A heated 15gal tank was installed under the rear passenger bench. It is heated by the "Hot Fox" brand in-tank heater, which utilizes a flow of coolant to heat the tank. There is a gauge on the dashboard to measure the temperature of the coolant, which should be between 120-150Farenheit when running veg.
A hole was drilled into the exterior side of the van & a nice fuel cap installed, & there is a wide hose connecting this exterior fuel hole to the tank, so I can fill up the tank from outside the car. (...Certain people install a tank in their trunk & fill it by pouring directly into the tank in the trunk and theres bound to be spills..)
From the veg tank, there are fuel supply & return lines, which are controlled by the new veg supply & return valves.
The veg system has its own fuel pump, which is pretty basic. It was mounted right next to the oil fuel filter in the engine's compartment. When I click "veg on", the fuel pump is turned on & I can hear a little "click, click, click" with each pump, each second.
The fuel filter is the Donaldson P551001--3 micron nominal/10 micron absolute rated fuel filter/water separator with patented water blocking *Synteq* filter media and bottom twist drain. It is screwed into a "Hot Head heated filter manifold, green anodized aluminum, specifically designed for use with vegetable oil fuels." Here is a photo of the filter screwed into its own heated component:
There are 3 gauges + 1 switch added to my dashboard:
1. temp gauge (previously mentioned)
2. pressure gauge: measures the pressure in the fuel lines. When I press "veg on", the gauge will go up to +4 when there is a new clean filter installed. Over time, as the filter gets dirtied, the pressure will start to slip, and I will change the filter when pressure reads "0".
3. fuel gauge: for the veg tank, which holds just under 15gal).
4. There is a switch on my dashboard which has 3 positions: veggie on, off & purge.
If there is veg oil in my tank & I get in the van& start the van & drive for a few minutes so the engine & thing that the veg fuel filter screws into can heat up. Then, I press "veg on" & the following happens: the veg supply & return valves kick on, so fuel is now being supplied by the veg tank, and fuel returns to the veg tank. I notice my pressure gauge start to climb to +4, and the temp gauge starts to climb to 150Farenheit.
Veg fuel likes best to be moving. If I'm sitting, stuck in dead traffic, I would switch off of veggie because there isn't enough flow of fuel.
Switching off of veggie: I turn the switch to "purge" which is a "rinse cycle"... Diesel supply & return valves are turned on, which is important to get diesel through the fuel injectors to "rinse" the veg oil out, so that when I turn the car off, there is no veg oil sitting there to congeal & cause a big problem the next time I try to start the car with fuel injectors that are gunked up. ALSO, when "purge" is on, the veg return valve is also on, causing so the veg pump to pump all veg oil in the veg fuel lines back to the veg tank. The purge button would be left on for 20-25 seconds (I count), because that is how long it takes to return the veg fuel to the veg tank, and then I switch to "off". At that point, I can park the car & turn it off.
My Dad also got me super tires. Major hiking boots.
The van had a full tank of veggie & I drove it home, which was an hour trip.
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