means 100% biodiesel. B20 means 20% biodiesel. Use a B80 or B50 diesel mix or “winterized biodiesel” ( I think this is a kerosene type additive) in cold weather…for easier starts and better fuel line movement. The veggie oil character of biodiesel can thicken up.
I had a lot of starter problems created by this in my big Ford F250 truck. The smaller Jetta engine does not seem to mind. For more details about my truck problems, send me a comment. I will reply.
4- Mechanic choice - Find someone who knows what they are doing. Experience and a positive attitude towards biodiesel is absolutely essential for your mechanic and to a happy Jetta in your life.
Enjoy using biodiesel, I would never go back to petroleum fuel!
-Annie
PS Check out my coming post on the Air Car…my next car, I hope!
Josh,
You are certainly right to remind us of the problems inherent in using food for fuel. I am not sure of the actual statistic, but there is enough wasted used veggie oil in this country to run a large percentage of diesel vehicles currently on the road. Algae fuel? Fuel from organic waste products? Thermal depolymerization? Maybe those will also be a part of our sustainable biofuel future…what do you think?
-AnnieB