I was asked to submit an article on my experience with my VW Rabbit project and it was published in Nexus Magazine!
Check it out http://bit.ly/86Y34Q
Look for "Do it yourself" Biodiesel VW Rabbit
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Monday, December 7, 2009
Keep on truckin'
It's been a while since I've posted but a lot has happened. I've been battling starting issues on and off since early October. Too many variables were changing too fast to verify what was causing my issues. Some days the rabbit would start fine, others I could barely push start it.
After a rough week battling extremely low temperatures and days of not starting I was about at the end of my rope. I haven't been running on veggie oil since my issues started. I started using a block heater (went to install one to find that one was already there), I had the starter replaced and fixed a couple bad glow plugs but that didn't seem to help my issues. I finally brought the battery in for testing and it tested bad. It was barely a year old but AutoZone warrantied it out and that solved my problem for about two days.
The symptoms pointed towards a glow plug issue but they all checked out fine at 1.3 ohms (no starts even after letting the block warm up). I decided I was going to let the block heater work its magic for 3 hours before I would try to start it the next time. After those 3 hours were up, it started like a dream.
After arriving at work today, I immediately plugged it in (previously, I plugged it in about an hour before I had to leave which I don't think was enough time to warm up). I went to lunch and she fired right up as well when I left to go home.
I have high hopes that as long as I can find an outlet to plug into, I should have minimal difficulties this winter; but that is yet to be seen. I will try to update more if anyone out there is having starting issues with a 1982 Volkswagen Rabbit diesel.
After a rough week battling extremely low temperatures and days of not starting I was about at the end of my rope. I haven't been running on veggie oil since my issues started. I started using a block heater (went to install one to find that one was already there), I had the starter replaced and fixed a couple bad glow plugs but that didn't seem to help my issues. I finally brought the battery in for testing and it tested bad. It was barely a year old but AutoZone warrantied it out and that solved my problem for about two days.
The symptoms pointed towards a glow plug issue but they all checked out fine at 1.3 ohms (no starts even after letting the block warm up). I decided I was going to let the block heater work its magic for 3 hours before I would try to start it the next time. After those 3 hours were up, it started like a dream.
After arriving at work today, I immediately plugged it in (previously, I plugged it in about an hour before I had to leave which I don't think was enough time to warm up). I went to lunch and she fired right up as well when I left to go home.
I have high hopes that as long as I can find an outlet to plug into, I should have minimal difficulties this winter; but that is yet to be seen. I will try to update more if anyone out there is having starting issues with a 1982 Volkswagen Rabbit diesel.
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